Evan Pittman Takes Home Gold, World Records, At Junior Olympics

Posted Jul 31, 2012 by Howard Altman

Updated Jul 31, 2012 at 12:36 PM

When last I saw Evan Pittman, he was an 11-year-old lifting 225 pounds in the MacDill Air Force Base gym, preparing for 2010 Armed Services Championship at MacDill, where he set three more U.S. records: in the squat (160 pounds); bench (77 pounds); and deadlift (225 pounds).

At the time, Evan – the son of now-retiring Rear Admiral Hal Pittman – told me his goal was to perform in the Olympics.

Now 13 and an 8th grader at Tampa Prep, Evan Pittman is fresh off the Junior Olympics, held last week in Houston.

“We’ve been in Houston” at the Junior Olympics, his dad wrote me in an email, “where Evan competed in springboard diving (silver & bronze medals) Wednesday and then in powerlifting…  In powerlifting, he set five world and five national records, and has now won gold and set world records at the Games four years in a row.”

Just reading the cutline of a photo gives a pretty good indication of what Evan accomplished:

Lifting in the 114 lb. 12-13-year-old division, Evan completes a 232 lb. squat at the 2012 AAU Junior Olympic Games in Houston, tying a national and world record.  Evan set five national and world records at the games (squat 232 lbs., deadlift 294 lbs (3 records) and total weight lifted 646 lbs.), winning gold in powerlifting for the fourth year in a row, and also collected bronze and silver medals in springboard diving.  Earlier this summer, Evan won the 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation American Challenge powerlifting nationals in North Carolina, and also took third in black belt sparring at AAU Taekwondo Nationals in Fort Lauderdale.

But Evan’s performance wasn’t relegated just to the sporting events.

“He also played the national anthem twice on the violin during opening ceremonies each day,” wrote Pittman, who used to run the U.S. Central Command media office before shifting over to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Pittman is retiring after 29 years.