Raising the bar: Bloomington's Wil Fleming helps lifter make Olympic dream come true

Wil Fleming and Mary Theisen-Lappen had a long-distance relationship that wasn't working quite as well as she hoped.

She had an Olympic dream and that meant making a huge, somewhat risky investment.

Theisen-Lappen, who grew up playing soccer and basketball in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and turned into a strong competitor in the throws in track and field. It led to a strong college career at Winona State, where she won two NCAA Division II titles, and then at Indiana State. She was a nine-time all-American, which turned into coaching throws in college.

But the itch to compete was still there and at some point, she realized her strength was something she could tap into.

"I was good at Olympic lifts in college that I was using for track and field," Theisen-Lappen said during one of her workouts at The Iron Pit Gym in Bloomington. "But I was so focused on throwing, I didn't realize I was probably better at the lifting than the throwing. I was good at throwing but not as good as I am at this.

"I was kind of bored. I hadn't competed in a long time and tried powerlifting. I look back, I was not good when I started and kind of had a bad attitude seeing smaller people do better than me."

But she was doing well enough that Fleming, who trains athletes through his business 1kilo, started following her on Instagram. They had plenty in common, with Fleming a standout football/track star at Bloomington North, who turned into a top thrower at Indiana University and then got into competitive weightlifting and coaching.

Theisen-Lappen needed some help and Fleming is who she turned to.

"We had a shared connection," Fleming said. "We talked throwing and she had come to a spot in her career where she wanted to change coaches. She wanted a different approach. We'd known each other for a couple years.

"She reached out to me. We shared a track and field background and what I believe in as far as my philosophies and technique and decided to join our team."

With COVID restrictions in 2020, it was almost all remote, with Theisen-Lappen recording her workouts and lifts and Fleming reviewing them and sending her training programs.

"I was getting a lot better," she said. "My technique was getting a lot better. Each time I'd visit down here once a month, I'd come down for a week and I realized it was so much easier training here. It was harder when I'd go back home and be in my garage by myself. There were days my technique was really awful.

"So what do you do? If your technique breaks down, you can get hurt and you'll have an even worse day then. Having him right here to see things in real-time is huge. It's the best thing that could happen to me."

Her gamble paid off. After two years in Bloomington and competing in events around the globe, Theisen-Lappen met her goal: two passes, for her and Fleming, on one of the boats that will carry the U.S. Olympic team down the Seine River during the opening ceremonies for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Theisen-Lappen makes the big move

Coming out of COVID, Theisen-Lappen and her husband Casey had a big decision to make. She loved coaching, but something had to give.

"We loved our house and made it our own," Theisen-Lappen said. "But when the pandemic hit, we got a trial run of what it would be like to just train full time because I was furloughed from my job. I was training the best I ever have and the next year, when I was brought back to work, my training wasn't as good. So how can I make this work? I loved coaching."

Her dream was his dream, too, and with Theisen-Lappen turning 33 in 2024, the time was now or almost never.

"I was making very, very little money from coaching," Theisen-Lappen said in March of 2023. "My benefits were good and my athletes were very good, but it didn't make sense anymore. So we thought about, what's the next move? So my husband actually suggested that we look into moving here.

"I was kind of surprised because he's from Wisconsin as well. So we just decided we were going to go all in on this Olympics thing and see if this would work out. If it works out and it happens, it happens and if it doesn't, we know we tried."

Deciding to make sure a quick move, the housing market in the summer of 2022 at the time worked in their favor.

"We sold the house in two days," Theisen-Lappen said. "And six weeks later, we were here."

Getting to work in Bloomington

She arrived after winning national titles in 2021 and 2022 but got hurt, forcing her to sit out two of the biggest meets and spent the fall of 2022 getting her ankle back in shape. The Olympic qualifications were announced, goals set and off she and Fleming went in pursuit of a rare prize, a spot in the weightlifting competition.

It's complicated.

Hundreds of athletes can become eligible for the Olympics in sports such as track or swimming. Just 100 slots are allotted to the entire planet for weightlifting: 50 men, 50 women, split up into five weight classes. To make the cut, an athlete must be in the top 10 in the world in their weight class and at most, only three men or women from each country can go.

The US is among the top countries, topped only by China on the women's side. Theisen-Lappen competes in the super heavyweight class (81 kilograms/178 pounds) or bigger. She had to be among the best of the best and a series of events around the globe over the last year would help her prove that.

The two events she competes in are the snatch and clean and jerk and getting the technique down was just as important as the strength training itself.

"They have to go hand-in-hand," Fleming said. "Mary, coming from her throwing background is enormously strong. Strength has never been an issue, per se, so just bumping that up a little bit.

"But with technique, she came into the sport late. She gave is a shot and in just a couple of years, she's the strongest woman in history. So with technique, not having that base, she had never snatched before becoming a weightlifter, that's half the sport."

"I'm better at clean and jerk and used to be really bad at snatch," Theisen-Lappen said. "He's gotten me way better and a lot more consistent.

"We set goals to hit each week. In the past, if I hit them, it was maybe a couple times a year. So trying to hit every week makes me feel more comfortable going into the meets."

Feedback between the two during training is critically important.

"I think we work really well together," Fleming said. "She's 32. She knows what she needs and she's not afraid to speak up. She's had good coaches, she's had bad coaches. Communication with a weightlifting program is what you're supposed to do."

Fleming's job goes beyond technique and building her confidence to be as strong as her muscles. Like any athlete, Theisen-Lappen, for all her talent and training, has good days and bad days to work through.

"It's just you and the weight and it doesn't want to be lifted," Fleming said. "You have to believe in yourself. Some days, she doesn't have that belief, so she has to rely on me and that collaboration to make it happen."

Nutrition, proper rest and staying away from illegal substances are also part of the regimen. She has to keep track of where she is 24 hours a day and be available at any time to be tested.

"I'm not tested very often," she said. "But as a super heavyweight, I get my supplements through food. I don't take a lot of supplements. I don't want to worry about it and I don't want to spend a lot of money on it."

Qualifying for Paris

There are big numbers Theisen-Lappen, an American record holder, had to meet to qualify for the team.

"I care more about making the team than breaking the records," she said in April of 2023. "That'll just kind of happen if I make the team."

And off they went to do just that. Competitions consist of three lifts for both disciplines, with the total amount from the successful lifts determining placement.

"I like meet day better than anything else," Theisen-Lappen said. "I like the adrenalin. Typically, I'm a pretty good competitor as long as I keep my nerves in check, which I usually can.

"I haven't had many bad meets. I love, love competing. Even though everything is heavier, it feels lighter because the adrenaline kicks in."

She won the Pan American Championships in Argentina in 2023. Then she had to compete in at least six events in 2024 took place in Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Chile, Bulgaria and Thailand.

Theisen-Lappen currently sits fifth in the world but has beaten all but one person who is ahead of her. That would be Li Wenwen of China.

Last year, Theisen-Lappen was second at the World Championships and won two Grand Prix events. She had, Fleming said, "the greatest year in lifting for an American in 2023." Competing every eight weeks, a relatively tight time frame, she improved her overall total every time.

In Doha, in the final meet of 2023, she passed the only American ahead of her, who happened to be a two-time Olympic bronze medalist.

"That made it feel pretty secure," Fleming said of the Olympic berth. "There were still a couple of scenarios to worry about until the final day of camp. Someone could throw a Hail Mary and pass her, but people don't usually have big surprises unless they're really young.

"I was more sure of it than she was."

With an ending best total of 283 kg, with a best snatch of 120 and best clean and jerk of 163, on April 10, her position was locked in.

"Super excitement," Fleming said. "But also a sense of relief. Only part of the job was done though. When Mary set out, it was not just to make the Olympic team. She knows she could be only the fourth or fifth woman in US history to win a medal.

"You've got to check off each step. It's exciting and there's relief and now it's on to the next step."

Waiting for Aug. 11

Theisen-Lappen and Fleming, officially an assistant coach who will work under USA Weightlifting's high-performance director, left for France a little over a week ago to get settled in.

After making the team, Theisen-Lappen picked up some new sponsors, such as Reese's and certainly new followers on social media. She is one of only two weightlifters signed by Rogue Fitness. Locally, Royal South Toyota worked out a deal with her.

The focus will be on her training throughout the wait, but on off-days, they'll both be sightseeing and taking in other Olympic events. Athletes get free tickets to other events if they are available.

"The Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport," Fleming said. "It's super exciting and a journey I never thought I'd get to go on. You can be a really great coach and never get to coach at the Olympics. I feel lucky and super excited."

Over a three-week stay, Theisen-Lappen's actual time spent in the Paris competition will be only a couple of hours on the last day of the Olympics. There are just 10 lifters in her weight class so it won't take long. But that's what all that preparation has led to and now it's time to be at her very best.

Fleming posted a video to his X account in early July showing Theisen-Lappen completing a clean and jerk lift in practice at the Iron Pit that was heavier than the current world record.

"Mary has gotten to compete against all of the top 10," Fleming said. "She knows them, I know them and that's a confidence you can't fake. To see herself building up all that time is important. On several occasions she had to make a best lift to win or to make an Olympic qualifying total and every single time, she made it.

"That is a huge confidence thing."

And when it's over, Theisen-Lappen will go back to real life and find out where the next stage of her life will take her. That might be the hardest lift of them all.

"I want to move back home to Wisconsin," she said. "My sister had a baby (in March of 2023) and has two kids. I want to try and have kids myself and be close to my mom and dad. I'm the oldest of four girls, so I want to be there for my family.

"I don't know what to do profession-wise. I really love coaching. I don't know if I love coaching, weightlifting or track and field more. I imagine it'll be something in coaching. I have a Master's in education. It'll be hard figuring out how best to use my skills."

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Raising the bar: Bloomington's Wil Fleming helps lifter make Olympic dream come true