Farris figures he is improved

Kendrick Farris huffed and puffed, ground and grunted, lifting as much as he could last year at the Olympics. He gave his best, and it wasn’t nearly good enough.

A self-proclaimed perfectionist, Farris knew he needed more muscle, so he improved his strength and conditioning program, and he noticed a flaw in his positioning in the snatch, so he refined his technique.

He’ll show the results of his labor today during the Rodger DeGarmo Memorial, a world team secondary qualifier that began Saturday at the Olympic Training Center in honor of the USA Weightlifting executive director who died in 2007.

Farris, 23, of Shreveport, La., set personal records in Beijing with a 352-pound snatch, 444-pound clean and jerk and 796-pound total. Gold medalist Yong Lu of China lifted 867 pounds, and Farris placed eighth in the 187-pound division.

Since then, Farris has recovered from a strained left shoulder that sidelined him for five months. He won the national collegiate championships and the national championships to qualify for the Nov. 20-29 world event in Goyang, South Korea.

In his Olympic debut, Farris said he “thought a medal was a possibility. Looking back on it and the things I was doing, that was something I wanted, but I can work harder. ... You are going to be seeing some tremendous progress.”