At the halfway mark of the first weightlifting event at the 2024 Olympics, it looked like Eko Yuli Irawan would make Olympic history.
Irawan, 35, was the oldest of 12 athletes performing during the Men’s 61-kilogram lightweight event in Paris. He’s also a four-time Olympic medalist and was poised to become the first weightlifter to win five consecutive Olympic medals.
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But in the second half of the event, tragedy struck. Irawan, inches from the Olympic podium, may have missed the history books due to an uncharacteristically slippery lifting platform. And he wasn’t the only one.
Slippery Slopes
Prior to Paris, Irawan was among a small coalition of four-time Olympic medalists, including all-time great Pyrros Dimas and American Norbert Schemansky. Halfway through the 61-kilogram event, Irawan was in second place.
- Weightlifting events test athletes in two floor-to-overhead movements, the snatch and the clean & jerk. Their best efforts in each are added together to rank them by Total.
Irawan appeared late in the event to attempt a 162-kilogram, or 357.1-pound clean & jerk — a weight he had comfortably bested many times in the past. As he split his feet to suspend the bar overhead, his back foot visibly slipped on the platform, causing him to drop the weight.
Thus would begin a series of athletes — including Team USA’s bronze medalist Hampton Morris — sliding around on stage while attempting to hold hundreds of pounds overhead.
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Backstage, Irawan was seen wincing in pain and clasping his hip as medical attendants administered first aid. He appeared, though as of this article’s publication it is unconfirmed, to have injured his back leg.
- “The platform may have been slippery because it was brand-new,” says Team USA weightlifter and 2020 Olympian Caine Wilkes. “As the competition continues, these accidents will likely become less frequent.”
- “You can ask for a platform sweep, but the officials don’t always have to do it at your request,” Wilkes continued.
Valiantly, Irawan attempted to stamp a successful clean & jerk twice more. Were he successful, he would have likely made it to the podium and become the first-ever five-time Olympic medalist weightlifter. He joined athletes from Bulgaria, Italy, Vietnam, and the Phillippines in going “zero-for-three” in at least one movement.
More Weightlifting at the 2024 Olympics
- “I’m Carrying a Legacy”: Meet 2024 Olympian Mary Theisen-Lappen
- Is Karlos Nasar Strong Enough To Win Gold in Two Divisions at the 2024 Olympics?
- These Countries Have Struggled To Send “Banned” Weightlifters to the 2024 Olympics
Featured Image: @ekopower61 / Instagram
