In the English language, the term "weightlifter" has become dliuted. Rarely are English speakers referring to athletes who compete in the sport of weightlifting. Instead, more colloquial usage is to describe anyone who lifts anything regardless of what their sport is.

This isn't a problem in Spanish. The term "pesista", loosely translated to "weightlifter", is used to separate Masters of Weightlifting from the broad and inclusive English language term "weightlifter".

It's fitting then that Mattie Rogers, one of the US's most promising prospects in the international weightlifting scene, is coached by Danny Camargo, himself a decorated US weightlifter of Colombian descent. The concept of the pesista is clear in not only his process but in Mattie Rogers.



Young, driven, and dedicated to her craft, if Mattie is not a pesista quite yet she's certainly well on her way.

At the age of 20, Mattie Rogers is the best American weightlifter in her weight class and one of the top female weightlifters in the country. She's medaled internationally as a Junior and holds several Junior and Senior American Records. As a point of comparison, Rogers' total would have qualified her for Nationals in 2013...as a male in the same weightclass.

 

One of those days where you just HURT. Hurts to laugh, hurts to sit, hurts to walk, hurts to move, literally everything is just SO SORE and achy. So I knew these 2+3's (clean, jerk, clean, jerk, jerk) would be a struggle, but @camargo_oly decided to move my baseline up so they were even heavier than expected! Lowering down the jerk to do the second jerk on the second C&J of every set proved to be a pain in the ass on dead legs (at only 2kg under my best double btw...) but after 5 attempts FINALLY made my set at the last weight for the day. Some days ya just gotta fight your fucking ass off for what you want. Not settling, not quitting, and doing whatever it takes to keep getting stronger. Hardest training day in a while. #workfuckingharder #earnednotgiven #hotmessjerks #legslegslegs #sprintswereabadidea #strugglenoises full video goin up on my Facebook later tonight

A video posted by Mattie Rogers 🍰 (@mattiecakesssss) on Oct 8, 2015 at 3:19pm PDT

But Mattie isn't all iron, sweat, and chalk. Between the multitude photos and videos of her intense training sessions are gems of humor and charm, perhaps giving us an idea of why she's so likeable and popular.

I swear every morning I wake up it's like "I will not survive this day without a nap. I'm actually going to die." But then coffee.

— Mattie Rogers (@mattie_rogers) October 27, 2015

She's made it clear what her plans are for the future: representing USA in the Olympics as a weightlifter. She has no hesitation or apprehension in talking about her goals or about how her father's untimely death to cancer helps light that fire to this day.

 

Alright so apparently it's #nationaltattoostoryday and we about to get alllll emotional with this one. I'm not one to share much of my personal life with anyone, but I feel that this is has shaped me into who I am today. My life would have gone a completely different direction of it weren't for the struggles myself and my family have gone through. So here's my first tattoo: my father passed away at age 38 from colon cancer (age 6 for me). He fought long and hard with my mom and the rest of us by his side, but unfortunately did not make it. He wrote letters to us kids before he passed and I was given mine when I turned 18. In it he made sure we knew we were loved, we knew he would be there for us if not physically, than spiritually, that we always respected our mother and used our manners and made a point of repeating that nothing worth having comes easy. In fact, mine was ended with: "Whatever you do in life, do it well, do it to the best of your abilities and take pride in it. Anything worth doing is worth doing right." I got the tattoo as a constant reminder that he is with me. And that taking the easy way out is never the right decision. The years following were a struggle for all of us, but it is that struggle that made me stronger. That struggle shaped me into who I am now. So now as I travel the world I always have a part of that letter with me; a part of him with me. He mentioned in that letter that he hopes he's here to see me make the Olympics (I was a gymnast at the time), and I work every single day to get one step closer to reaching that dream and that goal. #allthefeels #iloveyoualways

A photo posted by Mattie Rogers 🍰 (@mattiecakesssss) on Sep 16, 2015 at 3:52pm PDT

Mattie Rogers looks through the sweat and tears of daily training, past the pains of sacrifice and sees the future she's creating, a future she is earning day in and day out.

Through Mattie Rogers we too can see the future of American Weightlifting and it's looking golden.

When you "don't feel like it", remember what you're working towards. Remember your dream. #earnednotgiven pic.twitter.com/pWtyhNDsl6

— Mattie Rogers (@mattie_rogers) October 22, 2015

Want more? Episode 1 of Golden Girl: Mattie Rogers drops tomorrow exclusively on FloPro.