Olympic Weightlifting Team Will Be Decided In St. Joe This Weekend

The men and women, who will represent the U.S. weightlifting team at the Athens Olympics, will earn their spot in western Missouri. St. Joseph is hosting the U.S. weightlifting trials today and tomorrow, where 150 lifters from across the country will try to earn three spots on the men’s team and two on the women’s team—there men’s team will also have five alternates and the women will have five. Dennis Snethen, who is the president of U.S.A. Weightlifting—which serves as the governing body of U.S. Olympic Weightlifting—is a St. Joseph native and pushed for the event to be held there. According to Snethen, the hotels in St. Joseph have been overbooked because of the event. USA Network will broadcast the event on tape delay on May 22.