Burgener makes Olympic team

Eight years ago Casey Burgener left Bonsall for the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. He will be spending part of this summer in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games after making the United States Olympic weightlifting team.

“I’m honored to even be going to the Games. It’s such a blessing. It’s such a great opportunity,” he said.

Burgener was notified of his Olympic selection May 17 following the conclusion of the Olympic trials at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta. Burgener lifted 224 kilograms in the clean and jerk. “I really felt strong,” he said. “After I had taken it, the weight felt really light.”

The 224-kilogram lift is an official personal record; a heavier amount in Brazil last year wasn’t recognized. Burgener also lifted 180 kilograms in the snatch.

Burgener, who weighed 126.66 kilograms at the trials, competes in the superheavyweight division for lifters weighing 105 kilograms and above. Although he lifted the heaviest total weight from among his weight class, the determination of the Olympic competitors is based on averages over the past three years. “I wasn’t overly confident,” he said. “A lot of it depended on all the other lifters.”

Burgener was ranked third overall among the superheavyweight lifters. The United States will take three weightlifters in each weight class to Beijing, so Burgener qualified for the Olympics with that ranking.

“It was probably the most exciting competition I’ve ever had in my entire life,” he said of the trials. “It was incredible.”

Burgener is appreciative of his family members and friends who came to Atlanta to provide encouragement. “I don’t know if I would have been able to pull through,” he said.

Following the trials Burgener returned to Bonsall along with his fiancée and encountered a celebration welcoming him home. “I just want to say thank you to them,” he said. “It makes me know how great the people of Bonsall are and the people of Fallbrook are.”

Burgener, who is now 25, moved from Carlsbad to Bonsall when he was 3 years old and attended Bonsall Elementary School and Sullivan Middle School. He spent two years at Fallbrook High School before transferring to Rancho Buena Vista High School, where his father is a physical education teacher and strength coach. Burgener graduated from Rancho Buena Vista in 2000 and moved to the Olympic Training Center following his high school graduation.

Burgener’s fiancée, Natalie Woolfolk, lived in Maryland before beginning the Olympic Training Center program for women weightlifters. Woolfolk also qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games. The wedding is scheduled for this fall.

Burgener will spend twelve weeks at the Olympic Training Center before departing for Beijing.