Interview with Tara Nott-Cunningham, the first female weightlifting Olympic champion in history
Sydney, 2000: Women’s weightlifting is being introduced at the Olympic Games. Among the 85 competitors across the various weight categories is 28-year-old Tara Nott from the USA, competing in the flyweight division (48 kilograms/106 pounds) – the first female weightlifting Olympic champion in history.
Tara Nott, now Nott-Cunningham, a former gymnast and soccer player, had started weightlifting only five years earlier, in 1995. Nott-Cunningham showed great prospect: a year later she was already US champion and in 1997 she made her first World Championships team – and in 2000 she represented the United States in weightlifting at the Sydney Olympics.
21 years later, Nott-Cunningham reflects on her Olympic experience, and her beginning in the sport.
1. Before your weightlifting career you were both an elite gymnast and soccer player. To what extent have these earlier sports experiences provided a foundation/prepared you for your move to weightlifting?
Tara Nott-Cunningham: From gymnastics I feel like I gained flexibility, strength, explosive power and the mental toughness to compete on my own in front of people. Soccer also added to my explosive power and speed which is used in weightlifting.
2. Your first passion was artistic gymnastics. Could you please tell us how that started? What was your favorite gymnastics event and why?
I got started in gymnastics after watching the 1976 Olympics and Nadia Comaneci. After watching I went into our backyard and tried an aerial cartwheel and landed on my head. After that my mom enrolled me in gymnastics. I enjoyed vault the most, maybe because that was my best event and I was more of a power gymnast.
3. At 23 you were working with the Atlanta Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. It was at that time, in 1995, that you started weightlifting. How did that happen?
At the Atlanta Organizing Committee I worked in the sports department for the sport of soccer. I had just graduated from college where I played division I soccer and was looking for something to do to just stay in shape. While I was at an after-work event, I started talking to Mike Gattone, the person running weightlifting for the Olympics, and Lyn Jones and mentioned I would like to learn weightlifting. We started working out three days a week at 6 am before work. I loved that weightlifting was both physically and mentally challenging.
4. Five years later, you qualified as one of four women to represent the USA in the inaugural women’s weightlifting competition at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. What were your hopes when you flew to Australia? Did you dream of a medal?
Being one of four women to compete at the 2000 Olympics when women’s weightlifting was making its debut was an honor. When I started weightlifting women were not in the Olympics so it was not a dream of mine at the time to compete at the Olympics. Going into the Olympics, I had consistently placed in the top 10 in the world so I felt if I lifted well, I could possibly sneak in for a bronze medal but had never thought about a gold medal. I also had a total in my mind that I wanted to make so that was my primary focus.
5. Your event – flyweight, 48 kilograms/106 pounds – was the first in the women’s weightlifting competition. You were awarded the gold medal after the original winner, Izabela Dragneva of Bulgaria, was disqualified for doping. Can you please tell us when and how you heard the news? What was the first thought on your mind once you knew you were an Olympic champion?
I found out that I would be awarded the gold medal three days after the competition from a phone call from the USA Weightlifting executive director, and he said, “Is this Tara Nott?” And I said, “Yes”. He then said, “Is this Tara Nott, the Olympic weightlifter?” And I said, “Yes”. At this point I was thinking he knows who I am stop messing around with me, then he said, “Is this Tara Nott, the Olympic champion?” And I said, “No”. I was just shocked. I was out sightseeing with my family and didn’t really know what to say or think at that time.
6. There was a critical moment, before your final, third attempt in snatch, when you needed to lift 82.5kg – after you had missed that weight on your second attempt. Can you please tell us how you approached that situation mentally?
Yes, that third snatch was a critical lift. I had made 82.5kg once in competition at the Olympic Trials right before the Olympics. I knew I could do the weight and was frustrated I had missed my second lift with it. I remember telling myself “controlled aggression” which was one of the key words/phrases I repeated to myself. I also remember standing behind the bar and taking a deep breath with my eyes closed to calm myself down. I also had a Bible verse (“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13) taped to my shoe and I grabbed the bar, and remember reading that verse as I got set for the lift. I pulled the bar so hard that when I caught the lift, I felt my back pop all between my shoulder blades and all I could think was hold on to this.
7. What would you say are the three most important skills a weightlifter should possess to make it to the top?
I think a weightlifter needs to have physical strength, be technically sound (in the lifts) and mentally strong. A combination of these things is needed to do well in competitions.
8. You retired from the sport in 2004 after the Athens Games where you finished tenth. Can you please tell us about your life since then, and what you are doing now? Are you doing any sports in your leisure time?
I got married in 2003 and we did long distance until I retired after the Games in 2004. I moved from the Olympic Training Center where I had lived since 1997 to Michigan where my husband was coaching college wrestling. We had our first son – Hayden, now 16 – 8 1/2 months after I competed at the 2004 Olympics (he was 2 weeks early). From then we have had four more kids – Asher 15, Ryder 13, Saige 11, and Sterling 8. My husband has coached at Central Michigan, Iowa State, and then eleven years at Penn State University as Assistant Coach for Wrestling. I have stayed very busy being a stay-at-home mom. I work out, but don’t do the full Olympic lifts anymore. I now go in and work out with my older boys at times which is fun. My husband travels a lot so it has been important for me to stay at home with them and get them to all the things they enjoy doing. We have three that wrestle, two do gymnastics and one does dance and theater, so it is a full-time job.
9. Can you please tell us how you are sharing your Olympic experience with others? When you make school visits, what are kids most interested in learning from you?
After the 2000 Games and until I had kids, I would go and share my Olympic experience at schools. It has been fun now to go to my own kids’ schools and share the medal and talk about weightlifting. I think the kids are amazed at how small I am and that I could also lift that much weight. They also love to see the medal and I love to let them hold it.
10. Weightlifting is currently at risk of being dropped from the Olympic program. As an Olympic champion and fan of the sport, what are your hopes and wishes for weightlifting in the future?
It is very sad to see what is going on in weightlifting right now. As a former lifter I would be heartbroken to see weightlifting dropped from the Olympics, but I also want to see it cleaned up. I want the playing field to be level for all competitors. No athlete should have to get their medal three days later or worse four to five years later because of a failed doping test. Athletes should feel confident that everyone is playing by the rules.