Weightlifter Olivia Reeves Finally Glad She Can Officially Celebrate Spot on U.S. Olympic Team

Chattanooga-(WDEF-TV) Chattanooga weightlifter Olivia Reeves learned last month that she’s headed to the Olympics this summer in Paris.

While Reeves kind of knew she had qualified for the U-S Olympic team, she explains to News 12’s Brian Armstrong how it all became official.

Said Reeves:”Still does not feel real until I think I’ll actually be there and it’ll be over. Will it actually feel like it really happened?”

A weight training session in Colorado Springs turned into officially being named to the U S Olympic weightlifting team.

Said Reeves:”And they got the email that the team was solidified. Um, and coach, um, Mike Katone made a little speech and it was just really exciting to be surrounded by everybody while the announcement was made. These are people we’ve been competing against. To make this team, there’s only three spots, um, and now we’re officially a team together. And having that sense of camaraderie among us was just really, really nice. So it wasn’t everybody against each other anymore.”

And now at her Chattanooga gym, she has an Olympic weightlifting spot.

Said coach Steve Fauer:” She just seemed like she’s an Olympian now. She needed to lift in a more special place than what we were, than what we had, so I just wanted to dress it up for her a little bit nicer.”

Said Reeves:”The platform is a surprise to me. Steve did all that. The platform, the picture, that’s my spot where I usually set up camp for a workout.”

Even though the announcement just happened at the end of May, everyone has known unofficially for a while.

Said Reeves:”Everybody knew we had our tickets to Paris and all that, but they just hadn’t made the team official. ”

Said Fauer:”We were the number one lifter in the United States, number two in the world. There’s no way she’s not going, you know what I mean?”

So, it was just a matter of getting the official word. But just because it was known doesn’t mean it’s not a special moment for Reeves.

Said Reeves:”We couldn’t call ourselves on the Olympic team yet, so now we can call ourselves on the Olympic team. We can’t call ourselves Olympians yet because we haven’t gone to the Olympics.”