On the all-consuming, unrewarding addiction of Olympic Weightlifting

A longform story about one Olympic hopeful, who has dedicated his entire life to a pursuit which offers little in return

1.

Zach Burks may look like an ordinary 20-year-old college student, hiding his sturdy frame in a perpetual rotation of t-shirts and sweatpants, but one glance around his bedroom will change your mind. The walls are covered with medals and international flags — Canada, Mexico, Peru, Japan, Ecuador, Colombia — representing the countries where he earned them. His closet, visible thanks to a door ripped off its hinges in a fit of “teen angst,” is filled with trophies, more medals, and some dusty textbooks. Multiple elastic singlets hang across from a single collared shirt. It’s a reminder. Burks abandoned ordinary life long ago. He’s one of the best weightlifters in the country, and he’s dedicating his life to become one of the best in the entire world.

Burks competes in Olympic weightlifting, among the 10 sports included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. The sport is often confused with but far different than bodybuilding, where Arnold Schwarzenegger stands in a line of sculpted specimens flexing his biceps, or powerlifting, where The Mountain from Game of Thrones pounds…