Indonesia's weightlifting star Rahmat Erwin Abdullah aims for Paris 2024 glory: “It has to be gold now”
The double world champion beat the world record twice at the 2023 Asian Weightlifting championships building a huge lead in the Paris 2024 qualifying rankings.
“I haven’t reached my limit yet!” declared Indonesian lifter, Rahmat Erwin Abdullah.
His confidence stemmed from a record-breaking performance this week at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent.
Abdullah’s insatiable hunger for the Olympic title, which eluded him at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics where he settled for bronze, was evident as he climbed the podium on Monday (6 February) in the Uzbekistan capital. A slightly leaner Abdulla dropped from the 81kg he competed in more frequently in 2023, to his Olympic weight - the men’s 73kg class - and delivered an outstanding performance.
He secured a medal in the snatch, lifting 159kg, then went on to beat his own world record twice in the clean and jerk.
His first world record came in his fifth attempt at 202kg, then he improved it with his sixth lift of 204kg. His total of 363kg was just a kilo short of the record held by the two-time Olympic champion’s Shi Zhiyong.
The double world gold medallist, who clinched his third consecutive title at the 2023 Southeast Asian Games, has consolidated his position atop the men’s 73kg Paris 2024 Olympics rankings, leading by 14kg.
“It has to be gold now,” said the lifter with his sights on the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Rizki Juniansyah rounded off a good showing for the Indonesians in Tashkent, finishing second with a total of 353kg, followed by Masanori Miyamoto from Japan with 335.
The 23-year-old retained his world title last year, breaking the world record in Riyadh, but in the 81kg category. He then impressively topped the podium in the lighter class at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, held in 2023, about three weeks later.
His brilliant streak continued at the Grand Prix in Doha in Decembe, where he won silver in the 81kg.
“Rahmat's appearance in the 81 kg class is part of a strategy to sharpen his existing abilities,” explained Erwin Abdullah, the Indonesian weightlifting team coach and his dad who celebrated the golden moment in Tashkent with his son.
Rahmat Erwin Abdullah with his dad and coach Erwin Abdullah.
The senior Abdullah was a former weightlifter and won silver at the 2002 Asian Games, and so was his mother, Ami Asun Budiono, the 1995 Southeast Asian Games champion, who also accompanied the team to the Asian Championships.
“When I started weightlifting in 2012, my mother was my coach because my father had to work to support the family,” said Abdullah, whose been working with his dad as coach since 2013.
So what's the most significant lesson he's learned from his dad, aside from the discipline he's renowned for?
“It’s quite hard to explain, but it’s that everybody has their limit, and that it takes them a different amount of time and effort to reach it.”