‘I knew I’d cry’: Olivia Reeves wins first US Olympic weightlifting gold in 24 years

Olivia Reeves won the first American gold medal in 24 years on Friday night at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Reeves lifted 117 kg (390 lbs) in the snatch and 145 kg (320 lbs) in the clean and jerk for a total of 262 kg to beat Colombia’s Mari Sánchez by five kilos in the women’s 71 kg division. Angie Palacios of Ecuador took bronze.

“I dedicate this medal to everyone who helped me get here — my coach, my family, my gym,” said Reeves, who became the youngest U.S. weightlifter to win Olympic gold since 1956. “It takes a village to get here, and I’m truly blessed and grateful for those who helped me get here.”

The 21-year-old from Chattanooga, who started lifting weights and doing CrossFit in the fourth grade — her mother owned a gym — seemed calm during the competition but said later that she was nervous. Reeves said she wanted to treat the Olympics as an event like any other, “and I got more nervous than everybody else, so it didn’t really work out.”

During the medal ceremony, Reeves wiped away tears and took a deep breath as the U.S. national anthem played.

“I’ve heard the anthem before. I’ve been on the podium before,” she said. “But this is the Olympics, and being here, being the Olympic champion, hasn’t really sunk in yet. I’m not sure, but I’m trying to process it.”

Reeves chose higher starting weights than her opponents in both parts of the competition and completed her first five lifts. Her only failed lift was a 150 kg (131 lbs) clean-and-jerk attempt with the gold medal already in the bag.

“My mindset is always to make lifts, regardless of records or competition or medals on the line,” she said. “My goal is to make the lift. That’s how you compete.

“That one time haunts me because I know I can do it. I’ve done the 150 a few times before, so I wish I had taken a moment to breathe. That’s the only reason it haunts me, because I know I can do it.”

The U.S. last won an Olympic gold medal in weightlifting in Sydney in 2000, when Tara Nott won the lightweight women’s division. That was the first Olympic Games to feature women’s weightlifting.

“I hope this can inspire every young girl who wants to do this. I think it means a lot to be a representative in this sport, and I’m proud to have that role,” Reeves said.

Reeves’ gold followed a historic bronze medal for 20-year-old Hampton Morris on Wednesday, the first Olympic medal of any kind for an American male weightlifter since the 1984 Los Angeles Games, marking the first time the U.S. has won a men’s and women’s weightlifting medal at the same Summer Games. There are hopes across the U.S. program that Reeves and Morris can be at the forefront of a weightlifting revival ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“I didn’t know what to expect. I knew I was going to cry. I knew after the snatches that the weight of this competition is different than the others.

“Even though it’s the same – you have three attempts in six minutes – it feels different there. It’s just the environment. So I knew there were going to be tears, good or bad. I knew it when I got here.”

Weightlifting was one of nine sports offered at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, and has been included in every Summer Games since then except for three in the early 1900s. And while only two countries have won more gold (17) or total medals (48) than the United States, only 10 of those, including Morris’ bronze and Reeves’ gold, have been achieved since 1968.