This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Once Jessie Bradley emerges from the warmup area inside the Salt Palace Convention Center on Sunday afternoon, awaiting the 19-year-old up-and-coming Olympic weightlifter will likely be the largest crowd she's competed in front of.

And there will be a plethora of familiar faces.

"I'll probably have more people I know in the crowd than anyone else there," she said, "but I typically don't notice what's going on once I'm on the platform."

The lifter from Orem says she immediately zones in on the bar in front of her, bookended by weights. The battle to stay zeroed in on the task at hand might be a tad more difficult than usual. Bradley is one of 15 female lifters competing in Sunday's U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Salt Lake City. Of the 15 trial finalists, three qualify for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro this August.

While Bradley is a one of the 15 competing, she understands that she's not a real contender. Her aim is ahead, at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. This weekend's trials and accompanying U.S. national championships are viewed as a learning tool.

"Really I'm just excited to get to lift in trials in 2016, so that in 2020 it won't be my first time," Bradley said. "I want to go and improve my [lift] total and have a really strong meet. There's not any pressure on me as far as going for that spot in the Olympics."

Instead, she's out to balance the line of competing and studying her peers. Bradley would like to set a new personal record in the snatch lift — lifting the barbell from the ground to an overhead in an uninterrupted motion — and improve her overall points total on the various ranking lists.

"It'll be something that's totally new," she said. "I've never gone to a meet like this."

Cara Heads Slaughter, one of Bradley's coaches, was an Olympian at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney. She points out that while Bradley's rise in the sport as a junior has been impressive, the fact is Bradley's been a full-time lifter for two years.

"Jessie is on a great trajectory; a solid trajectory," Heads Slaughter said.

As evidenced by her three medals at last weekend's Pan American Junior Games in El Salvador where Bradley won two golds and one silver. In the 75-kilogram weight category, Bradley already owns the junior American record in the snatch lift.

Later this June, she expects to be competing in the Junior World Championships in Eastern Europe.

"She's always had the talent for the next level, she just lacked competition experience and training experience," Heads Slaughter said. "She's going to be one of the top guns for 2020."

A former CrossFit competitor, Bradley found Olympic weightlifting through the sport she grew up in. After a regional competition in 2013, she switched her training program to feature more weightlifting. She eventually qualified for the American Open, where she met national team coaches and was invited to some camps at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. That's where she met Heads Slaughter.

Bradley eventually made the move there, where she's been the past 18 months training full time.

Bradley trains nine times a week, with double-days on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. The volume and intensity of the each training cycle depends on the time of year and what competitions lie ahead. The last training schedule she had? Twelve workouts a week. Double-days every day.

The Junior PanAms in El Salvador last week, the national championships and Olympic trials this week and the Junior World Championships next month is a packed window of meets that Bradley calls "super rare."

From El Salvador to Colorado Springs and eventually home to Utah will be the "tightest turnaround I've ever made." She's not complaining about the circumstances, though. Bradley's in exclusive company, one of the best 15 female weightlifters in the country, understanding that her time will eventually come.

"We're very realistic about the competition this weekend, but as a 19-year-old heading into an Olympic Trials, this is tremendous competition experience," Heads Slaughter said. "She should be a contender a strong, strong contender at the next Olympic Games. This is just gives her an opportunity to feel what it's like to be in the back during warm-ups at the Olympic trials where there is tension."

Twitter: @chriskamrani —

Jessie Bradley at a glance

Age » 19

Weight category » 75kg

Hometown » Orem

Residence » Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Lifting highlights » Three medals at 2016 Junior Pan American Games in San Salvador, El Salvador; 2014 & 2015 Junior World Team member; 75kg junior American record holder for snatch lift; five-time U.S. international team member —

USA Weightlifting Championships and Olympic Team Trials

Salt Palace Convention Center

National Championships: May 6-8

Olympic Trials: Sunday, May 8: Men's trials 1:30-3:30 p.m., women's trials, 4-6 p.m.

» Three U.S. female lifters qualify for Rio on Sunday

» Eight U.S. male lifters will qualify to travel to Colombia next month, where the U.S. will there determine which of the eight will earn the one Olympic slot in Rio

Ones to watch

» Sarah Robles (27, San Jacinto, Calif., weight class +75kg, 2012 Olympian)

» Holley Mangold (26, Dayton, Ohio, weight class +75kg, 2012 Olympian)

» Mattie Rogers (20, Apopa, Fla., weight class 69kg, ranked No. 2)

» Morgan King (30, Seattle, Wash., weight class 48kg, ranked No. 2)

» Kendrick Farris (29, Shreveport, La., weight class 94kg, 2008 & 2012 Olympian)

» Caine Wilkes (28, Chesapeake, Va., weight class +105kg, 2013, 2014, 2015 National Champion)