Extraordinary local athlete to weigh in at Columbus meet

Patsey, at 5 feet 1 inch and 127 pounds, will compete in the 58-kg class.
By TRACEY D'ASTOLFO
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Brittani Patsey of Vienna likes to be different. While most girls are practicing cheerleading routines or tennis swings, Patsey's at the gym pumping iron.
At 5 feet, 1 inch and 127 pounds, Patsey doesn't resemble the lifters on the cover of Muscle & amp; Fitness magazine.
"If you look at me, you wouldn't guess [I lift]," she said. "When I tell people I lift weights, they laugh at me."
Patsey, 17, started Olympic weightlifting about two years ago. She said her dad, Y-103 disc jockey Smokin' Bill, and her brother used to weightlift, and that inspired her to try it.
Her mom was a little leery at first.
"She wasn't sure if I could handle it. But my dad ... told her that as long as I had proper training, it was OK, and she let me do it. Now she loves it ... it's all she talks about!"
Lifting methods
Olympic weightlifting consists of two lifting methods -- the snatch, and the clean and jerk -- as opposed to powerlifting, which involves benching and curling.
Patsey said people assume weightlifters rely on upper body and arm strength, but Olympic weightlifting requires back and leg strength.
"I've always had real strong thighs. My legs are huge compared to my arms," she said.
Patsey has competed in about a half-dozen meets so far. She will compete in the Ohio Weightlifting Championship at the Ohio State Fair on Aug. 16.
"It's kind of a big thing," she said
During the Ohio State Fair meet, Patsey said, she will snatch three times and clean and jerk three times.
In the snatch, the bar is pulled in one quick motion from the floor to full arm's length overhead. Athletes typically bend their legs quickly while the bar is rising to keep it at arm's length.
The clean and jerk is two motions that must be completed one immediately after the other. In the clean, the bar is lifted quickly from the floor to the level of the shoulders. The athlete must then bend the legs and extend both the arms and the legs to bring the bar to full arm's length over the head in one motion.
The overall winner of the competition is the athlete who lifts the greatest total weight. The highest amount of weight successfully lifted in each event, the snatch, and the clean and jerk, are combined for the total score.
Patsey's weight class is 58 kg. She said she recently lifted about 220 pounds at a meet in April and qualified for the 2004 Junior Nationals in Georgia.
Going for gold
Patsey said she first started lifting "just to do something different," but now hopes to go to the Olympics. She said she will try to qualify for the American Open, an important meet for anyone hoping to make it to the Olympics, after the Ohio State competition.
"At first I wasn't sure what exactly I was getting into. I just started out doing it and then, because I got so good so quick, everyone suggested competition," she said.
Patsey said she trains at a local gym on a regular basis. She said she and her trainer also drive to the Columbus Weightlifting Club about once a month to train.
She doesn't know of any other girls her age who weightlift.
"It's kind of hard sometimes not having other females I can relate to. The girls down in Columbus are all 19, 20 or older, but even though they're not the same age, it's easier to relate to them than the guys."