Paris Olympics: Olivia Reeves wins first US gold medal in 24 years in women’s weightlifting

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Olivia Reeves led the United States to its first Olympic weightlifting gold medal in 24 years on Thursday, winning the women’s 71 kg (157 lb) event.

Reeves set an Olympic record in the snatch on Friday, lifting 117 kg (258 pounds). In total, she lifted 262 kg (578 pounds) to beat out Colombia’s Mari Leivis Sanchez and Ecuador’s Angie Paola Palacios Dajomes for gold.

The last American weightlifter to win gold was Tara Nott-Cunningham at the 2000 Sydney Games, the first Olympic Games in which women’s weightlifting competed. Earlier this week, the U.S. men won their first medal since 1984 when Hampton Morris won bronze.

Reeves, 21, is a student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and began lifting weights as a young teenager at her parents’ CrossFit gym. She previously won a gold medal in the 71kg at the 2024 IWF World Cup and bronze at both the 2023 World Championships and the Pan American Championships.

“It’s incredibly exciting because she’s had all this success and she’s had it at such a young age,” former Olympic weightlifter Cara Heads Slaughter told NPR. “She’s on her way to becoming the best American women’s weightlifter in history.”