Casey Burgener

Weight Class: 105kg
Height: 6'1"
Current Residence: Colorado Springs, Colo.
USA Weightlifting Club: Team Crossfit
Coach: Mike Burgener
College: Bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs
Hobbies/Interests Outside of Weightlifting: Drawing, reading, playing guitar, trying to learn as much as I possibly can.
Favorite Book(s): The Brothers Karamazov, 1984, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Catch 22, The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Monkey Wrench Gang, The Grapes of Wrath, Invisible Man, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Slaughterhouse Five, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Favorite TV Show and/or Movie: The Wire is the best television show ever made, but The Sopranos is pretty darn good too.  Favorite movies are Memento, Dumb & Dumber, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Seven Samurai, Shawshank Redemption, Goodfellas, The Matrix (only the first one), The Big Lebowski, Good Will Hunting, and Spice World.
Favorite Music Genre: Anything but pop and country.
Favorite Food:  I don't really have a favorite, but I had this wonderful fiocchetti creation in Florence that was without a doubt the best tasting dish I've ever had.
Most Influential Person(s) in Your Sporting Career: Mike Burgener (father), Natalie Burgener (wife), Leslie Burgener (mother who Casey says motivated him to get more colors on the bar), Yuri Vardanian, Norik Vardanian.
Personal Goals:  Make the Olympic Team, be the best husband and human being I can be, help people as much as possible and become a country pop superstar.
Most People Don't Know This About Me...:  I'm sick of eating. Personal: Casey was introduced to weightlifting by his father Mike Burgener who taught him how to lift in the family's garage in 1995.  Three years later, he won the first of three Junior National titles.  After the 2004 Olympic Trials, Casey moved up from 105kg to +105kg.  Competing in the heavyweight division, Casey became the top lifter in the Pan American region, winning Senior National titles in 2006 and 2007 and Pan American titles in 2006 and 2008. 

After the 2007 World Championships, Casey and his teammate Natalie Woolfolk went on a sightseeing trip in Thailand where Casey proposed and the two became engaged on the back of an elephant. 

Burgener narrowly missed qualifying for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team, but after marrying teammate Natalie (Woolfolk) Burgener and taking the 2009 season off, Burgener returned to Colorado Springs as a resident athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center and has reset his sights on qualifying for the 2012 London Olympic Games.