Team USA’s Olivia Reeves wins weightlifting gold at the 2024 Olympics – NBC New York

Olivia Reeves made weightlifting history on Friday, winning the second Olympic gold medal for the U.S. team since women were first allowed to compete in 2000.

In the 71kg snatch, Reeves was the last lifter to step onto the platform with the highest number. She began her first attempt with a conservative 112kg, 9kg under her personal best in the meet, to ensure she got on the scoreboard. The 21-year-old breathed a sigh of relief after successfully completing the lift in one fluid motion.

On her second attempt, she increased her lift to 115 kg, equalling the Olympic record held by Romania’s Elena Loredana Toma. On her third and final snatch attempt, Reeves broke that record with a wobbly 117 kg snatch attempt that nearly saw her leap off the back of the platform.

On Tomas’ third attempt, the six-time consecutive European champion could not reach Reeves’ 117 kg, leaving the Romanian in third place. Ecuadorian Angie Palacios Dájomes, the 2023 World Championship silver medalist who exceeded Reeves’ total by 2 kg, took second place with a snatch of 116 kg.

Reeves had no choice but to lose the gold medal. No other woman in the 71 kg class could match her in the clean and jerk if she managed 140 kg in her first attempt.

And she did.

This gave her an unattainable total of 257 kg. She didn’t even need a second and third attempt to win gold, but she managed a flawless 150 kg on her second attempt. Her third attempt at 150 kg would have been another Olympic record, but she failed to complete the clean and jerk.

The Olympic debutant is now Olympic champion with a total weight of 262 kg.

Mari Leivis Sanchez of Colombia took silver on Friday, while Palacios Dajomes won bronze.

Weightlifters from China normally dominate the sport, but changes to the qualification process meant each country was only allowed to send three women and three men to Paris 2024, one for each weight class. The number of weight classes was also reduced from 14 to 10.

China’s Liao Guifang, 2023 world champion and world record holder in weightlifting (273 kg), would have been Reeves’ biggest rival in the fight for gold, but was not selected for the team.

Reeves’ parents own a CrossFit gym and she has been competing since she was a teenager. She holds an impressive 15 American records in the youth, junior and senior categories.

She is the 2023 World Championship gold medalist in the 71 kg class and fans expect her to soon break the world record in both the snatch (121 kg) and clean and jerk (154 kg). Reeves’ personal bests are 120 kg in the snatch and 151 kg in the clean and jerk.

If those numbers mean nothing to you, you should know that Reeves is incredibly strong. According to the number published by NPR, she can lift more than three times her body weight. That’s 224 kg, or almost 500 pounds, and she’s only getting stronger.

According to USA Weightlifting, she has increased her total weight by 26 kg since the first Olympic qualifier.

Olympic Weightlifting Schedule

American weightlifter Jourdan Delacruz finished fifth in the women’s 49 kg competition after failing to place in 2020.