Exclusive - Refugee weightlifter Ramiro Mora Romero sets the bar high: ‘I want a medal at the World Championships’
The Refugee Olympic Team weightlifter tells Olympics.com he is aiming for silverware at the 2024 Weightlifting World Championships, streamed live on the Olympic Channel.
Weightlifting
Having already achieved his Olympic debut, Ramiro Mora Romero wants more in 2024.
The Refugee Olympic Team weightlifter finished seventh at the Paris 2024 Olympics, one of 37 athletes representing the International Olympic Committee’s refugee squad and competing under the Olympic flag.
It has been a breakthrough year for the 27-year-old, who now trains in Great Britain.
“I worked hard for that and we did it,’’ Mora tells Olympics.com. “We added 11kg to my competition personal best and improved at the event too. Seventh at the Olympic Games - I have the certificate at home: ‘Olympic finalist’. I had a dream, it was something incredible.’’
The 2024 season has already seen the 2023 British champion compete at both the World Cup in Phuket, Thailand, where he finished 18th, and the Olympics.
Now the dream continues for Mora, who will debut at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships (6-15 December) in Manama, Bahrain.
Mora aims for World Championship silverware
Mora is in Bahrain at the IWF refugee team’s training camp ahead of his maiden World Championships, where he has been working hard to shed 3kg in a 12-day period to be ready for the competition.
The two-time English national champion competed in the 102kg weight category at the Olympics, but four months later at the World Championships, he will compete in the 96kg category as a strategic move to target a first career medal.
He explains, “We want to do well, but this time we didn’t set a higher weight target. I will go for a bronze medal or a top-five finish, that is the objective to end the year. It is a strategy with my coach to see if we can win a medal at the World Championships.”
Mora has overcome plenty of adversity to make it to the pinnacle of weightlifting through his Olympic and World Championship debuts.
After losing both his parents, he moved to Great Britain in 2019, where he worked in a circus for three years.
It was at Paris where he was able to honour their legacy, taking a moment before competition as he raised his finger to the skies in tribute to his late mother.
“My mother was everything for me,” he says. “She has always been with me, whether she was down here or up there. And though she passed away, I always promised her that I would go to the Olympics. I did it, and every time I did so, it was for her.”
Now, Mora is settled in Bristol with his partner and an eight-month-old daughter, where he feels comfortable and embraces the British cold - “The only thing I don’t like is when it rains,” he confesses.
Ramiro Mora, part of the Refugee Olympic Team family
In a world with 120 million displaced people, the Refugee Olympic Team (EOR) grows ever more vital and has fulfilled the dreams of refugee athletes like Mora.
He was one of two weightlifters selected for the team at Paris 2024 alongside Yekta Jamali Galeh, as he looks back fondly on his Parisian summer.
“From when I arrived in Paris, it was as if I were living a dream,” Mora explains. “Once I met the entire refugee team, we became a family. The togetherness really helped us, and everyone was supporting us: the physiotherapists with whatever we needed, the doctors, everything. It was incredible on the boat at the Opening Ceremony.”
The family feel was crucial for the team, built through pre-Games training camps and activities organised to bring the athletes together in the name of the global community.
Thirty-seven athletes across 12 sports, hosted by 15 National Olympic Committees, the Refugee Olympic Team truly served to represent everyone and inspire people around the world.
He recalls, “The Refugee Olympic Team gave me a big opportunity. I have history with my family and with people who never believed in me, who thought that I was simply going to be a weightlifter and nothing else. The lesson I learnt from the team was that it does not matter what race you are, your religion, nothing.
“We were all a team, listening to music in Arabic and English, or Latin music, and everyone was happy and dancing. We were like a family, the support from everyone was unconditional.”
Mora keeps in touch with some of his teammates, including Cindy Ngamba, the EOR’s first medallist with her boxing bronze in Paris. Fellow refugee athlete Galeh will also compete at the World Championships.
Mora sets his sights on LA 2028
Mora will wrap up his memorable season with the World Championships before heading back to Britain, where he holds the national records in the 89kg and 96kg categories.
The weightlifter also set the British record in clean and jerk in the 102kg weight class.
Despite the records and multiple debuts, he knows that none of this has come easy.
Mora says, “There is saying that goes, ‘Hard work beats talent’. I see people that are naturally talented who do well in any sport from day one, but they are not disciplined. Athletes that say, ‘I am talented, I am not going to train today or do this.’ And that is where they fall. They don’t like to do this or that, so I did it myself.
“I started weightlifting aged 14 because I wanted to give my family a better life. I arrived [in the UK], I worked hard for three years and I made the national team. Technique is the fundamental thing; it is a very beautiful sport, because it teaches you many things.”
There is no doubt that the 27-year-old is anywhere near done and has a clear plan ahead, all leading up to returning to the Olympic stage at LA 2028.
“The goal is to reach the 2028 Olympic Games,” Mora states. “I want to represent [Team GB] to thank the country for the opportunity that they gave me, but if not, I would go under the [Olympic] flag again.”
He continues, “I want to keep training to go to the European Championships, everything depends on how my preparation goes, as it will be more difficult when I return to England because I have to take care of my family at the same time.”
To support his family, the refugee athlete juggles his training with working as a carpenter in Britain. He also competes in Germany's local Bundesliga during the season.
“You must have a lot of discipline and a focus on what you want to do. I am not an athlete who has the conditions to be a weightlifter. There are athletes who have the conditions, the talent, and I do not. I have worked hard to get here.”
The 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships begin in Bahrain on 6 December, streamed live on the Olympic Channel via Olympics.com, with the refugee athlete competing on Thursday 12 Dicember.