The world’s most dominant weightlifting team of the 21st century, Team China, sent six weightlifters to the 2024 Olympics. They will return home with five gold medals after Women’s +81KG weightlifter Li Wenwen won the gold medal in the final event of the Games on August 11.
Li, 24, entered the competition with an exorbitant lead ahead of the other super-heavyweight women. As such, winning the gold bordered on an afterthought for the world record holder.
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Li Wenwen (+81KG) | 2024 Olympics
Prior to the commencement of the Women’s +81KG weightlifting event, Li was already considered a runaway favorite for her second Olympic title.
Her qualification Total — the sum of her best snatch and clean & jerk and the metric by which athletes are ranked at the Games — was a full 29 kilograms ahead of anyone else, marking the largest preliminary advantage of any weightlifter in Paris.
Li Wenwen Weightliftng Results | 2024 Olympics
Snatch: 130, 136
Clean & Jerk: 167, 173, 174x
Total: 309
Li declined her third snatch attempt having set herself up five kilograms ahead of snatch runner-up Park Hyejeong (KOR) halfway through the session.
She also declared 174 kilograms for her final attempt, but instead of lifting hauled her coaching staff up on stage, literally, and took a bow for the audience.
Li Wenwen | An (Almost) Impeccable Resume
Li has been a mainstay of China’s international weightlifting roster for five years. Her first international appearance at the 2019 World Cup was also her only non-gold-medal performance ever; she won silver there.
Since then, Li has competed in 10 international weightlifting meets for China, winning 10 overall gold medals in the process.
Li held all three Women’s +81KG weightlifting world records prior to Paris:
Snatch: 148KG
Clean & Jerk: 187KG
Total: 335
More Weightlifting News From the 2024 Olympics
Greatest Ever: Lasha Talakhadze Wins Third Gold at 2024 Olympics
Liu Huanhua Wins Historic Weightlifting Gold for China at 2024 Olympics
Hou Zhihui Sets Olympic Record Clean & Jerk to Steal Gold Medal at 2024 Olympics
Featured Image: Jen Marchese / @one_kilo_
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