Paris 2024 weightlifting: All results, as USA’s Olivia Reeves wins gold in women’s 71kg, setting Olympic record
The Paris 2024 women's 71kg weightlifting competition saw Olympic history made as the USA's Olivia Reeves won gold, setting a new Olympic snatch record of 117kg. She followed with a clean & jerk of 145kg for a total of 262kg.
Colombia’s Mari Leivis Sanchez took silver with a 112kg snatch and 145kg clean & jerk for a 257kg total. And Ecuador’s Angie Paola Palacios Dajomes took bronze with a 116kg snatch and 140kg clean & jerk for a 256kg total.
The win for the 21-year-old Reeves, competing at her first Olympic Games, marks the first Olympic weightlifting championship title for the United States since Tara Nott won the flyweight division at Sydney 2000.
Gold medallist Olivia Reeves of Team United States, flanked by silver medallist Mari Leivis Sanchez of Colombia (left) and bronze medallist Angie Paola Palacios Dajomes of Ecuador (right), pose on the podium during the Weightlifting Women's 71kg medal ceremony on day fourteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at South Paris Arena on 9 August 2024 in Paris, France.
In the opening snatch round, the top-seeded Reeves, looking tense, made her 112kg lift. In her next appearance, she was visibly more relaxed, snatching 115kg and happily skipping off the platform. But on the third round, Palacios Dajomes, who owns the snatch world record, set a new Olympic record in that particular lift of 116kg. Reeves wasted no time, bettering her with a 117kg lift to set the new Olympic record.
The clean & Jerk saw Sanchez make a 145kg lift, Reeves matched it and then tried to better her result on her final attempt at 150kg, but was unable to make the lift and finished with her gold medal with a 262kg total.
This marks the first Olympic medals for all three women on the podium. Reeves and Sanchez are competing in their first Olympic Games while the 23-year-old Palacios Dajomes finished sixth in the 64kg class at Tokyo 2020.
Reeves and her longtime coach Steve Fauer shared a long hug after her final lift.
“I'm very excited, overwhelmed, but I'm very grateful,” Reeves said of her gold-medal performance. “I definitely wish I made that 150kg. My preparation was OK for this meet, but I'm looking forward to the next one."
She added that these Olympic Games “rank higher than any other competition, it just doesn't feel real right now."
Reeves joins fellow American weightlifter Hampton Morris, who took bronze in the 61kg class, as the two USA lifters who medalled at Paris 2024 — the first Olympic medals in the sport for the country since Los Angeles 1984.
Weightlifting: women's 71kg podium
Gold Olivia Reeves (USA)
Silver Mari Leivis Sanchez (COL)
Bronze Angie Paola Palacios Dajomes (ECU)
See all the results on Olympics.com