The U.S. is sending three women’s weightlifters to the Rio Olympics, but 2012 Olympian Holley Mangold is not one of them.
Fellow London Olympian Sarah Robles, who served a doping ban from 2013 to 2015, and first-time Olympian Morghan King joined the already-qualified Jenny Arthur on the Rio team following the Olympic Trials in Salt Lake City on Sunday night.
No U.S. man has earned an Olympic place yet, but eight will head to a Pan American qualifying event in Colombia in June for the chance at one U.S. berth.
Mangold, the younger sister of New York Jets Pro Bowl center Nick Mangold, completed one of her six lifts at the Olympic Trials, dealing with wrist problems in training, according to NBC Sports Live Extra commentators.
Mangold finished 10th in the super heavyweight class at the London Olympics and 13th and 23rd at the 2014 and 2015 World Championships. She also tattooed the Olympic rings on the side of her head.
Robles, also a super heavyweight, was the top U.S. lifter across all men’s and women’s classes at the 2012 Olympics (seventh place) and the 2015 Worlds (sixth place).
She tested positive for an exogenous androgenic anabolic steroid and/or its metabolites in 2013 and was banned for two years until last August. Robles said she took the supplement DHEA to treat a hormone disorder, which led to the failed drug test.
She failed to complete a snatch lift Sunday, but results in previous competitions boosted Robles onto her second Olympic team.
“I’m glad things ended up working out, because it was kind of hell for those last couple years,” Robles said, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
The eight men who will vie for one possible Olympic spot in a Pan American event in Colombia in June are 2012 Olympian Kendrick Farris plus Norik Vardanian, Alex Lee, Caine Wilkes, James Tatum, Wesley Kitts, Travis Cooper and Donovan Ford.
The U.S. has not won an Olympic or World Championships weightlifting medal since 2005.
