News and Notes: C.J. Cummings

Clarence “C.J.” Cummings Jr. has continued opening eyes and winning competitions since last we visited — he was on the cover of the August/September 2014 issue of Beaufort Lifestyle – and the Beaufort native is now considered by some to be a strong favorite to win an Olympic medal for the U.S. men’s team. The only question seems to be when and what medal. Some say he’s an early favorite to break the U.S. Men’s team’s more than five-decade long streak without a Gold medal.

And why not?

Though still in high school and measuring only 5-foot-2 and 152 pounds, C.J., 15, has already set 18 men’s and youth records in U.S. competition, including one that came after he lifted 175 kilos in the clean and jerk at the U.S. National Meet in August 2015 in Dallas.

Yes, 175 kilos. That’s more than 385 pounds. And that’s more than the average refrigerator weighs. In fact, it’s more than a lot of things weigh.

No wonder then that Cummings, who trains under coach Ray Jones, is considered everything from a phenom to one of the strongest kids in the world. C.J’s performances have earned him such nicknames such “The Lebron James of Weightlifting,” by none other than the Wall Street Journal. It seems a fitting sobriquet for  a  kid who has already been featured by CBS News, the Washington Post and USA Today, which in an August 2015 story noted “If we had an award for Most Likely to Appear on a Wheaties Box, Cummings … a weightlifting phenom, would’ve won in a landslide.”

If that seems pretty heady stuff, it is. But Cummings, the son of Clarence Sr. and Savasah Cummings, continues by all accounts to be a great kid, no matter the level at which he competes.  Our advice: Don’t be surprised when he brings an Olympic medal home to Beaufort.