Holley Mangold posed for photographs with fans on the concourse of ExCeL Centre, a splint on her right wrist having replaced the massive ice bag she wore after her Olympic weightlifting finals. She smiled, gave a thumbs-up and warmly greeted everyone, trying to ignore the injurious pain that haunted her on every lift. “I’m fallin’ apart,” she said after Sunday’s event, “I need a good two months of … well, I have to get surgery on my hand now.” Mangold, a U.S. hope in the Olympic women’s 75kg-plus weightlifting competition, finished 10th overall with a total score of 240; her teammate, Sarah Robles, was seventh (265). Mangold was successful on only two of her six attempts in the snatch and clean and jerk, hitting a 105kg (231.5 pounds) and a 135kg (297.6 pounds), respectively.

Yeah, Holley Mangold lives more than you and me… hurt. I wish we lived in a world where weigh lifting chicks can just be weight lifting chicks without the circus!