The Untold Story of Mattie Rogers | Documentary

Mattie Rogers is one of the most iconic weightlifters in the world. One of the most decorated U.S. female weightlifters in history. A record-breaking athlete who changed the trajectory of women’s weightlifting in the late 2010s.

She pushed boundaries. She set every American record. She stood on countless international podiums and proved what was possible for women in strength sports. But behind the medals, the fame, and the unstoppable drive… there is a story most people have never heard.

Before becoming Mattie Rogers the weightlifter, she was a kid fighting through a dark and painful chapter of life. A childhood filled with trauma, uncertainty, and moments when hope seemed completely out of reach. Still, she refused to quit. Every step forward was earned. She always had a goal, and nothing was going to keep her from achieving it.

This documentary goes deeper than competition highlights. It reveals the sacrifices, the transformation, and the resilience it took to become the athlete the world knows today.

This is The Untold Story of Mattie Rogers.

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Okay. Hey, Matt. What are you doing? 
Say taking a bath, daddy. Daddy. Yeah. [Music] I was born on August 23rd, 1995 in 
Apopka, Florida. Aka like is this little kind of dinky town. I know we were the first house 
in our neighborhood. There was nothing. It was like big big news when we got a super Walmart 
in Apopka. I know it’s a little different now,   but back then it was just it was nothing. A whole 
lot of nothing. I wish I remembered more of like my early childhood because just based on like 
pictures, videos, little like slivers of memories that I have. It was really great early on. We are 
just like, you know, kind of a basic lower middle class family. I have two siblings. Early on, 
my mom was just kind of like a stay-at-home mom   with us. She taught like kickboxing and Pilates 
and like very active things. So, I was always around that. My dad worked for some company. 
I don’t know. I don’t know. It was just very, very normal. My sister, my older sister was in 
gymnastics and I was told I was dragged along cuz I was the baby and I would always go off and try 
and do it and eventually like, “Hey, why don’t you do like mommy and me classes?” Cuz you could do 
those when you’re one, two years old. And I just started in gymnastics. At the time I was four, 
they had recruited me to the competitive team, which were three-hour practices 5 days a week. And 
I know my mom tells the story of like she’s like, “Are you sure?” Like that’s really long. And I 
just like kind of skipped to the back of the gym   with the team. And and so from 3 4 years old on, I 
was training 3 4 hours a day every single day and kind of never stopped. I am the middle child of 
three siblings, older sister and younger brother. So, I know there’s kind of stereotypes about the 
middle child. Um, I don’t know if I fit those, but I am I am the middle child. I was the 
only blonde one in my whole family. So,   there was a lot of jokes of being like, “Oh, 
you’re the milkman’s kid.” Cuz I just now I look like my mom, but back then I had this like 
platinum blonde bowl cut and my siblings both had black hair. So I was very small until about 
first grade. I was I was the smallest one in my class. I just had this big old head on this 
like very tiny body. And then in first grade   I grew 11 in. So initially like you know when 
you’re early compulsory level gymnastics. You’re small. You’re like yeah it’s looking good. It’s 
looking good for this one. And then I just kind   of like sprouted up and by the time I was 11 they 
had already told my mom like hey she’s a little she’s a little too tall for this sport. like her 
feet are too big for the beam. But I stuck with   it until I was 13. And I vividly remember the 
day that I quit. I was over it. At that point, it was 5-hour practices 6 days a week. And id 
started kind of like within that year kind of   making excuses like, “Oh, I’m sick. I can’t go to 
I can’t go to practice today.” And at that point, I was in middle school. So I’d go to middle 
school till 4:00, go straight from school, eat in the car to practice. Practice ended at 
9:00. 45 minute drive home. So I wouldn’t get home till like 10 o’clock and then that’s when I 
could do homework, eat, do anything that a normal kid would need to get done before they wake up 
and do it again the next day. I had a mental   block on beam. I really hated back tumbling for 
whatever reason. Terrified me. I still have like vivid nightmares about it. And I was learning it’s 
called a layout layout on beam. And I kept just like it’s called bing. I would like start to go 
and then stop. And the coach had kept me there 30, 45 minutes after practice on my 13th birthday. I 
was like, she was making me do them over and over and over. And I remember doing them and thinking, 
“This is the last time I’m ever going to have to   do them.” And I went home that night and I never 
came back. My childhood was great until it wasn’t. And it’s unfortunate that I don’t really have 
any memories of when it was great. I only have, you know, kind of photo video evidence of that 
portion because when I was six, my dad passed away from colon cancer. Now it’s recording. Hi, 
Matt. My dad was diagnosed with cancer when I was maybe four, almost five from what I was told. By 
the time they What do you have to say to your dad? Caught it. It had already spread. It was already 
like stage 4 terminal cancer and they gave him 6 months to live. I don’t I don’t really know a lot 
cuz it’s not something that I was ever kind of part of any of this discussion. That’s not quite 
how my family operated after the fact. It’s kind of just like this happened. We don’t talk about 
it. But I do know that he lived a lot longer than they thought he would. And he he did live 
until I was I just turned six. But at that point, it was living in and out of hospitals. It was we 
had a a hospital bed in our house with the oxygen tanks. And that’s kind of like my first memories. 
I remember the night that he passed. We had this like Halloween dress up sleepover lock in at my 
gymnastics gym. Even then, like Halloween was my favorite like it is now. And I’d finally gotten my 
sister to go with me and I was so excited. But we had all this family in town because they I guess 
knew it was getting close to the end. Over the gym intercom, they called me and my sister and 
my aunts came to pick us up and that was ended up being the night that he he had passed. So at 
that point, we didn’t get to say goodbye. We just   knew what was happening. And when we woke up the 
next morning, we knew my dad wasn’t there anymore. What in your life changed after you passed away? 
I mean, I don’t think any parent prepares for the fact that their their spouse will die at such a 
young age with such young kids. I mean, he was only 36 or 38. So, that’s that’s not old. That’s 
not a time that anyone I mean, that’s only 8 years older than I am. And I think about that now that 
I’m older. It’s like he was diagnosed and I think my mom was like 35. I think my mom was just really 
struggling. And I think specifically the way that she was raised and the way that the family kind 
of operated was we don’t talk about feelings. We don’t get help. We don’t, you know, address 
these things. They just are what they are. You act however you act. You don’t talk about it. I think 
a lot of my childhood I I resented the way she responded, but now as an adult, you can’t fault 
someone for how they grieve. When you’re a parent in that situation, hard to just take care of 
yourself when you have to take care of these young kids who barely know what’s going on. I mean, my 
brother was three at the time. So, it kind of just   became a fend for yourself situation from six on. 
I vividly remember I learned to pack my lunch, do my laundry that year. And from 6 to I mean we 
could even say into my 20s but till I moved out at 17. That’s just how we existed. We all fended 
for ourselves. We did what we could. We tried to stay out of my mom’s way when she was, you know, 
drinking, angry, not taking care of herself. And like I hate to say those things cuz I know it 
would hurt her to know how much it impacted us.   But it’s not something I want to put any shame 
or guilt to. Who am I to say I would have acted any differently? I don’t know. That’s a That’s a 
situation no one is prepared for. Do you think you had a good childhood? No. I think I had a pretty 
[ __ ] childhood, but I do think it greatly shaped me into who I am, my work ethic, cuz it was just 
you do these things to survive. You do these things because there’s it it’s your only out. It’s 
your only way to change the situation you’re in. Learning that at six years old develops this 
character and this like deepseated work ethic that you just you you can’t have that otherwise. 
I don’t know who I would be if I didn’t go through all of that. It was just so much anger and yelling 
and just no kind of accountability for any sort of actions. And like we raised ourselves whether 
my mom wants to admit that or not, she wasn’t there. She chose not to be a mom. Whether that was 
out of necessity because she, you know, you know, had to work and support three kids. She was a 
school teacher. You know, most kids look back on   a child and they’re like, “Oh, I played with these 
friends and I went this place and I did all this and I just only remember doing sports so that I 
could stay out of the house for as many hours out of the day as possible. When I quit gymnastics, I 
went into cheerleading cuz there was a gym I could walk to. It was like a mileish from my house, 
but I couldn’t afford the team dues or fees. So, that was my first job. I started working there 
when I was 14 or 15. You can’t get paid. So, it’s just like in exchange for being able to be on 
the team. Those are things if I wasn’t at school, I was at work. If I wasn’t at work, I was at a 
sport of some sort. And I just tried to stay away from home as much as I could because it was just 
such a big looming toxic just like environment that just like sucked all the life out of you. 
At some point after my dad had passed, my mom, she did remarry. I don’t remember how I felt about 
it. I don’t I I know I wasn’t like upset or angry. I just like, okay, whatever. You know, the guy 
was fine. I didn’t have any issues because I was the favorite of the three kids. He made that very 
clear. He was very mean to my brother. I just I don’t think he was very nice to my sister either, 
but he was always fine to me. And, you know,   he would take me to some of my gymnastics meets, 
which was cool cuz I’d never had a a parent really go to them before. I’d always just like, you know, 
tag along with somebody. I mean, come to find out,   only 2 years or so after they got married, he 
was having an affair. It was right before I quit gymnastics when they got divorced. My only 
memories of like that section of childhood are like my mom throwing all his stuff in the front 
yard and like yelling and fighting and which as a 10 11year-old that’s a lot to bear. Like 
you’re you’re keeping a secret. The person   that you know you’ve come to like because they’re 
so kind to you find out he’s not who you thought. that that’s pretty much the whole synopsis of 
like what I kind of felt or feel about that whole like few years. And then as my mom was 
like cleaning out his stuff, come to find out he was into child porn. It’s another situation 
where if you’re a parent, you find that out, you’re tearing down the wall to make sure nothing 
happened to your kids. And I just remember I was   like I think I was playing Super Smash Brothers 
with my sister and my mom came in was like won’t believe what I found tells us and that was the 
entire extent of any questioning any asking hey was he ever inappropriate with you anything 
just a single sentence can you believe it and then he wasn’t allowed to have contact with us 
till we were 18 that’s all I know never heard from him again we saw him one day we saw my mom 
throwing his stuff out. Never saw or heard from him again. A divorce is traumatic in a kid’s life, 
period. But I feel like that was an especially like kind of what the [ __ ] is going on type 
situation when we were already we went from, you know, stable, very unstable, fending for 
yourself at 6. Oh, maybe we’re stable again to even less stable than we were before. And with 
more more understanding cuz now I’m not six, now I’m 12. and I can like kind of put pieces 
together and understand, you know, adult feelings, adult emotions, and then you’re just left with 
all of this. And you’re like, “This is your burden. Do with it what you may. We’ll never 
talk about it again.” When I quit gymnastics, it opened up all of this free time that I’d never 
had in my life. What am I supposed to do? Like,   what do I do with all this time? Definitely not 
like relax or, you know, have friends. I think the very first sport I did after gymnastics was 
track through my middle school. Middle school was the first opportunity to try like school sports 
for us. So I was like, well, I’m just going to   try everything. So I I started in band, which I 
know isn’t a sport, but band was like my thing then. Did track and field, loved it. I did track 
and field for 4 years from there. Kind of just in the background. And then in middle school, I met 
a girl who went to the gym that I ended up going to for cheerleading and having a job at. She 
like, “Hey, come try this. You like gymnastics,   you’re good at flips. Gym gymnasts are always good 
cheerleaders. Like, come try it.” So, I did. I loved it. And the owner of that gym did CrossFit. 
And this was like 2011, maybe. Very early days of CrossFit. And he was like, he would kind of put 
us through CrossFit style workouts at the end as   our like conditioning. So be doing like an AM wrap 
of something or like 10 rounds of run some laps, do some burpees, whatever. And I loved it and I 
was so good at it. I remember I was like made it   my personal mission to like beat everybody at it. 
And he was like, “You should come to the gym with me. I think you’d really like this thing I do 
called CrossFit.” I like, “Okay.” And I dabbled   in lifting for school. I just wanted to try it cuz 
I, you know, stuck my fingers in everything when I finally had time. So I knew what a clean was. I 
did not know what a snatch was. cuz I knew what   we only did bench and clean. I was not good. I was 
just like a little skinny string bean. But he took me to it was called Altimont CrossFit at the time. 
In day one, I loved it. It was so fun. At that point, I was having a really hard time in high 
school. I hated it. I only liked it for the sports   and band. So, I did something that we had called 
dual enrollment. So, I did my freshman sophomore year of high school. I have almost no memory of 
that. I just don’t I just don’t remember any of   it. I did my junior senior year at a community 
college. So I took all my classes on Tuesday, Thursday so that I could wake up, go to CrossFit, 
go to work, go to cheer practice. That that was my day. Once I started CrossFit, I got so much 
stronger and so much like more powerful and a better athlete in general. And I remember around 
the time after I started CrossFit, my coach   introduced me, it’s called partner studying. 
Traditionally, it’s male base, female flyer. It’s like what you see in like college cheer where 
it’s like one guy, one girl. You don’t have like a whole team of bases underneath. So, I started 
doing that and I was, you know, getting the hang of it. I started getting good at it and we put it 
in our routine. That was my first taste of like I guess being recognized for something for a sport 
because at that time I was the first girl to do   it. There was there was a couple girls in college 
that did it and some I think acro and tumbling was just starting to come around so some of it was 
there but as far as all-star cheerleading nobody was doing one man stunting or partner stunting and 
so that year that I competed like a partner stunt on stage with the team was kind of when I started 
getting like a following. It was so long ago, but I want to say by the time I was done with 
Cheer, I had at least like 50,000 followers just because of like kind of the notoriety from being 
the first to do that and kind of start that like   the trend of it being more popular for female 
and female partner stunning for cheerleading to I competed at the world level, competed at the 
world championships four times, two different   teams. I got recruited for a world champion team 
for my very last year cuz you can only compete until you’re 18 in like standard divisions. I got 
recruited to compete for this team called Brandon Allstars that had won Worlds before. So, I was 
like, “Yes.” And then from there, I had already kind of started dabbling in lifting a little bit 
more at like the very tail end of my cheerleading career. And then after I finished cheerleading, I 
had a little bit, you know, more time. I was like,   I’m going to try weightlifting. And I think once 
I did that, I kind of never went back to CrossFit. 2012 I was doing CrossFit and cheerleading. I was 
more comfortable with CrossFit and I decided to do the Open for the first time in 2013. The Open for 
me was really exciting. So, it was kind of like a competition. I love that energy. It’s It’s what 
I’m used to. It’s what I’ve always done, but I   didn’t have a ton of experience with like anything 
beyond just doing the CrossFit classes every day. So, I did the Open in 2013. Back then, there was 
no teen division. There wasn’t a youth division. So they took basically all of the the kids under 
18, pulled them from the leaderboard and had like a ranking of them and it was like an invite only. 
Do you want to go to the games? And at that point like I had seen the games. I think that was the 
era of for sure Annie cuz she was my favorite.   I think Camille, Rich, all all of those like you 
know legends. I was like I would love to go there one day. And that’s like I know it’s like six 
months into CrossFit. You’re just learning about   these people. And then I get an invite to the 
games. It was the teen gauntlet at the CrossFit games, but I mean it’s the same experience. You 
got like a little bit of outfitting. You got to   compete at the games. And this was in Carson. 
I’m pretty sure it was just one day you just went. There was three or four workouts. And the 
last one was a max clean. And I remember like, yeah, like I wasn’t good at weightlifting yet, but 
I knew I’d been focusing on weightlifting a little   bit. So, I knew I’d probably be stronger than the 
other kids. I ended up winning. So, like my first CrossFit Open, got an invite to the games, won. I 
was like, I’m going to I’m going to go to the real CrossFit games. I’m going to be a CrossFit Games 
champion. And I did I did stick around in CrossFit for a little bit and I dabbled here and there, but 
I was still also dabbling in weightlifting. And   I went to my first junior nationals the next 
year. So that was summer of 2013. Early like January of 2014, I went to a junior nationals 
cuz why not? I qualified. I’m going to go see what it is. Never been. And I ended up getting 
ranked dead last, I think. I mean, not dead last,   dead last on the international ranking. I got I 
think third overall. And I remember I saw a USA singlet there. I saw someone like warming up with 
one. I was like, “Where do you buy that? Where do   you get that? I want one of those.” And my 
coach was like, “Oh, if you make Team USA, they give you one. like you can’t buy that. You 
have to make Team USA to get that. I was like,   “Oh, sick. I want I want that singlet.” And so 
after I came home, saw I was on the ranking, I was like, “Oh, I’ll just I’ll just go up the 
ranking.” And I didn’t know anything about weight classes then. I weighed in. I was in the 69 weight 
class. I weighed in at 6305. I was like, “Oh, I should have been a 63 and I would have been on the 
ranking.” So, I think it was maybe 2 weeks later there was last chance qualifier in California. I 
didn’t have any money. So, I did a GoFundMe to buy a spirit plane ticket to fly out all by myself 
to California, compete in the actual category I should have competed in. I think I I like PRED 
everything, came home from that and I was ranked   the number one junior going to Junior Worlds 
in Russia. It was my first international event. In 2014, the era of women’s weightlifting was 
not here yet. had not arrived. I remember on the senior level if there was a female that got into 
the A session like crazy unheard of. So I was in the B session at the junior world. I remember at 
the time I was close to like a junior American   record. So I tried to go for that was like so 
disappointed and like when I watch videos now I was like who let me even try that? Like 
that I was not even close. That was 2014. went to junior panams a few months later and 
since that world’s I’ve gone to every single world’s panams or major international event since 
I got invited to go to the Olympic training center and they flew me out for a camp you stay in the 
dorm you get to train twice a day they have a   dining hall they feed you have recovery centers 
and I was like this is the dream I’m going to do everything I can to come live here at that point 
I think I had just turned 18 but I’d moved out   when I was 17 so I had my own apartment. I was 
living by myself. Obviously, working a ton to, you know, try to pay rent. I remember I went 
home from that training camp and I said, I’m going to be serious about this. And to be 
serious about this, I can’t work this many hours. I need to do something so that I could focus on 
training. But the bullet, I knew there was only   about a year and a half left to qualify for the 
2016 Olympics. Basically, everything that was not weightlifting didn’t matter anymore. I remember 
I did Watada Palooa in 2015 as my like absolute last crossfit event. I said this is my last 
two raw. After this I’m done. I can’t be like intermingling the training. RX team we won. And 
I mean I was hurting but we won. Was the goal to make the 2016 Olympics? Yeah. At that point the I 
knew probably around mid 2015 that I had kind of an outside shot to make the 2016 team. Going into 
the 2016 Olympic trials, I was ranked number two. If you look at that ranking list, one and two 
would be going to the Olympics. And the third   spot was somewhere further down, but like they 
couldn’t be touched. It didn’t matter where they were ranked. Going into the trials, I was kind 
of more on the defensive. I couldn’t let anybody else bump me. If I moved from the second spot, I 
was not going to the Olympics. [Music] Oh, wow. That’s a new American record snatched 106 kilos 
and she smoked this. That meant at that time I had to kind of fend off one of our 48s. She had 
exactly the day that she needed which meant I had to I think the number was put like 11 kilos on 
my total. That’s clean. Excellent clean. [Music] And that’ll be good. That’s a good chart. That’s a 
good chart. But at the moment, this is not enough   to put her on the team from being bumped to 
third back up to second. It was like a huge a huge amount that it would have been a 11 12 kilo 
American record, which for context, usually you beat that 1 kilo at a time over years. Like that’s 
just not something that happens. Basically what we did, I made my first clean and jerk and we just 
put what we needed on the bar and that was 141. The current American record at the time was 133. 
I had to increase it that much. And I’d never even deadlifted that amount at that time. I went to 
pull it and I think part of me knew there was no way I was going to make it, but I was going to 
try. I have a feeling she’s going to be uh on the Olympic team in 2020. I hope so. This is without a 
doubt one of our brightest stars in weightlifting. Maddie Rogers has been as good as any lifter could 
possibly hope to be. I mean, in this country, what she has done over the last two years has been 
nothing short of amazing. And one of the one of the supers that was in the session who’s also an 
Olympian, Holly Mangold, I remember she had missed her attempts and she knew what I was trying to do 
and she basically changed her attempt so that I wouldn’t have to wait for her cuz I’d been sitting 
and I literally will never forget it cuz I think   she ended up bombing because of that. she’d missed 
two clean and jerks, would have had to repeat and just went up so that I could go and she like 
kind of let me have a more ideal situation to at least take a crack at that. And that’s like so 
respectable. I still had a total, but it it didn’t matter. At the end of the event, I ended up being 
awarded best lifter, which is pound-for-pound you   lifted the most, which kind of at that point just 
kind of felt like twisting the knife cuz I already knew I didn’t make the Olympics. and they’re 
like, “Oh, but you won best lifter at the Olympic   trials.” To me, I was like, “That does literally 
means nothing.” Like, if anything, it made me bitter and kind of jaded and upset. I have clearly 
shown I am the best lifter out of this group. This was the group and I won the best lifter. And 
you’re telling me that’s not good enough? When I was a gymnast, I always wanted to go to the 
Olympics. I had like a Build-a- Bear. It was named Carly Patterson because she was my favorite 
Olympic gymnast. Any sport that I did, I was like,   I want to go to the Olympics. I want to go to the 
Olympics. And there’s also a a letter that my dad had left me. A line of it says, I can’t wait to 
watch you at the Olympics what one day in whatever sport you choose. Not only was it like my goal, 
but it was something that I I guess I made known when I was five, but it was also kind of like a 
with that cuz I got that note when I was 18. I got that note right before I started qualifying for 
the 2016 Olympics. And for that, that kind of like lit an extra match. I already had a match lit, but 
knowing that my dad had also seen that in me and wanted that for me kind of gave me a little bit 
more fire. I knew my Olympic dreams weren’t over cuz I was so new. And I just took that and I was 
like, I’ll I’ll just be kind of the front runner for the next Olympics. I’ll be like I was already 
the best lifter. I’m getting off to more or less a head start and it was just back to training. 2017 
was the first full year of regular international competition after the Rio Olympics and that was 
when my my medal streak started. 2017 I meddled at my first world. I meddled at Panams. I had meddled 
at the Panams previously. I’ve meddled at everyone since 2015. But 2017 specifically was when I was 
kind of on my like angerfueled rampage. I guess I meddled at worlds 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 or 2020, 
which I don’t even remember how they changed it, but I meddled at every single world. And I think 
at the time the record was three consecutive   worlds. And so I I I broke that. I think something 
I didn’t expect in the 2020 quad was kind of the explosion of the women’s era in USA weightlifting 
specifically the talent pool was bigger whether it’s from exposure from CrossFit the internet 
being more of a thing and people can see strong women in ways that they hadn’t before but there 
were so many young athletes coming in and starting 2020 I was like I’m the front runner I I didn’t 
think I was coasting but I thought I had like a   kind of a cushion behind me and there were just 
like every event there was like more new people, more new people, new American records, everything 
was just like exploding so quickly and you have people like Olivia Reeves coming into the scene 
and you’re like these are these are lifts that have never been done before by an American by 
anyone in the world period. Like American women   used to not be able to stack up to international 
lifters cuz we’re not on drugs and we just we just don’t have the training culture that they have 
in these other countries. And now all of a sudden   like we’re meddling in all kinds of events and 
divisions that we didn’t before. And I quickly realized I did not have the kind of cushion that I 
thought I did. What American records do you break? All of them. I broke every junior, senior American 
record in the 69, 71, 76, 81, all of them. They’ve since been rebroken by various people, but at that 
time I I held all of them. From when CO started to about May of 2020, we had no idea if the Olympics 
were even going to happen. So eventually they released new procedures. We thought we were done 
qualifying, but we had new events that we had to go to to continue qualifying. And it was announced 
that they were pushing the Olympics an entire year. So, our 2-year qualifying period turned 
into a 3-year qualifying period. And when we all thought we were done, honestly, I don’t remember 
when I got officially secured, which is kind of a bummer when I think about it, cuz there was no 
competition where I could like drop a lift and be   like, “Yeah, I made the Olympics.” cuz I’m pretty 
sure the final qualification event if the Olympics happened on schedule got cancelled because of co 
and that would have been the one where it’s like   yeah I made it. I do remember I was in between 
sessions I was doing a double day and I opened up an email that was like hey you’re one of the 
four that made it stay tuned cuz we don’t know   how to maintain eligibility with the new Olympic 
date. Hi, I just wanted to jump on here between my training sessions today because you may or may not 
have seen that the Olympic team has been named and my name is on there. If I tried to type everything 
I want to say, it would take me like 8 days and   nobody reads that. Anyway, I know this this feels 
like so cheesy making this. It’s like, thank you, thank you, thank you for my award, but that’s not 
that’s not what this is. I just I feel like very overwhelmed with just gratitude and emotions 
right now. and I’m going to try really hard to get stronger, get better, and just make some lifts 
at the Olympics. That was your dream, Ryan. What did it feel like? I think the overarching feeling 
was relief. Every time I think about it, it it’s a little sad for me, just because it was in the 
heat of of co right when lockdown had happened, nobody knew what was going on. Nobody knew 
how long we were going to be in that. And   then you get the news you’ve been waiting for 
your whole life and you’ve been working for, but it’s like you have no idea how to get from 
the point where the entire world is locked down to   going and competing at this massive world event. 
A long way from Rogers, the disappointment in 2016 did not qualify and trials failed to hit her final 
clean and jerk. But here she is now 5 years later at her very first Olympics. It’s been a long wait 
to make the Olympic stage. Manny Rogers to jerk it for a total score. Yes. Yes. The adjustment. 
She knows it. Three white lights and leaving it all on the platform in Tokyo. Matty Rogers with 
a clean and jerk of 138. It might not be a medal, but it’s a long journey realized at the Olympics. 
Wow. I cannot even begin to describe what it takes for an athlete to be able to come out here and 
keep a t is a tremendous amount of weight on a tremendous stage. It’s been a while since 
she’s even attempted a jerk. She’s missed her last couple queens. She’s cold from 
the shoulder overhead. She had to do so much there. I am so proud. Congratulations 
to the American coaches there. Much relief. [Music] After everything was done, I still 
ended up uh getting a total. I’m grateful for that cuz it was one of those like kind 
of clutch only made my third attempt cleaning jerk situations. And I ended up in sixth 
in the world in the 87 kilo weight class. And I do remember being so pissed that even 
that terrible day, that sixth place total, would have been bronze in my actual body weight 
category. I had known that my mental health had been an issue the entirety of my 20s. But it 
was one of those things like just push like   I’ll deal with it later. I don’t have time. I’ll 
deal with it later. I’ll deal with it later. And then after the Olympics, it became something 
that I couldn’t deal with later. Like I was afraid to kind of dive into that and start like 
the journey of therapy and medication if I needed it cuz I didn’t know if that would change kind 
of like my motivation and my drive. Like I knew   that that like fear and anxiety and anger in part 
fueled my work ethic and my motivation. And I was worried if I took that away I would be less of 
an athlete or I wouldn’t be as motivated or I   wouldn’t be as disciplined and I’d be more like 
ah you know it’s fine. like I wouldn’t have that fire that I had. So, I was afraid. I was afraid 
to make that change. But after the Olympics,   I knew I had to. It wasn’t something I could 
just put on the back burner. Immediately, I think literally the day I got home, met with a a 
therapist, met with a psychiatrist, and we started the journey of finding the right medication for 
me, getting a diagnosis, all of the things that   go into kind of starting to tackle your mental 
health. There wasn’t a whole lot of, you know, downtime, transition time. I came home and I was 
like, let’s just let’s get back to work. I thought I was the front runner going into Tokyo. I was 
wrong. I’m definitely not in that position this time, so it’s going to be even harder. And I knew 
I just had to put my head down and get to work. In the qualifying for 2020, one of the things 
that I realized I needed to change was I needed a different coach. I had been with the 
coach who I started with up until that point, but it had just become a lot of me working by 
myself. I don’t like to talk about my accolades. You know this. My name is Amy Annayia Everett 
and I am a senior international weightlifting coach for United States weightlifting USAW. 
Maddie and I did know of each other because you know we were in the the same competitions 
sometimes. I was coaching another athlete and so I knew of her and I knew her coach but we 
never like really spoke I guess. I remember one time she bombed out. I can’t remember what the 
meat was and she was crying. and she wasn’t my   athlete and I walked over and just said, “You 
know, even though you didn’t make those lifts, you’re still an inspiration. I remember that.” 
She probably doesn’t remember that. She had a   competition. It was at uh an AO2. That competition 
at the time, I think it was in 2018, was like a last chance qualifier for worlds. And she had to 
make sure she stayed on the world team to remain eligible for the Olympics. And her coach couldn’t 
be at that competition. So he had texted me and asked if I was going and I was cuz I had other 
athletes that were doing the world team trials.   He asked if I could coach her there and so I I 
agreed and then I coached her at that competition. I met Amy. She she handled me really well. She 
was great. I met some of the Catalyst team out there and they knew that I was kind of struggling 
at home. I was training by myself all the time. At   that time I was also programming for myself and it 
just went unnoticed. like I knew that wasn’t going to get me to the Olympics and so the some of the 
team was like, “Hey, you should come you should   come to like a training camp with us and just like 
hang out.” So that was at Amy and Greg’s house and I went there and immediately I was like, “Oh my 
god, this is amazing.” Like having attention, having eyes on me. I was there for a week. I sat 
on it and as Amy was bringing me to the airport because it’s very specific how you have to go 
about changing coaches at the high level so that   like nobody can be accused of poaching whatever. 
And in the very last day, she was I was getting ready to take her to the airport and she was 
sitting at the c kitchen counter and she said,   “So, I was wondering if I can ask you something.” 
I was like, “Sure, what’s up?” And she’s like, “What do you think about maybe being my coach?” 
And she was like, “What the [ __ ] are you talking   about?” You know, and I was like, “I’m literally 
getting ready to take you to the airport and you dropped this bomb on me right now. Why did 
you wait until now?” And I was like, “Okay,   see you.” Because I wanted her to have as little 
time as possible between me telling my coach this and I want to do it in person. So, I went I told 
her, got on the airplane, it was a redeye flight, landed at the airport, went to the gym, talked to 
my previous coach, and I was like, “Hey, like, you know, this is what I need to do for my career.” 
Thought it was fine. It ended up being very not fine, but then I was then I was with Amy from that 
point on and now people call us the dream team. How did he take it? I thought he took it 
suspiciously well. I was like, “Yeah, like totally get it.” And I’d never worked remotely 
with a coach before, so I’m like take I’m videoing my lifts and sending them to Amy. Then he starts 
getting upset with me for texting in the gym. And I was like, “How can you I have I’m an adult, like 
I’m allowed to use my phone.” And he’s like, “It’s disrespectful to text another coach while you’re 
in my gym.” And I was like, “We we talked about   this.” And long story short, I was essentially 
kicked out of the gym two weeks before Worlds. I worked at a deal where I could come in in off 
hours where there was he wasn’t there, nobody   was there because I was it was disrespectful to 
talk to another coach in that gym. It was his gym, his rules. So, I finished out training for Worlds 
there and that was the last he’s ever spoken to me. I wanted to make sure that I could help her. 
If I didn’t feel that I could be of service to her or help her in the ways that she needed help, then 
I didn’t want to say yes because I didn’t want to do her a disservice. And I and I wasn’t going 
to take her just because she was Mattie Rogers   because I just didn’t give a [ __ ] There’s a lot 
of controversy because everyone thought there was a lot more drama than there was. In that moment, 
I saw her as a person that was asking me for help.   And I didn’t I took that very seriously because 
I knew that she felt like she was drowning and I wanted to make sure that I could be someone 
to throw her that life vest. And if I wasn’t, then I didn’t want to be misleading in any way. 
Sure, there was drama after the exchange had happened. I thought it was a clean, respectful 
split. I did everything by the book to change coaches. And I understand there’s feelings like 
could be upset. I was like kind of close to making   the Olympics and that was like also his dream 
of being like an Olympic coach. But the internet just took it and ran with it and like made these 
just crazy accusations. None of it was true and everyone kind of thought like, oh well this is 
the end of her career. This is this is the end   of it. There was a lot of trash talking. There 
were a lot of people saying that I didn’t know what I was doing and that I was going to ruin 
her career and that that was it. Maddie Rogers was over and they couldn’t believe that she 
chose me. Within the first 6 months, I very much proved it was the best decision I could have 
made in my career. And I think some of that drama, my previous coach went on some podcasts and 
just dragged me through the mud. And that’s not something that I did. And I felt like I was being 
very respectful. And when I heard the podcast, I tried to call. I tried to reach out. I said, “Hey, 
I’ve done you the service of not speaking publicly about this in any way. I assumed you would do the 
same. It’s a personal matter.” Well, he basically went on podcast saying mean things from someone 
I wouldn’t have expected it from at the time. at 21 was kind of the the beginning of my 
understanding of my mental health issues. I was very much not in a good spot. You know, I met 
this person who was kind of nice to me sometimes, said they loved me, and I was like, “Okay, that’s 
that’s probably what love is. That’s, you know, that’s good enough.” I was young, and I just 
I don’t think I knew any other definition of compatibility or love. I just took what I got and 
I was like, “This is probably right.” So, by the time I got married right after the Olympics, I had 
already, you know, seen and ignored plenty of red flags. You know, I we had known I had known that 
she had some mental health issues. She was going through a lot. That was a really tough year after 
that. you know, it it was a lot to admit and to deal with her mental health and she’s been very 
public about it and I’m very proud of her. I’ve   always encouraged her. So many women and kids look 
up to her and men and she has such a reach and I’ve encouraged her to be honest about it because 
she has the ability to say you h it’s okay to have these mental health issues and you can still be a 
good weightlifter, a good person, and it doesn’t make you weak. I didn’t know what proper treatment 
was cuz I’d never had that whether from family or relationships. I’d never known what love felt 
like. I didn’t know how to give or receive love. As it the relationship kind of progressed, 
it turned more angry and more emotionally abusive. Sounds aggressive, but like I think I 
have to just face it. That’s what it was. I kept my mouth shut about it for a long time because 
I was just respecting boundaries and I knew it wasn’t my place to tell her, you know, like this 
isn’t normal. This isn’t a normal relationship. It just got worse and worse every day, every month, 
every year. Was worse treatment than before. I was constantly getting reprimanded, being told I’m 
stupid, I’m dumb, I’m this, that. if I like didn’t perform well, what whatever it was, there’d be an 
argument and it would always come back to like me. Everything was me. Everything was my fault. And I 
believed that a lot of things that were happening in her relationship, she just thought that’s 
what it was. One of the things that I feel like I’ve taught her is how it feels to be loved and 
what it feels like to love. She has a really hard time showing it still, but she shows it in her own 
ways. Eventually, you know, I started to realize, oh, this is not what a person is supposed to be 
treated like. You’re not supposed to be treated like [ __ ] and call it love. That’s not what love 
is. That’s not support. and that’s not love. It took me a lot of years, but I finally was like, 
“Hey, I’m not going to tolerate this. I’m not   going to tolerate being treated like this.” And 
that’s when things really, really took a turn for the worse. I went to her one day and I said, 
“This is not healthy. This isn’t good and I hate him and these are the reasons why.” And I knew in 
that moment that it was either going to help her or it was going to be the end of our relationship. 
Even if it risked ruining our relationship or me not being her coach in her life anymore, I knew 
that I had to do something to try to save her. I didn’t feel safe in my own home. I didn’t feel 
worthy. It was put on me like what? Like what? What’s wrong with you? Why are you doing this? 
Like you’re ruining everything. You’re you’re married and you’re choosing to break that apart. 
Come to the end of things. I was crazy because I was on medication for my mental illnesses. Point 
blank on paper, I have anxiety and depression with panic disorder. I’m on the absolute lowest dose of 
an SSRI and it was painted like I basically went into like a drug induced psychosis and I’m on this 
cocktail of medication that’s making me say these things and do these things. Eventually it turned 
extremely violent to the point where I would lock myself in a room to get away. I wouldn’t come out 
to eat. It just got to the point where I felt like there was never there was never an end that would 
be in my favor. So that the only way that I could control it was if I made the end myself. And 
that was the only way that I could get out of the situation that I was in in a way that I had 
a say. And as someone who I struggled with self harm all through my teenage years, you know, got 
a handle on it, it like flipped everything back and I started self harming again. My suicidal 
ideiation was something I’ve very barely had control of. I feel lucky that I was in therapy 
at that time because I I hid it for a while, but I did eventually talk to her about it. kind of 
dehumanizing because you mentioned that in therapy and it’s their job to make sure you don’t, you 
know, follow through with any plans, do anything.   I had to sign a, it’s called a suicide contract. I 
had to remove sharp objects from my immediate like space. I had to share that contract with roommates 
on international trips cuz through all of this, I’m still competing. I’m still trying to qualify 
for the 2024 Olympics. things got worse and there was a time where every morning I woke up and I was 
worried that she was going to be dead and I would text her and say checking in and she would text 
back and say alive. I didn’t even tell Amy for a long time until she saw it firsthand cuz she came 
to my house to fly out to Panams with me and she saw what was going on. Think you were not going 
to make it many times. My memory is very blurry of that whole section of years. One time specifically 
where I was selfharming. I knew if I could get up off the floor to get something sharper, I would 
die. And the only reason that I didn’t is because I was so stuck feeling just on the floor doing 
what I was doing where I physically could not get myself off the floor to go get a sharper object 
and all I had access to were shitty crap scissors and it wasn’t working. So the only person that 
knew of this was Amy. Yeah. And I still I never told her the extent of it because I think if you 
know Amy, you know she’s a worrier by nature. I was having a hard enough time managing myself 
and I felt like the more that I told her, the more I also had to use energy to reassure her 
that I was okay, which I wasn’t. I didn’t know if I would be. So, I’m like having to like pretend 
to be positive and be like, “I’m fine. It’s okay. Send me my training. I’ll go do it.” And I did 
every day. Every single day did my training as written regardless of what was happening. Every 
day. She knew it was bad, but I think it helped that I was able to get through my training for 
her to be like, “Okay, she’s okay.” You know,   through all of this, she was still training and 
she was training very well, which is insane to me how well she was training through this very 
unhealthy relationship and and everything she had to go through in her personal life. She was in 
survival mode and she just woke up every day and she just did what she had to do because she had to 
do it. How do you make it through? A little bit of luck. And uh honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know 
how I managed to come out of that as unscathed as I am. I mean, sure, there’s tons of damage and 
trauma. The fact that I’m here is just I’m just so grateful for that. And it’s it’s something that I 
didn’t tell anyone and I just held it in to myself and tried to deal with it myself. And I just the 
life that I have now is so vastly different and so just 180 better. And it’s not a life that I 
ever foresaw me having in any other scenario. Once we got her out of the house, I feel like her 
body took a big deep breath and it was almost like her flight or fight response just turned off and 
her body was just like and her mind was just like, I’m safe and I’m free. And once that happened, 
that’s when the injury really revealed itself. In October of 2023, I moved to Pensacola, 
Florida to basically start my whole life over from scratch. Moved all of my things, 
all of my gym, and just kind of put it all in storage and came here. Started training out of a 
CrossFit gym, Mako Athletics. I had come and I’d visited the gym before, so I kind of had made some 
friends, some acquaintances. It wasn’t completely   going in blind. And it was the first time that 
I was training around people for probably I mean since before co I trained exclusively by myself. 
I controlled every aspect of my environment. And then training into a CrossFit gym was like the 
most overstimulating experience because there’s   one just other people, other sounds, other 
movements. There’s just a lot happening and that was an adjustment in itself. But Pensacola 
as a whole, I had never been here before. As a born and raised Florida girl, I expected it. Oh, 
it’s just going to be just like Orlando. But it’s   like it’s night and day. A whole different vibe. 
Like it’s a beach town, but it’s a military town. And there’s seasons and there’s good weather 
and it’s not so like hot and swampy and like stagnant. And it just feels like a very kind of 
like a freeing place to be. It feels like home. But at the time, I was starting to have real 
issues with my injury. My hip had started hurting probably back in maybe May or June of that 
year. But when you’re in Olympic qualification, like it doesn’t matter. If you can 
still train and you can still lift,   you’re lifting. You don’t have the time to take 
a step back or I didn’t even want to get imaging cuz I didn’t want to know the extent of what 
the injury was just in case it was something   bad because I was going to ignore it anyway. Even 
if a doctor said, “You cannot lift. This is like detrimental. Stop now.” I don’t think I would 
have listened. After Worlds, when I came home,   I moved. I started kind of settling into my 
new life. It got to a point where it wasn’t something that I could push through. And I 
I think I have a really high pain tolerance.   I think everybody says that, but I think I’m 
really good at kind of like compartmentalizing, understanding this is going to hurt, this hurts, 
that’s okay doing it anyway. And it was to the   point where I was losing function of that whole 
side of my leg, that whole leg, that whole like side of my body. And that’s not something that I 
could push through. So at that point, I decided, okay, this is probably maybe November, December. 
let me start getting this looked at because it’s   only getting worse. If I want any shot at the 
Olympics, like I need to get this sorted or at least get some sort of I don’t know plan in 
place. So from December to about February, I was in and out of all kinds of doctors. We 
got all kinds of opinions, all kinds of imaging,   and it took a long time to figure out what it 
was. And the whole time I’m still training, I’m still competing. I just couldn’t ignore it. 
I lost all kind of bladder control, core control, bowel control. Of course, it hurt, but it was 
the loss of strength and control that really became the issue cuz I would go to do a lift and 
I would go to push that leg and there was just no   response from it. So, we eventually figured out 
it was nerve related. How or why, we didn’t know, but there was nerve damage. Once we saw that and I 
know just from my own schooling how long it takes for nerves to kind of come back around and heal 
along with all the recommendations from doctors and PTs like it wasn’t something that was going to 
be solved in time and not even remotely solved in   time to keep trying for the Olympics. So that was 
ultimately when I made the decision to withdraw. I didn’t know what the healing process would look 
like, if I would even be able to get back to where   I was, never mind get better than that. So it 
was kind of just like everything just came to a screeching halt. future planning in the sport. All 
of that was just on a hard pause. I mean, I was in pain outside of training, not even just training, 
just existing. I wasn’t sleeping. By the time I   made the announcement, I think I’d come to terms 
with it a good bit. And it was more like relief at that point because I think I knew almost a solid 
month before there’s no chance. I knew somewhere in there, even if I didn’t want to acknowledge 
it. And that announcement kind of almost forced   me to acknowledge it because other people now 
knew. And while it was hard, at the same time it was relief because I knew I could kind of get 
out of that cycle that I was in of just constant disappointment, being upset, being stressed about 
it, and just just being miserable every day in training. Did people think that was it for you? 
I don’t know what other people thought as far as the rest of my career, nor do I care. I honestly 
had no idea. My sole goal when I did take that step back was to get all of my function back that 
I had lost. And that’s not in terms of athletic performance, elite athletic performance, just as 
a functioning human. Like there was so much work to get over the feelings that I’d gotten used 
to of just like kind of being on eggshells that I didn’t even want to look at weightlifting. And 
I knew if I couldn’t get back to wanting to lift and coming into the gym and not being afraid to go 
look at a bar, there was no shot. Like I was not not only not going to be elite again, but maybe 
not even compete ever, whether or not my body was in a good condition. So I got put in contact 
with a PT through a PT in our gym, CJ. He put me in contact with Will Will Mills. We did some very 
kind of thorough work right off the bat, but a lot of the recovery, the very first stuff, like 
I had to log every time I went to the bathroom,   I had to practice breathing and bracing and doing 
keull appropriately. It was just like the smallest things and it was very tedious initially, like all 
the first month was just tedious. Lots of reps, lots of sets, nothing with weight even. And while 
I was doing that, I was able to do some CrossFit   workouts because I wanted to have fun still. 
I knew if I just only did my PT every day. I would I just it would be miserable. It’s it’s 
not fun work to do. It’s necessary work. So,   I would just jump into whatever the class was 
every day. And I loved it. Like, I was sad when I had to stop CrossFiting cuz I was back to lifting 
more. And even initially when I was lifting,   I was doing like three days of lifting, two days 
of CrossFit just because I was enjoying it. Like, I was excited to go to the gym. And I think that 
played a big part in being able to get past fear and like hesitancy of getting back to training 
training and it kind of like reignited that like excitement for going to the gym again. And it 
was just it was fun. When I started on May 1st, I kind of set the AO series 2 in the end of August 
as my comeback to the comeback because I’ve never not competed at a world championships and I needed 
that to get on the ranking and qualify for worlds. I kind of loosely set that expectation because 
I just didn’t know I was literally starting   from ground zero in May. May to August to be in 
the top 10 in the country is a very lofty goal, especially considering I had no idea how my 
body would respond to introducing weightlifting   again. But I went to AO2 in Fort Worth with 
the intention of just having a good day, having fun, making whatever lifts were on 
the bar, and I ended up hitting probably somewhere between 85 to 90% of my best. And it 
was enough to just sneak right on the bottom. I think I was in like maybe the seventh or eighth 
spot out of 10 that were on the world ranking. And so that solidified me for my I don’t know maybe 
eighth world team, eighth or ninth world team, I’m not sure, which was in December. 
And then so from there the goal was I could actually have kind of a true training 
cycle for a couple of months from August to December. When I got on that stage at AO2 and I 
lifted the way that I did and surprised myself, it kind of proved to myself that one, this 
method and this approach that I’m trying really hard to have works and two, I have a 
lot more left in me and that I wasn’t done. Leading up to Worlds, I knew that I wouldn’t be 
able to get to my 100% or where I was prior to taking that step back, but I knew I could get to 
maybe like 90 to 95% and pending who was there competing, that could be enough to fight for a 
medal, which was kind of my sole goal because   I’d had this medal streak for so long. I broke 
it when I was injured at the last world. Like I want to get like back into my groove of just 
meddling at every international event. So, I kept putting that pressure on myself even though 
I was trying to have this like different relaxed   fun kind of mindset and it was very conflicting 
and I kind of had to fight back and forth with it cuz I’d be like gh like a 105 snatch is not 
going to be a medal at worlds and then I need   would kind of the other side be like well that’s 
okay like you made it to worlds you didn’t think you’d be here and it was very hard to find like a 
happy medium once I got to worlds I was excited I was ready for a good performance I knew it wasn’t 
going to be like the best thing I’d ever done,   but I could make all of my lifts. And I actually 
felt like oddly calm and like ready. Like I almost never feel ready when I’m at an event. I 
always like the last two days before it’s like, “Oh my gosh, like am I ready? Should I be here?” 
All these things. And it’s just like swirling   chaos. And then I’m always fine. And this one I 
was like, “Oh, I I feel good. I feel ready. I feel confident in my openers. anything after that, like 
it’s probably going to be stuff I haven’t tried and I feel ready for that. And so I was like, 
“Wow, it’s really working.” Like my my mindset   and all of that like mental work that I’ve been 
doing is really working. Like I feel so prepared. When I went out there to take my first attempt, 
I vividly remember like being at the chalk bucket   and it’s like it the lights it every venue is 
different, but the lights were really bright so you can’t really see much of the crowd. And I 
kind of like looked up and I saw some people and there was like a section over to like this side 
that was like, “We love you.” And I was like,   “Oh, that’s so nice.” And like usually I’m so like 
zoned in. I don’t hear that. But I was just like, “I’m just so happy to be here.” And I was like 
chalking up. I was like, “Oh, this is going to   be so casual.” And I I really do think I took for 
granted how heavy the weight is. Like it. Yes, I was confident in it. It’s a routine number, 
but I I don’t think I gave it enough weight. I missed it. And I literally was pulling. I was 
like, “Oh, I’m gonna smoke it.” And it just   wasn’t there. Which is a weird feeling because 
usually in competition when you miss it feels heavy or you you know you did this. And I walked 
off. I was like, “I don’t know what happened.”   And I went for the second one and the same thing 
happened. I was like, “What is going on?” I went for the third one. It finally felt like normal. I 
made it. I felt a little bit shaky, but then the judges decided it was a no lift. So then I had no 
snatches. And that was the first time I’ve ever bombed in 10 years of international competition. 
I just more felt disappointed that I didn’t get to show how much I’d worked that year because I I 
didn’t have a total to show for it. I didn’t have a a this or a that or if I could have just made 
one snatch, I could have fought for a medal in the   clean and jerk. She knew what that meant. Missing 
those snatches was a devastating loss to I mean, she lost her ranking. She lost her funding. We 
lost our travel funding. She lost her health   insurance like that. It was a big blow. How do 
you feel emotionally? Upset, obviously. I did a fundraiser to get here cuz I had to figure out 
my own way here. My coach had to do a fundraiser to get here. All of these people helped contribute 
to getting me here. And I flew on like a 12-hour flight plus. And like all I had to do was make 
one snatch to have a total. and I couldn’t even do that. So, it’s just like it’s just it’s 
just not a good feeling. Well, now I have to go back. I didn’t feel like I had to, you know, like 
reassess. I just had to keep working. There wasn’t anything to like do differently really. I just 
had to get back to work. I think there’s a hundred points in the last year where it could have been 
it for me or for for someone going through what I did. so many kind of jumping off quitting points 
where I can’t say I didn’t think about it, but I have never given up at any point. The fact that 
I was feeling fine, lifting fine, lifting better, continually improving, like all of those signs 
to me said to keep going. And there was never a point where I was like, well, this might be 
it. Like I never felt like I had given all that I had to give. and that if I quit at any point in 
that year of series of events, I would regret it forever. I would never feel okay about giving up 
and not seeing it through because I know I haven’t put together my best package or my best self or 
my best athlete yet. Like that’s still this kind of like unachieved, unopened like present that I 
haven’t done yet. I won’t even consider, you know, retiring or quitting until that feeling changes. 
After Worlds, I basically had to come back and figure out what was next. Usually, I don’t get 
to do the Arnold, which is this big fitness expo that kind of gives weightlifting more exposure 
than it normally gets because it’s bodybuilding,   it’s strongman, it’s powerlifting, it’s pole 
fitness. There’s a million other sports and people there that have never seen the sport 
of weightlifting. And then on top of that,   the top 10 men and the top 10 women get invited 
to compete on the Rogue Stage, which is separate from our normal weightlifting area, which is kind 
of like a back hallway. It’s right in the middle of the main expo on a huge stage and all of these 
people who have never seen weightlifting before are coming to watch. And it’s not the normal like, 
oh, it’s quiet. Like, it’s similar. Weightlifting   is similar to golf. And that when someone is on 
stage competing, there’s a hush, everyone’s quiet, you don’t talk, you don’t cheer. But the expo, 
nobody knows that. So, you’re out there and it’s   chaos and there’s people and you stand on the 
stage and you can see literally the entire expo hall and it just feels electric in there. I’m 
pretty sure I registered for the Arnold before I even got home from Worlds because I was so 
just like upset at that performance and I wanted redemption. Like I I not only want to do what I 
was supposed to do at Worlds, but I want to do   more. And it turned out that the Arnold would then 
also be the last qualifier for Panams. And since I didn’t have an improved total for Worlds, I needed 
a better one to be able to go to Panams this year. What the Arnold means now is that it’s my last 
shot to make any international teams this year. And if I don’t perform and I don’t put up a total 
that’s big enough to hold my spot on the ranking, I could be done internationally for the rest 
of the year. [Music] Now it’s Arnold’s week. I am feeling about how I normally do before 
any competition, which is tired, grumpy, and beat down. Um, and that’s kind of right 
on schedule. It’s very different from how I   felt at Worlds where I felt confident and ready. 
This is a very familiar feeling, and I know it’s kind of like the panic before the calm sets in. 
I’m just ready to rip it. So far, training into the Arnold has been up and down. We’ve had great 
days and we’ve had very low days. And typically when you’re going into a competition, you want 
to go into a competition at a high level of   confidence and having a great training cycle. And 
right now, we’re in a position where she’s like, “Well, I don’t feel super confident and I haven’t 
hit these numbers.” And it’s me being like, “Hey, look, have I ever not prepared you? It’s going to 
be there when it’s time to be there.” You don’t have to hit every lift in training to hit it in 
a competition. The first step when I get to any competition is pretty much the same. Kind of 
scout out everything, see where everything is,   get my credentials. Depending on what the day is, 
I’ll either have a rest day or a training day. So, here I just came, did a light move around 
session, and kind of just check my weight, make sure it’s in a decent range. For me, making 
weight is never really an issue. I’m in the 76 kilogram weight category, and I usually sit 
between 75 and 76. So the last day is just kind of weighing everything I eat to make sure 
that I’ll wake up at weight or just under. So it’s really easy for me, but I hit some training. 
I go to the hotel, relax, make sure I eat enough, and also not too much. And then it’s just kind 
of rest time till competition. The Arnolds are always in Columbus, Ohio, always in the exact 
same spot, the convention center with the big   Arnold statue in the front. at the Arnold with 
there being more people and just like other kind of fitness and lifting adjacent sports, there’s 
a lot more, you know, social interaction that I do. And as a not naturally super social person, 
it can sometimes be a little bit draining. So, I try to be a little bit strategic about when I’m 
in that because I know once I am in the convention center or the venue or the vicinity of it, I 
am open to everyone and anyone. I kind of hide a little bit. I try to avoid like main areas if 
I know I’m like I have to get somewhere fast or I’m trying to be focused or if I’m like really 
anxious. I mean, it’s always fine. It’s always   100% fine and I work myself up more about it than 
it ever is. Everyone is so nice and everyone’s always very respectful of my space and my time, 
but it is something that it doesn’t necessarily   come natural to me no matter how long I’m in, 
you know, this position. It’s always weird. I’m always uncomfortable. So, it’s something 
I have to kind of manage with every event,   but specifically at the Arnold cuz it’s just, 
you know, the normal interactions times 10. This year our start time is in the morning which 
is my preferred time. I love like a late morning weighin kind of earlyish afternoon start time. 
I like to wake up, get some coffee, see where my weight is at beforehand just in case, you know, 
anything crazy happened overnight and just kind   of leisurely get ready, make my way over to the 
venue. When we weigh in, from that time to the start of the competition is only 2 hours. So other 
kind of weight class contested sports will have different times a whole day sometimes, but we have 
2 hours from when they start weighins to when they   start the competition. So for most of my events, 
I weigh right kind of on that line of 76 kilos, which is where my body likes to live. So the 
morning of competition is really important to kind of weigh everything because whatever I’m putting 
into my body is going to be kind of reflected in my weight that day. Coming off the last event, 
I was best lifter there. And in my head, I knew if I did what I needed to do, plus a little bit 
extra, I could potentially win best lifter again. We need to do a 245. And it’s on ranking. The way 
the new ranking is, another athlete has a 244. So, we want to at least outrank her by 1 kilo because 
with the new rankings and the new weight classes, things are going to shift around. And so we 
just want to be in a secure spot going into,   you know, making sure we’re on the Panama team 
and the world team. And so the goal number is at least a 245. Now that my weight is right on, it’s 
time to eat a little bit and then it’s go time. Catalyst Athletics in the 76 kilo category, Maddie 
Rogers. [Applause] Are you entertained? I start. We decided to start at 104 because I didn’t 
want any of that kind of mental weight of 105 being the number I miss from worlds. 
I just have to keep reminding her that she   is capable of those numbers and to believe in 
herself and to trust me. Right up down. Good. Good. Great. So, we did 85 twice and on her second 
85, I’m going, “Oh shit.” She wasn’t didn’t have the patience that she needed. She wasn’t quite 
being intentional with her turnover. It just was a little lagging. I know her enough to know if I 
start saying something to her, she’s going to get into her head because I didn’t want to point out 
something that was going wrong, even if she knew it was going wrong. So, I just kept on saying, 
“That was amazing. Yes, we’re so ready. Okay, here we go. 2 minute clocks here.” Or we could 
move very fast, like have to go on the minute. So, just be prepared for anything. I knew I 
could do 104. I nailed it in training a million times leading up to this. 104 was a number that 
I feel very comfortable with for my first snatch. That’s it. Good. Settle. Come on, Maddie. I told her, you know, don’t take this 
weight for granted. You have to pretend like those legs are rockets. [Music] 
[Applause] [Music] Not what’s on the bar, but how to move the bar. Right. You can’t take it 
for granted. And you don’t give up on those legs. [Music] 104 felt way easier than I expected it 
to be. It honestly it it flew. And in our plan, 107 was the next logical step 
because we’re chasing a very   specific total. So based on 104, we 
knew 107 was a good second attempt. [Music] [Music] [Applause] Okay, you have to stay with those legs. Good. 
Jump harder. You got to jump harder on this   next one. If I put you to 10, are you going 
to jump? 107 felt just as good as 104 did. So, we knew that first attemp second second attempt 
were absolutely mandatory. third attempt would be kind of our bonus and in our best case scenario. 
So, we really wanted 110 on that bar and I went in with the mindset of anything that’s on that bar 
I’m going to make. So, we just went right for 110 for the third attempt. Those legs need to be like 
bombs, okay? And you control that bar and you be confident. Remember who the [ __ ] you are. I said 
to her, I want you to hang on to this and remember that we don’t have to make it in training to make 
it in competition. But if you believe in yourself and you trust that if I put it on the bar, I 
know you’re ready for it, then you can make it. [Music] Yeah. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I know you weren’t feeling great during 
your warm-ups and I’m really proud of you   for staying in it. I didn’t feel bad. It’s just 
kind of hurting. I know. I can tell. But that sets us up for success. And I’m happy that 
she didn’t give up on her pole. I told her,   even if it feels heavy off the floor, you 
don’t don’t give up. 110 was a number that I hadn’t even touched in training. And it felt 
just as light as my opener did. It flew up. I knew by the time that I was pulling under the 
bar that I had it. And it felt even better to make it in front of that crowd. Everyone 
went crazy. I went crazy. Amy went crazy.   The job is very much not done yet. We absolutely 
need my first and second planned clean and jerk attempts to get the total. Otherwise, 
anything else I do just it doesn’t matter. Up. Come on. Reach up. Front foot. Beautiful jerk. Okay. To here. If you shift back, remember where we’re 
going to go. And then our hips have to go back. That’s why they couldn’t get under you and it 
was hard to stand up. [Applause] That’s it. That’s it. You see the difference? You feel good 
for 32 still? Better, huh? It sucks us up better for 3. It does. But I need you confident in your 
head. That was exactly right. Did you feel the difference? Okay. Whole foot over, over, over, up, 
up, up. We decided on 132 for my opener because it was what my projected opener at Worlds was 
supposed to be that we moved. It set me up for the second attempt. It was absolutely the do or 
die attempt that I needed to make for that total. Come on. You’re the best. You remember 
who the [ __ ] you are. Let’s go. Yes, ma’am. I was the most nervous for the opener 
because it was more of a stepping stone. The opener didn’t mean anything at all. So, I had 
to nail the opener and get the confidence from nailing that to go into my second and third 
attempt. So once I made that opener, it was   time for 135 and 135 is the number that because I 
hit that 110 snatch. I absolutely needed that for the 245 total for the ranking for panams. Now we 
call 135 to the bar and this is the clean and jerk that she has to have to make her 245 total. She’s 
set up so well because had she not snatched 110, she would have needed a bigger clean and jerk. 
She snatched 110, she needs 135 to get her 245. 135 is a number that I have not hit in training 
leading up to this at all. I have tried it. I have missed it. I missed it at worlds. I 
missed everything around it. I can see her   focusing. She’s closing her eyes. She’s doing 
her breathing. I go over and I remind her, hey, this is the lift that you need. You just make 
this and we’re done then. And then the third lift is just for for you. This is the lift that 
will basically make or break the rest of my year. I whisper in her ear, remind her how great she 
is and how strong she is and how prepared she is. Come on, you’re the best. Come on, you’re 
the best. Over. Over. Over. Up. Up. Up. Use those legs. [Music] I feel nervous 
going into the 135 just because of how much it means for not only this day 
but the rest of my year knowing that   I haven’t hit this number in training and I 
have missed it in competition. It puts even more pressure than necessary. Everything that 
I’ve been working towards is for this lift. [Applause] [Music] Look at that. Let’s go. [Applause] [Music] No, I want to know what what in your head 
that you know you could go rage at based   on how that felt. I mean, that felt heavy off 
the floor, but it didn’t feel that bad. So, whatever you want. I don’t care. I don’t want 
to make the decision. I’m going to go to 40,   but you cannot hesitate off the floor. It’s going 
to be heavy. It’s weightlifting. You have to trust your legs, okay? Because we made the total we 
need needed right now. So, we might as well go for it because then we’re going to get a real 
fat total. I hit it, but I had to immediately manage my emotions because I still had another 
lift. If I got too excited and too, you know, like pumped for that one lift, it would be really 
hard to then turn it around following myself on a 2-minute clock and do another lift. It’s another 
lift that I haven’t touched, I haven’t made. But   I know in my training, I’ve been preparing for 
this and I’m strong enough and pumped for that one lift. It would be really hard to then turn 
it around following myself on a two-minute clock   and do another lift. That’s another lift that 
I haven’t touched, I haven’t made, and I didn’t want to throw away a third attempt because every 
kilo counts. This total also will carry into my world’s ranking for later in the year. And in the 
back of my mind, I still want to win that best   lifter award. I would never put 140 on if I didn’t 
believe you can make it. But you have to trust that pole when you pass your knees, okay? You have 
to use those legs like we’ve been learning. I knew in my head before we even got to the Arnold that 
my best case scenario third attempts would be 110 and 140. I knew those were numbers that were kind 
of a reach but with you know a taper adrenaline a crowd they were numbers that I felt I could go 
after and give a really solid attempt if not make them. Amy asked me what I wanted which is kind of 
normal in our routine if if we hit our goal on a second attempt. Third attempts she’ll ask me what 
I want. I knew if I didn’t say 140 and I made it, so say I said 37 38 and I made it, I would have 
regret that I didn’t go for 40. No hesitation. I just said 140. Don’t stop fighting that whole 
pole. All right. You use all the energy and all the power out there. Use everyone’s energy. Come 
on. This 140 is the lift that will secure me for worlds for the rest of the year and gives me the 
best shot at being best lifter at the Arnold. pushing to the back. Come on. [Music] [Applause] That’s it. You got to reach [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 140. I did not know I was going to make that. I 
was pulling it and I think the bar was somewhere around like my knees, so maybe like a couple 
inches off the floor and I was like, “Oh god,   it felt so heavy.” I’m pretty sure it was 
my worst positions I’ve ever been in. But I knew if I could get my body under the bar, I 
had a chance at standing up. I mean, that was   as max effort as it could get for that clean. 
I told her that it’s going to feel heavy, but you don’t stop. And she didn’t. She didn’t give 
up. And so, she did it. There we go. 250 total. 5 kilos under her all-time best total. And then I 
said, “I think it’s okay to say you’re back now.” That lift ended up securing me as best lifter at 
the Arnold. That 140 to me more felt like that felt like the I’m back lift to me more than any 
other lift that I’d done in the last, you know, 6 to 8 months doing the 140 and the combination 
of the 110 and the 140. That felt like, okay, like this is a much more complete picture of 
everything I’ve been working on. This is where I am. This is who I am, and this is kind of the 
jumping off performance for the rest of the year. I think for me, I was just so proud in that 
moment like, okay, you did it. You meaning her, not me. You know, she did it. She did what she 
needed to do. And coming off a bomb out at Worlds, which is the first time she’s ever bombed 
out at an international competition,   that was a hard blow already. It’s embarrassing. 
It doesn’t showcase all your hard work. It’s just such an embarrassing, sucky thing to go through, 
let alone bombing out and losing all your funding and losing all your ranking and losing everything. 
And my most important goal for this meet, yes, I had a goal and on my goal to do 110 and 140. 
Yes, we have the goal to do a 245 so that we can get back in a really good place on ranking. But 
my goal for her was to remember who she was. And I feel like that’s been forgotten a little bit 
and overshadowed. And she’s dealing with a lot of emotions and a lot of confusion and a lot of 
frustration and a lot of anger and all of these things coming back from the injury and then losing 
her ranking and you know all of those things. And I needed something. I wanted something to remind 
her. Now, this ranking at this competition, it doesn’t it doesn’t get her funding back. It 
doesn’t do anything as far as the over the total ranking. It it doesn’t change where she’s at, but 
it does secure her spot on the Panama team and it does secure her spot on the world team. I wanted 
her to be able to pull up that world team ranking   and see how high her name was on that list and 
be like, “Oh, okay. I am not ready to be taken out to pasture yet.” like I still have stuff in 
me. I’m still can do this. I am still good and I still have room for improvement. That that total 
after not doing it over a year shows that not only is she ready for that obviously, but ready for 
more. And not only that, but making all of her six lifts here after a bomb out, she just did a 
local meet where she made all six lifts. when she did the AO2, which was a very important meet 
for her. It was her first meet back after her injury. She had to go do that to even get on the 
world team. She went there, she did her total, she got six for six. So now, with the exception 
of worlds, that’s three meets, two of them very high pressure where she went six for six. She’s 
continuously increasing her total. And this is one of those things that now this competition here is 
what we can think about. Worlds has to be gone. Uh we have to have amnesia about worlds. As long as 
you focus on the little things and you go in every day and you do what you can and you you focus 
on the the things that you’re doing right and building those things that you’re doing right and 
and continuing to get better and not let the doubt and the fear and what went wrong and the misses 
and the mistakes overshadow all the good things, then this is where you can be. And that’s what 
she I want her to remember. There was never a time where I felt like I wouldn’t have that 
feeling again. I know myself and I know I’m like a I don’t know like a shitty little cockroach that 
just won’t die. I will not go away. It was more of just like a waiting game to get there. It’s almost 
like a like being able to let out a full breath of like, okay, like this is who I am. This is what 
I do. This is what I’m capable of. and I just had to get there again. This is who I am. Now that 
I’ve secured the total that I need, I can focus full force on going to Panama. It’s not a if, 
when, how, it’s a I’m going, let’s get in the best shape we can by that point. From there, it’s 
just gearing up for another world championships. I’m pretty sure this year we’ll make 10. I need to 
check that. But and I also think it’ll be 10 years of meddling at Panams if I can meddle. So, it’s 
just a year. It feels like a kind of a a landmark year of competing for me. And I don’t think it 
could come at a better time and a better place   in my career. Are you going to win panels? I’m not 
the type to say, “Oh, yeah. I’m going to win this or that.” But am surely going to try and do love 
a good battle. I’m focusing on year by year and I want to be a world champion before I retire. I 
want to break American records. I want to continue with Metal Streaks and I want to expand kind of my 
I don’t know if you want to call it a legacy, but everything that I’ve done over the last decade as 
much as I can in that time period where I normally would just have this sole focus on 2028. If I 
do all those things and I end up in a position to qualify, amazing, but I’m not making it my sole 
reason to live. Every World Championships is a big deal. Every panam is a big deal. Every nationals 
that I usually don’t even get to go to are a big deal. And I want to appreciate all of those for 
what they are. Just do the best that I can do at every single event and try to rack up wins as a 
whole instead of just this one big either win or loss, make it or don’t Olympic situation. It’s 
been a long road to get here, but I truly and honestly believe that who I am today is the best 
version of me that I’ve ever been. And who I’ll be tomorrow will be an even better version of that. 
And I think mentally, physically, athletically, I think I’m the most well-rounded and capable. I 
think as an athlete that makes me more dangerous than I’ve ever been because I’m not just an 
athlete anymore. I’m not living and breathing just to do this one thing. I’m such a kind of 
multifaceted person and I’ve always known that. But I’ve for so long functioned in a way that I 
can only do this one thing. And if I’m not doing this, it’s taking away from lifting. And I’m able 
to kind of just be and explore the other things that I like and the other things that make me, you 
know, a human and a person and happy and find ways to integrate that in with lifting. And it just 
makes me so much more whole. And I think that kind of prepares me for being the absolute best athlete 
that I I will ever be. My life has done a complete 180 in the last 2 years. I live now in a a new 
house that I can make my own and that I love and I feel safe and I’m with someone who makes me feel 
loved and safe and appreciated and my body is not, you know, constantly in fight orflight mode and 
it can relax and it can feel decompressed at the end of the day instead of just coming home and 
just being in in this mode of just hell all the time. And I have three dogs now and three cats 
currently. And I can just be and explore all of these different parts of life that I never 
knew before. And I have truly like a a village of support behind me now. And that’s something 
I’ve never ever in my life experienced. And it’s just it’s something that makes me so grateful to 
wake up every day. And it’s just everything about existence and being is better, healthier, and more 
capable of doing whatever it is that I want to do. Love it. Anything else? You 
bought me coffee for breakfast. [Music] [Music] few weeks ago on my last heavy day uh leading up 
to nationals, so about a week out from nationals, I had a TIA in training, which is basically 
a mini stroke And I was in the hospital for three to four days as we kind of figured out if 
we could find a cause or a reason. We didn’t, but I did have to just stay and get all the 
testing done and just make sure, you know,   there wasn’t another clot that was going to 
come through if I went back to training or or anything like that. First symptom that I had was 
that I kind of lost vision in my left eye. Um, and I know that sounds dramatic, like I I didn’t 
know how to describe it at first, but it’s kind of   like if you look at the sun and try to like blink 
away like that spot, it would never go away. Um, and like, but I kept training, so I was like, 
that’s weird. I must have just looked at the sun,   whatever. Um, but then I started to have like 
weakness down the left side. I was starting to feel like real kind of confused and I went to 
the front where there’s air conditioning and   I was like, I should probably stop. Like I should 
probably I I feel just something feels wrong. So, it took me probably close to 20 minutes 
before I actually stopped training. Um, and then the symptoms escalated and I kind of 
started like forgetting names, forgetting words. I had like a really hard time speaking for I don’t 
know 10ish minutes. Um, and that’s when we went to the ER. I think I was mostly just confused cuz I 
didn’t know what was happening. I actually texted Amy as it was happening and kind of made a joke 
and I was like, I feel like I’m having a stroke,   lol. because I was just like I I don’t know that’s 
that’s how I decided to handle it was with humor. But then turns out it it really was. Um and once 
I kind of got to the hospital, got admitted and like was like actually knew I was going to be 
in there for a few days. I was like, “Well, fuck.” Basically, like my training was going so 
well. And I was only at that point 7 days out from competing at nationals, which was kind of my like 
test run for Panama. So, I was really excited to   go there. I was going to go there and maybe try 
to break some records and just like have a good kind of tuneup day before going to Panams. And 
then that became basically my my stress test that week because I was only out of the hospital for 
I think two or three days before I had to travel. And I wanted to test, you know, can I travel? 
Will something happen if I travel? Will something happen if I have nerves and adrenaline? because 
I wanted to test all of that in America before going to, you know, panams in a different country. 
The day I got out of the hospital, um, I basically said that I would go to the gym. I would do a 
really light session and just, you know, see how it went and try to gradually over those next those 
three days that I was at home basically increase the load up to what my lowest but possible openers 
needed to be. I mean, I felt bad. None of it felt good after laying in the hospital for 4 days, but 
I gradually increased and everything, you know, was fine. There were no scary symptoms, any return 
of symptoms. So, I believe it was that Wednesday I worked up to the lowest possible openers and then 
I flew out Thursday to go compete at nationals. Welcome to Colorado Springs, home of 
the 2025 USAW Championship. [Music] Maddie Rogers, the most decorated 
American female racer of all time. [Applause] [Applause] What a good day. That was super. So I came home, decided I was, you know, safe 
enough to go to Panams. Got back to training, which, you know, had to still be altered cuz 
I just wasn’t feeling great those couple weeks   before Panams. I got medical clearance 
to safely travel internationally and I wanted to go to Panams and I knew that I 
had a decent shot that those few weeks of kind of altered training weren’t going 
to be the end of the world. I’d worked   so hard in the months leading up to it and 
I was in the best shape that I’ve been in. So I I didn’t know what to expect really 
but I was at least prepared to to battle [Music] There you go. [Applause] three runners. [Applause] Go now. [Applause] When I realized that I won, I mostly just 
felt relief. I was happy that that I had done everything that I intended to do regardless 
of everything that happened because that was my   goal to win, you know, all year long. I wanted 
to kind of prove a point after not having the greatest comeback of a start internationally at 
the end of last year. And I wanted to prove like I’m still here. I’m, you know, deserving of of 
support of whatever. Like I’m not going anywhere and I’m better than I ever have been. And I was 
just so proud and relieved that I was able to still show that even with all of these things that 
happened that, you know, should have prevented that from happening. So, it’s like if I can do 
it under these circumstances, what about when I’m when I’m not in the hospital two weeks out? 
Do you think in over 10 years of competing you’ve made an impact on the younger generation? I like 
to think that I’ve made an impact. Um, I mean, you know, it’s it’s hard to say and I don’t 
think I’m the kind of person that’s ever gonna,   you know, toot my own horn about that, but I do 
know when I first won my first world’s medal, it was the first woman to medal in I don’t 
know like 25 years. And then to continue to medal every world’s, every international me 
after that, I think it shows that it can be done. And that used to be kind of a like a motto 
back when I first started. It was literally like it can be done. That’s what our old CEO used 
to say all the time. And it was like proving   that Americans and specifically American women 
can stack up against the other countries that I mean for years and years and maybe even decades 
just beat us every single time. So I I do I do like to think that I kind of led that path. 
And you know the the saying like I walked so they could run. I that resonates with me because 
I feel like my career as far as like records and medals and like in terms of just like dominating 
is never going to be as I guess substantial as those that are coming after me. But I do think 
that my kind of legacy and my putting one foot in the door has kind of led led the way for the 
next generation of of women’s weightlifting. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music]   Whatever you do in life, do it well. 
Do it to the best of your abilities. Take pride in it. Anything worth doing 
is worth doing right. I love you, Dad. My career kind of shows that you don’t have to be 
a prodigy or born to do this that or the other, but you do have to be just 
[ __ ] relentless. [Music]