In Paris, Olivia Reeves might do something no American women’s weightlifter has ever achieved. Reeves, just 21, is heading into the 2024 Olympics as the favorite for gold in the Women’s 71-kilogram event on Friday, Aug. 9.
“It’s an incredible privilege,” Reeves told BarBend prior to departing for Paris. “I have personal goals regardless of the outcome.” Among those goals? Inking the United States into the weightlifting record books. But her coach has his sights (and expectations) set on winning the gold medal.
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The United States hasn’t enjoyed the same level of dominance in weightlifting it conducts in Olympic events like gymnastics, swimming, or track & field. Reeves is among the five athletes selected to change that in Paris.
Can Olivia Reeves Make History for Team USA?
Women’s weightlifting was added to the Olympic program in 2000. In 24 years, Team USA has won five medals overall — a far cry from the troves earned single-handedly by athletes like Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, or Michael Phelps.
- Weightlifting at the Olympics contests two movements, the snatch and the clean & jerk, and the sum of an athlete’s strongest attempts in each ranks them by “Total.” A weightlifter in any given weight class may only win one medal at the Olympic Games.
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Of the 12 women weightlifters who will compete in the 71-kilogram event, Reeves is the strongest. She booked her Paris ticket with a flurry of phenomenal performances across the 18-month qualifying period and, though she’s since aged out, holds all Junior world records in her class. In Paris, she’s aiming higher.
- “My goal at the Olympics is to hit a Senior world record in the snatch,” Reeves told NPR on Aug. 6.
- The existing record, 121 kilograms, belongs to expected podium-maker Angie Dajomes of Ecuador.
- At her last weightlifting meet in June, USA Weightlifting‘s National Championships, Reeves snatched 120 kilograms, or 264.5 pounds.
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“I don’t see why we aren’t going to win the gold medal,” Reeves’ personal coach Steve Fauer remarked. Fauer told BarBend in June that Reeves has sailed into Paris with “no injuries or setbacks.”
If successful — and right now, there’s no reason to assume she won’t be — Reeves will be the first American woman weightlifter in history to ascend the top of the Olympic podium.
- The States’ only women’s weightlifting gold medal belongs to Tara Nott, who initially won silver in 2000 but was retroactively bumped up after Bulgaria’s gold medalist tested positive for a banned substance.
You can find Reeves on the lifting platform at the 2024 Olympics on Friday, Aug. 9 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
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Featured Image: USA Weightlifting
