Hampton Morris is 1st US men's weightlifter to medal at the Olympics since '84. Li Fabin wins gold

PARIS (AP) — Hampton Morris does not have a driver's license. He does have an Olympic bronze medal.

The 20-year-old who trains in his garage at home in Marietta, Georgia, on Wednesday became the first U.S. men's weightlifter to take home a medal of any color at the Games in four decades. Narrowly missing out on a world record that would have gotten him silver, Morris followed Mario Martinez and Guy Carlton from Los Angeles in 1984 as the most recent American men to medal at the Olympics.

“It’s amazing that I’m able to leave that kind of mark in the sport,” Morris said after finishing third in the men's 61-kilogram division. “I’m just in disbelief.”

Li Fabin of China defended his Olympic weightlifting title after going in as the overwhelming favorite to repeat. The 31-year-old set a Games snatch record by lifting 143 kilograms (315 pounds) on his third and final attempt, paving the way for gold when he got to 167 kilograms (368 pounds) in the clean and jerk for a score of 310.

“It was a smooth competition,” Li said through an interpreter. “I followed the instructions from my team, and I smoothly won the gold medal.”

Li became the first weightlifter with back-to-back Olympic titles since Naim Suleymanoglu of Turkey won three in a row from 1988-96. Theerapong Silachai of Thailand got the silver for medal at 303.

China defended another gold medal hours later when Hou Zhihui won the women's 49-kilogram division. Hou set an Olympic clean and jerk record at 117 kilograms on her third and final attempt to pass Mihaela Cambei of Romania by one point, 206-205.

Cambei earned silver in her country's return to the Games following its ban from Tokyo in 2021 for past doping cases, and Thailand's Surodchana Khambao was at 200 for bronze. American Jourdan Delacruz was fifth.

Morris, who is coached by his father, Tripp, got emotional with the bronze medal hanging around his neck when he began talking about what his mother, Anne Marie, and his sister, Etta, give up so he can lift at such a high level. His grandmother Debbie drives him to physical therapy every week.

“I don’t have anywhere else to go, so I never had any real need to get my driver’s license,” Morris said. “I’m planning to get it very soon. I’ve pretty much learned how to drive. I just haven’t taken the test yet.”

That is a short-term goal. Doing better in Los Angeles in 2028 — probably moving up a weight class next time — is for down the line.

Until now, his priority was getting on the podium in Paris, something that was threatened when he slipped on his first clean and jerk. USA Gymnastics senior director of sport performance Mike Gattone, standing nearby, said, "That’s the third guy I’ve seen slip on that platform.”

Morris moved the bar forward for his second attempt and was successful on the 172 kilogram (379 pound) lift that put him in medal position at 298. Locked into a medal, he went for a clean and jerk world record attempt of 178 kilograms (392 pounds) and came up just short of completing it.

“I knew I had it in me,” said Morris, the youngest U.S. weightlifter at the Olympics since Cheryl Haworth in 2000. “Any other day, I would definitely have a shot at making it. Today I had a shot of making it.”

Four-time Olympic medalist Eko Yuli Irawan of Indonesia, the oldest weightlifter in the category at age 35, injured his right hip or leg on his unsuccessful final lift. He limped off with assistance after failing to make a lift in the clean and jerk, preventing him from extending his lead as his country's most decorated Olympian.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Michaela Valentina Cambei of Romania reacts during the women's 49kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Michaela Valentina Cambei of Romania competes during the women's 49kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Jourdan Delacruz of the United States competes during the women's 49kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Jourdan Delacruz of the United States reacts as she competes during the women's 49kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Hou Zhihui of China competes during the women's 49kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara,Pool)

Hou Zhihui of China competes during the women's 49kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Hampton Morris of the United States competes during the men's 61kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Medalist, from left to right, Theerapong Silachai of Thailand, silver, Li Fabin of China, gold, and Hampton Morris of the United States, bronze, celebrate on the podium during the medal ceremony for the men's 61kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Hampton Morris of the United States competes during the men's 61kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Bronze medalist Hampton Morris of the United States celebrates on the podium during the medal ceremony for the men's 61kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Hampton Morris of the United States reacts as he competes during the men's 61kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Hampton Morris of the United States competes during the men's 61kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Li Fabin of China competes during the men's 61kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Li Fabin of China reacts as he competes during the men's 61kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Li Fabin of China reacts as he competes during the men's 61kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Li Fabin of China competes during the men's 61kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara,Pool)

Li Fabin of China competes during the men's 61kg weightlifting at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

WASHINGTON (AP) — As they filed into the front pews at Washington National Cathedral, wearing dark suits and mostly solemn faces, five current and former presidents came together for Jimmy Carter's funeral. During a service that stretched more than an hour, the feuding, grievances and enmity that had marked their rival campaigns and divergent politics gave way to a reverential moment for one of their own.

Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the first two of the group to take their seats Thursday, shook hands and chatted at length. Trump, the former president who will retake the Oval Office in 11 days, leaned in and listened intently to his predecessor, notwithstanding the political chasm between them. At times, the two flashed smiles.

Trump later returned to his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida Thursday night to meet with Republican governors and refused to say what he and Obama discussed, but joked, “It did look very friendly, I must say.”

“I didn’t realize how friendly it looked. I said, 'Boy they look like two people who like each other and we probably do," he said. "We have little different philosophies, right, but we probably do."

The president-elect added, “I don’t know. We just got along. But I got along with just about everybody.”

Obama, who attended Carter's funeral without his wife, Michelle, shared a second-row pew with former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, along with their spouses. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived last and sat in the pew just in front of them.

Members of the exclusive presidents' club were on their best behavior. Bonded by the presidency, they rarely criticize one another or the White House’s current occupant — though Trump has flouted those rules frequently. He has both praised and criticized Carter in recent days, and he complained that flags will still be at half-staff to honor the deceased president during his inauguration.

In one seemingly chilly moment, Trump looked up when Vice President Kamala Harris — whom he defeated in November's hard-fought election — entered the cathedral, but he didn't move to greet her as she and husband Doug Emhoff took seats directly in front of him and Melania Trump. Nor did Harris acknowledge him.

After the service, Emhoff made a point to turn around and shake hands with Trump.

Obama, with Trump on his left, also turned to his right to chat with Bush. Clinton, with wife Hillary, was the last of the ex-presidents to take a seat and got in some chatter with Bush as well.

The White House said the former presidents also met privately before taking their seats. There was no word on what was said then, though Trump said later of its participants, "We all got along very well.”

Funerals are among the few events that bring members of the presidents' club together. In a way, former President Gerald Ford was there, too: Ford's son Steven read a eulogy for Carter that Ford had written before he died in 2006.

Busy with personal pursuits, charitable endeavors and sometimes lucrative speaking gigs, the former leaders don’t mingle often. They all know the protocol of state funerals well — each has been involved in planning his own.

During the 2018 funeral for George H.W. Bush, then-President Trump sat with his predecessors and their spouses, including the Carters, and the interactions were stiff and sometimes awkward.

This time, Trump also didn't appear to interact with Hillary Clinton, whom he defeated in the 2016 election.

Trump was seated in the pew in front of his former vice president, Mike Pence — one of the few times they have coincided at events since Pence refused to overturn the results of the 2020 election after Trump lost to Biden. The two shook hands but didn't speak much beyond that. Pence's wife, Karen, appeared to avoid engaging with the president-elect.

Trump, who largely avoided contact with the former presidents during his first term — and pointedly did not seek their advice — has been critical of Republican former presidents, particularly the Bush family, which made him an uneasy member of the former presidents' club. Carter himself didn't particularly relish being a member of the club, at times criticizing its staid traditions.

Many past presidents have built relationships with their predecessors, including Bill Clinton, who reached out to Richard Nixon for advice on Russian policy, and Harry S. Truman, who sought counsel from Herbert Hoover.

One of the first calls Obama made after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 was to George W. Bush to spread the word that the mission had been accomplished, said Kate Andersen Brower, author of “Team of Five: The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump.”

“It's the loneliest job in the world, so usually they reach out and rely on each other," said Andersen Brower. "But Trump didn't have that the first term, so this will just be another four years where he doesn't depend on anyone who came before him."

She noted that Carter spent years as a proud Washington outsider and skipped the unveiling of his own portrait to avoid being in the same room with the man who beat him in 1980, President Ronald Reagan.

“Carter and Trump, even though they have the least in common about everything else, are similar," Andersen Brower said, "in just how they approach telling what they actually think.”

Weissert reported from Palm Beach, Florida.

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry listen (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with former Vice President Mike Pence as Melania Trump watches before the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump arrive before the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump watch as former President Barack Obama arrives before the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Former President Barack Obama shakes hands with former Vice President Mike Pence before the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, as President-elect Donald Trump sits with Melania Trump at right. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden watch as the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter begins at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, former President Bill Clinton, former first lady Hillary Clinton, former President George W.Bush, former first lady Laura Bush, former President Barack Obama, former President and President-elect Donald Trump, former first lady Melania Trump, former Vice President Al Gore, former Vice President Mike Pence and others, attend the State Funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Front row, from left, President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff and second row from left, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, former President Barack Obama, President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump, stand during the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)