Holley Mangold completes a lift at Sunday's U.S. Olympic trials for women's weightlifting
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By Jamie Sabau, Getty Images
As a woman who stands 5-foot-8, weighs 374 pounds, and played on the offensive line of a high school football team, Holley Mangold is no stranger to headlines. Particularly since she's also the sister of Nick Mangold, the New York Jets' four-time Pro Bowl center.
But now her place in the sports world isn't as an oddity, but rather an Olympian whose talent has taken a quantum leap.
The 22-year-old Mangold last night won a place on the U.S. Olympic women's weightlifting team. Competing in the super heavyweight division, she won the clean-and-jerk competition by hoisting 319 pounds and was second in the two-hand snatch with a 242-pound performance.
"I always wanted to be an Olympic athlete, but I always thought I'd get it for diving or gymnastics," Mangold told the Dayton Daily News. "I always wanted to be one of those girls, but my body just didn't work out for that, so I had to go to a different sport."
Mangold had been considered more of a prospect for the 2016 Olympics than this summer's Games in London, but then her capacity in some lifts jumped by more than 70 pounds this year.
At Archbishop Alter High School in Kettering, Ohio, Mangold became the first girl to play a down from the line of scrimmage in the state's prep football history, as a reserve offensive lineman. She also was the first girl to play in the state championship game.
She earned a scholarship to Ursuline College, near Cleveland, and competed in track and field in the discus throw and shot put. There, her weightlifting intensified, and she left school to focus on that sport at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Her father Vern told the Daily News that, "She's always wanted to step out of the shadow of her big brother, and this will let her do that."
Her mother Theres added that, "I had a son who went to the Pro Bowl this year and now a daughter headed to the Olympics. All in one year — that's pretty cool."
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Holy huge woman, Nick Mangolds sister makes Olympic team
Holley Mangold completes a lift at Sunday's U.S. Olympic trials for women's weightlifting
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