Olivia Reeves won the United States’ first Olympic gold medal in weightlifting in 24 years at the Paris Olympics on Friday.
Reeves lifted 117kg (390lbs) in the snatch and 145kg (320lbs) in the clean and jerk for a total of 262kg to beat Mari Sánchez of Colombia by five kilos in the women’s 71kg division. Angie Palacios of Ecuador took the bronze.
“I dedicate this medal to everybody who had a hand in helping me get here – my coach, my family, my gym,” said Reeves, who became the youngest US lifter to win Olympic gold since 1956. “It takes a village to get here, and I’m truly blessed and grateful for those who have helped me get here.”
The 21-year-old from Chattanooga, who started lifting weights doing CrossFit when she was in fourth grade – her mother owned a gym – seemed calm during the competition, but said later she had been feeling the nerves. Reeves said she wanted to treat the Olympics as just another event, “and I got more nervous than all the others, so it didn’t really work”.
During the medal ceremony, Reeves wiped away tears and took deep breaths as the US anthem played.
“I’ve heard the national anthem before. I’ve been on the podium before,” she said. “But this is the Olympics, and to be here, be the Olympic champion hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m not quite sure, but I’m trying to process it.”
Reeves opted for higher starting weights than her opponents in both parts of the competition, and completed her first five lifts. Her only failed lift came on a 150kg (131lbs) clean-and-jerk attempt with the gold medal already in the bag.
“My mindset is always to make lifts, regardless of records or the competition, or medals on the line,” she said. “My goal is to make the lift. That’s how you compete.
“For that one, it haunts me because I know I can do it. I have done 150 a couple of times before, so I just wish I had taken an extra second there to take a breath. That’s the only reason it haunts me, because I know I can do it.”
The US last won an Olympic gold medal in weightlifting in Sydney in 2000, when Tara Nott won the lightest women’s division. That was the first Olympic Games to include women’s weightlifting on the program.
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“I hope that this can inspire any young girl who wants to do this. I think to be a representative in this sport means a lot, and I’m proud to have that role,” Reeves said.
Reeves’ gold followed an historic bronze medal for 20-year-old Hampton Morris on Wednesday, the first Olympic medal of any kind for a US men’s weightlifter since the 1984 Los Angeles Games, marking the first time the US has won men;s and women’s medals in weightlifting at the same Summer Game sfor the first time. There are hopes about the US program that Reeves and Morris could be at the fore of a weightlighting resurgence going into the 2028 LA Olympics.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect. I kind of knew I was going to cry. I knew after the snatches that the weight of this competition is different from the others.
“Even though it’s the same – you have three attempts in six minutes – it feels different in there. It’s just the environment. So I knew there were going to be tears, good or bad. I kind of knew when I got here.”
One of the nine sports on offer at the first modern Olympics in 1896, weightlifting has been included on the program at every Summer Games since then except for three in the early 1900s. And while only two countries have won more golds (17) or overall medals (48) than the United States, only 10 of those, including Morris’ bronze and Reeves’ gold, have come since 1968.