Meet the top-seeded American weightlifter Olivia Reeves heading to Paris 2024
The 21-year-old from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Olivia Reeves, represents the next generation of American weightlifters heading to the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Reeves’s remarkable dominance is reflected in her position as the top-seeded athlete in her 71kg weight class.
The Olympic qualifying process in weightlifting has stretched over two years, during which time Reeves has grown exponentially as a lifter, consistently achieving new personal records and setting new Junior World Records and American records.
She’s considered such a strong contender for the top of the podium at Paris 2024 that commentators have drawn comparisons to Tara Nott-Cunningham, the last American female lifter to earn gold at Sydney 2000.
Reeves is one of five athletes representing the United States of America in weightlifting at Paris 2024. A team so powerful, that according to USA Weightlifting Senior Director of Sport Performance, Mike Gattone, it “represents a paradigm shift within USA Weightlifting.”
Find out more about this top-seeded American weightlifter:
On her junior world record American record lifts
In a conversation with the Olympics.com podcast, Reeves lights up when she asked to talk about her record lifts accomplished during this Olympic qualifying series.
“Those are my favorite lifts of my career at the moment,” she exclaims. Her recap starts with her resetting all the Junior World Records in the 71kg weight class at the 2023 Grand Prix in Doha, Qatar during her last year as a junior. She achieved a 115kg snatch, a 147kg clean and jerk for a total of 262kg.
She says, “That was my goal was to set them all.” She adds, “Maybe I’d move my Olympic ranking up, maybe not, but I just want all the records and that’s what I did.”
Fast-forward to the final Olympic qualifier at the 2024 IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand. Reeves again set three new American records, this time lifting a 118kg snatch, a 150kg clean and jerk for a 268kg total—a new American record and a gold medal finish.
This performance was big, not only for the records and the medal but also for finishing ahead of rival athletes from the People’s Republic of China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for the first time.
Thanks to these results, Reeves heads to Paris 2024 as the top-seeded lifter in the 71kg weight class.
The importance of training to complete big lifts
Reeves told the Olympics Podcast that the confidence she builds in training helps her achieve these big lifts. “I’m not thinking about the weight so much, for me it’s more ‘do a clean and jerk and do a snatch.’ It’s less, ‘I have to do a 147 clean and jerk,’ because that’s too heavy to think about it like that.”
Reeves shares that making gains in weightlifting is a slow and steady process. She says that the most difficult part of becoming a competitive weightlifter was “acknowledging and realizing that this is something I’m good at.” She explains that the progress is so incremental in adding a kilo at a time day to day that it takes a moment to pull back and see the big picture of her progress.
In a recent Reddit AMA Reeves also shared that the mental aspect of lifting is as important as the physical for an athlete. “Being able to approach the bar the same in competition as you do in training and trusting yourself on autopilot is very important.”
She further shared that she doesn’t take time off after competitions: “I’m usually right back in the gym, ready to work for the next one.” She adds, “I enjoy what I’m doing, so it rarely feels like real work. And competing is the best part of showing how training is going (most times).”
On managing it all as a full-time student
Reeves competed in a remarkable seven qualifiers as a full-time student. She balances her travel with her studies and training four times a week.
She says that at this level, the norm would be closer to six-to-nine training sessions a week, but she doesn’t have the time to increase it. “Just trying to balance school, with my training with traveling so often is a lot," she says.
One way Reeves stays motivated despite her busy schedule is by keeping it fun. She says it’s important to have a coach, gym and community that she can compete with and have fun in training. “That’s the biggest thing, I have fun and that’s what makes this whole process relatively easy.” Reeves has trained with longtime coach Steve Fauer since she started lifting in 2015.
Beyond the competitions and records, Reeves says that her favorite thing about weightlifting is “being strong and hopefully inspiring others to want to be strong as well.”