OLYMPIC FESTIVAL ROUNDUP : Mark Henry Wins Weightlifting Competition

Mark Henry of Silsbee, Tex., lifted a combined 826 1/2 pounds to win the weightlifting competition Monday at the U.S. Olympic Festival.

Henry, who weighs 365 1/4 pounds, lifted 374 3/4 pounds in the snatch and 451 3/4 pounds in the clean and jerk to win the super-heavyweight competition.

Henry, the heaviest lifter in Olympic history, finished 10th at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

He failed on his first try at 440 3/4 pounds in the clean and jerk, then made the lift the second time. His final lift was 451 1/2.

“I wasn’t warmed up right,” Henry said of his first try. “The long wait between lifts was the longest I ever had. I think that was part of it.”

Three-time Olympian Mario Martinez, from Salinas, placed second in the super-heavyweight division, lifting 760 1/2 pounds.

Henry has attracted a large following since the Olympics.

He was surrounded by children seeking his autograph after competing Monday.

Henry said that he loves children and that they often write him letters.

“One kid told me something about how his dad beats him and he wanted me to come beat his dad up,” Henry said.

He was so moved that he wrote a threatening letter to the child’s father.

“I kind of got in trouble for doing that,” Henry said.

In other events:

--Dante Muse, from West Des Moines, Iowa, won two more medals in roller skating, giving him five this year and raising the total to 31 for his career. That put him first all-time among festival medal-winners, ahead of canoe-kayak competitor Jim Terrell of El Toro, who has 27.

--In swimming, Rachel Joseph, 16, from Springfield, Ore., set her third record and won her fourth gold medal by taking the 200-meter individual medley in 2 minutes 19.89 seconds. The previous record was 2:19.91 set in 1981 by Patty Gavin of Syracuse, N.Y.

“I just wanted to get best times and maybe win a medal,” Joseph said. “I didn’t even know if I’d win my backstrokes.”

--In a probable preview of the gold-medal men’s basketball game, the North forced 30 turnovers to beat the West, 117-102.

Roney Eford, from Marquette, led the North (3-0) with 22 points and nine rebounds. Jeff McInnis, who will play at North Carolina, scored 19. The West (2-1) got 16 points from USC’s Burt Harris.

The East team got 21 points from Kenneth Atkins of South Florida to beat the South, 132-103, in what was probably a preview of the bronze-medal game.

Marcus Camby, who will play at Massachusetts, had 15 points and seven blocked shots. North Carolina recruit Jerry Stackhouse and Donnelle Williams, from Bayonne, N.J., each had 14 points.

Drew Barry, from Georgia Tech, scored 16 for the South (0-3) and set a festival record with eight steals.

--In women’s basketball, the South (3-0) won the probable preview of the gold-medal game, coasting past the East, 85-63.

Leslie Johnson, who will play for Purdue, scored 16 points as the North (1-2) beat the winless West, 67-57.

--In baseball, the South pounded out 16 hits in a 12-2 victory over the East. Jeff D’Amico of Pinellas Park, Fla., the first-round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers, went six innings for the victory.

In the late game, the North took advantage of six errors to beat the West, 8-4.

Chad Green, from Mentor, Ohio, had three hits and drove in two runs.

--In Greco-Roman wrestling, Heath Sims, from Irvine, won the gold medal in the 149.5-pound weight class.