Holley Mangold attempting to lift her way to London

Holley Mangold was once a starting OL for her high school football team. They played in the state championship in Ohio with her helping to anchor the line. Her football career is long gone, and now she is hoping to go to London this summer for the Olympics.

Mangold, the sister of New York Jets center Nick Mangold, is now a weight lifter and will be competing at the Olympic Trials next week against 14 other women for two open spots. She is currently ranked 2nd in the country.

She began her training way back in high school, where she was a successful Olympic-style weightlifter. She went on to continue training while she was also participating in shot put and discus for the track and field team at Ursuline College, a private school for women in a suburb of Cleveland. She was trained by Daniel Ball, who first saw her participate at the National Junior Weightlifting Championship

“It was caveman technique. It was awful, but she won,” he said. “She’s as strong as anyone out there.”
Bell pushed her to apply to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., where she trained for four months before competing in the American Open.

Holley has carved out her own path in life, as her brother has become an all-pro in football. And while her brother Nick chases a Super Bowl ring in the NFL, Holley is going for gold.

This entry was posted on February 28, 2012 at 10:00 am and is filed under NFL, OLY, Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.