USA’s Olivia Reeves become second American to win gold in weightlifting in Olympics

On Friday, Olivia Reeves made weightlifting history by becoming the second American woman to earn an Olympic gold medal for Team USA since women were permitted to compete in 2000. Reeves was the final lifter to take the platform with the highest number during the 71kg snatch session. To guarantee a spot on the scoreboard, she began her first attempt with a cautious 112 kg, 9 kg behind her personal best in competition. The 21-year-old exhaled a deep sigh of relief as she finished the lift in a single, seamless motion.

Then, on her second try, she upped the weight to 115 kg, matching the Olympic record set by Romanian Elena Loredana Toma on her second try. Reeves smashed that record in her third and last snatch, a wobbly 117 kg snatch where she nearly step off the back on platform. Toma, the six-time European champion in a row, was unable to beat Reeves’ 117kg on his third try, with the Romanian finishing in third. Second spot was to Ecuador’s Angie Palacios Dájomes, who won the silver medal at the 2023 World Championship and went on to surpass Reeves’ total by 2 kg with a 116 kg snatch.

The gold was Reeves’s to lose then. If she is successful in recording her first effort at 140kg, no other woman in the 71kg session could equal her on the clean and jerk. She was left with an untouchable 257 kilos in total. She didn’t even need to make her second or third tries to win the gold; in her second try, she achieved a perfect 150 kg. She would have set another Olympic record at 150 kg on her third try, but she could not get into jerk. With a total weight of 262 kg, the first-time Olympian is now the Olympic champion.

China is known for producing the most skilled weightlifters in the world, but because of modifications made to the qualification process, each nation is only permitted to send three athletes—three men and three women—per weight class to Paris 2024. Additionally, there were ten weight classes instead of fourteen. Reeve’s greatest rival for the gold medal in weightlifting would have been China’s Liao Guifang, the 2023 World Champion and current world record holder (273 kg), but she was left off the roster.

Reeves has been competing since she was a little child, and her parents own a CrossFit gym. In the youth, junior, and senior categories, she possesses an astounding fifteen American records. The 71kg gold medallist from the 2023 World Cup is expected to smash the world records in the snatch (121 kg) and clean & jerk (154 kg) in the near future, according to her supporters. For the snatch and clean & jerk, Reeves’ individual competition bests are 120 kg and 151 kg, respectively.

Just know that Reeves is really strong even if these numbers mean nothing to you. According to the figure provided by NPR, she can squat more than three times her body weight. She is just growing stronger—that’s 224 kilograms, or almost 500 pounds. According to USA Weightlifting, she has gained 26 kg since the first Olympic qualifier.