Staff writer Grace Holloway wraps up some of the Olympic Weightlifting highlights at Paris 2024.
Olympic Weightlifting, the sport that brings us the quickest movements in the Olympics, has returned. This year brought all the close battles, Olympic records, and controversies, as the sport always provides.
What’s happened since Tokyo
Since the last Olympic games three years ago, Olympic weightlifting has undergone major changes.
Firstly, the number of weight categories has been drastically reduced from 14 to just 10, forcing many athletes to change their weight during qualification to compete in these new categories. The total number of athletes has also been reduced from 14 to 12, meaning overall there are only 120 lifters compared to Tokyo’s 196 and Rio’s 260. This has been partially caused by the addition of new sports into the Olympics, forcing others to downsize.
We also saw changes in qualification, which resulted in countries only being able to take three female and three male lifters. This resulted in the dominant country, China, being unable to take some of their highly successful lifters.
Men’s 61kg: US success and Chinese dominance
To start off the men’s category, the lightest weight class brought some immediate surprises. Bulgarian lifter Ivan Dimov and Italy’s Sergio Massidda, who were both medal contenders, failed to complete any Snatch lifts and therefore did not qualify for the Clean and Jerk round.
Overall, the dominance of Chinese lifter Li Fabian was asserted, with a new Olympic Record Snatch of 143kg. With a total of 310kg, he achieved his second Olympic gold medal. In the silver position was Theerapong Silachai, who achieved Thailand’s first male silver medal in weightlifting at only 20 years old.
The bronze medal given to USA lifter Hampton Morris marked a historic achievement. The 20 year old has previously broken junior World Records as well as the Clean and Jerk World Record with 176kg earlier this year. With a total of 298kg he managed to secure Team USA’s first men’s Weightlifting medal since the 1984 Olympics. He is certainty one to watch out for in the future.
Women’s 49kg: Six for Six and a new Olympic Record.
Chinese lifter Hou Zhihui also claimed a gold medal, but it was not without a fight. The Snatch World Record holder failed to complete this lift at 90kg, placing Romanian lifter Mihaela Cambei in first. Cambei remained in gold medal position after completing six out of six lifts with flawless technique, forcing Hou to break the Olympic record by lifting 117kg in the Clean and Jerk on her last attempt.
With a total of 206kg, Hou claimed her second Olympic gold, just ahead of Cambei, who achieved her first ever Olympic medal with a total of 205kg, . In bronze was Thailand’s Surochana Khamboa who successfully made a final total of 200kg, also achieving her first Olympic medal.
Women’s 59kg: Olympic records across the board.
In the second women’s category, competition became close with six Olympic Records broken. In the Snatch category the Olympic Record was broke four times by three different athletes, increasing it from 103kg to 107kg. Chinese lifter Luo Shifang set the final record.
In the Clean and Jerk, Luo also claimed a new Olympic Record of 134kg on her second attempt. This gave her another Olympic Record with her total of 241kg, beating the previous total by eight kilograms and helping her achieve her first ever Olympic gold medal. She certainly will remain a top female lifter in years to come.
The podium was filled with other well established and decorated lifters, with Canadian Maude Charron achieving silver, after winning gold in the 64kg category in Tokyo. In bronze position game Kuo Hsing-chun who has previously achieved gold and held Olympic Records in this category.
Men’s 73kg: Disastrous performances and young victories
After China managed to achieve gold in the first three weight categories (both male and female), the 73kg men’s gold was almost guaranteed. The Chinese lifter Shi Shiyong, aged 30, is regarded as one of the best in the sport, especially with his squat Jerk technique which is not competed often. He managed to snatch 165kg, taking a 10kg lead over other competitors. However in the Clean and Jerk he dramatically failed to make any lift, losing his title in possibly his last Olympic performance.
The end of his dominance allowed for younger lifters to shine through. Rizki Juniansyah, aged only 21 years old, achieved Indonesia’s first ever Olympic weightlifting gold medal. Breaking an Olympic Record of 199kg on his Clean and Jerk, he reached a 354kg total.
In the silver medal position, 19-year-old Weeraphon Wichuma broke a junior world record in the Clean and Jerk. He then became the youngest competitor to win a silver medal in this category. Bronze was taken by Bulgarian lifter Bozhidar Andreev with a total of 344kg.
Men’s 89kg: A new podium and new world records
In the Snatch the battle was close, with five lifters lifting within 10kg of each other, and all 12 making at least one successful lift. At the break Bulgarian lifter Karlos Nasar and Columbian lifter Yeison Lopez were both tied on 180kg.
During the Clean and Jerk, Lopez secured his silver medal by lifting 210kg, leaving the gold almost guaranteed to Nasar. The 20-year-old first lifted 213kg, which placed him in the gold medal position, and then took a successful 11kg leap to 224kg. This broke the Clean and Jerk World Record he had set earlier this year, as well as the World Record Total. Making five out of five successful lifts and breaking two World Records at his first Olympic games is a remarkable achievement, with many excited to see what he will do next.
In the bronze medal position, controversy arose after Antonino Pizzolato was given a good lift by the jury. He initially missed his first two clean and jerks and was given three red lights for his third attempt. However after appeal, the jury revoked this decision and gave it as a successful lift, despite many commentators viewing this as a clear no lift.
Women’s 71kg: Skipping for joy
This year’s women’s 71kg category saw Olympic debuts for 10 athletes. In the run up to this category all eyes were focused on two main lifters: Romanian lifter Loredana Toma, the European Champion; and Olivia Reeves, a US 21-year-old who continues to smash junior world records.
After the Snatch 11 athletes were left with very close scores. In a shocking turn of events Toma failed to place any Clean and Jerks, pushing her out of medal contention despite being a strong favourite. The battle was then between Colombian lifter Mari Sanchez and Ecuadorian lifter Angie Palacios for silver, with Sanchez pipping the post by 1kg.
Olivia Reeves sailed to victory, smashing a Olympic record of 117kg in the Snatch and 145kg in the Clean and Jerk, which took her total to 262kg. She has captured the hearts of many in the sport, with her bubbly personality and now iconic skip off the stage. For a 21 year old, she has a lot more record-breaking to come.
Men’s 102kg: Failed attempts and a new Chinese star
This year’s second heaviest category was it’s most competitive yet, with first and fourth position only having a eight kilogram total difference. We also saw a much lighter total from the medal athletes, due to the weight category being lowered from 109kg to 102kg. In Tokyo 2020 the gold total was an Olympic record at 430kg, yet this year gold was won by only 406kg.
Taking the gold medal was Chinese lifter Liu Huanhua, their newest weightlifting star. At only 22 years old, he burst on the scene in 2022 and successfully beat Uzbekistan’s Akbar Djuraev, the defending champion, by just two kilograms.
The podium ended with Djuraev winning silver and Yauheni Tsikhantsou, competing for the Individual Neutral Athletes team, winning bronze. All three medallists attempted, but failed to lift over 221kg.
Women’s 81kg: Norwegian superstar
The absence of Chinese star Wang Zhouyu allowed this category to be open to a close battle for a new champion. In the running for a Gold medal were three main competitors: Solfrid Koanda from Norway, Sara Ahmed from Egypt, and Neisi Dajomes Barrera from Ecuador.
After Barrera took the lead in the Snatch with 122kg, her missed final attempt on the Clean and Jerk of 151kg pushed her into bronze position. Ahmed took her first attempt at 146kg and her second at 151kg. This pushed Koanda to attempt 154kg on her second attempt, breaking the Olympic record in the Clean and Jerk and total. Receiving her first ever medal, she also becomes the first woman to win a Olympic weightlifting medal for Norway.
Away from the podium there was other remarkable stories, including the first ever weightlifter to compete for Vanuatu and a lifter representing the Olympic Refugee team.
Men’s 102kg+: The greatest of all time?
In the lead up to this battle, many suspected we could see the reigning champion Lasha Talakhadze beaten due to his injury earlier this year. Representing Georgia, he is regarded as the greatest of all time within the sport, after numerous world records.
In the Snatch category competition was fierce. Talakhadze holds the World Record for 225kg, and lifted only 215kg. Gor Minasyan from Bahrain managed to beat him by lifting 216kg, with Varazdat Lalayan from Armenia also finishing on 215kg. This left the Clean and Jerk to be the most tense yet.
In the Clean and Jerk Minasyan first successfully lifted 245kg, with Lalayan and Talakhadze both making 247kg. After two unsuccessful attempts at 255kg, Minasyan solidified his bronze medal. Lalayan successfully lifted 252kg on his second attempt, with Talakhadze responding with 255kg. It then came down to Lalayan’s final attempt of 256kg, which was unsuccessful, giving the gold back to Talakhadze.
Talakhadze has now won three Olympic gold medals consecutively, further adding to his medal collection and his reputation as one of the best.
Women’s 81kg+: Bronze for Britain
In the women’s heavyweight category, all lifters managed to successfully lift a total.
Capturing gold was Chinese lifter Li Wenwen, who only needed four lifts to clinch the medal with a total of 309kg. China’s performance in the weightlifting is not to be overlooked, as they achieved five out of the six gold medals that they competed for.
In silver was 21-year old South Korean lifter Park Hye-jeong, who finished only 10kg below Li.
Emily Campell, lifting for Great Britain, made three for three on her Snatch lifts and accomplished a new Personal Best. After lifting 162kg in the Clean and Jerk, her bronze medal was secured. She will remain in the history books as the first female weightlifter from Great Britain to ever win an Olympic weightlifting medal.
What’s next?
When LA 2028 comes around, we could see even more changes happening to the sport. For that event North Korea may take part in the qualification, and since they hold many of the world records in the lighter weight categories, competition could be even more fierce and intense.
Whatever changes may happen, we can only hope that we will not see a further reduction in categories or athletes taking part.
