You need to watch a full, un-edited weightlifting final. The 2 minute replays during primetime coverage don’t do it justice. I’m currently watching the Women’s 76kg final. USA’s Katherine Nye is going for a medal.
What makes watching the full competition exciting is the fact the format is similar to high jump and pole vault where the athletes pick what height/weight they want to enter the competition. They only get 3 lifts total in the Snatch and 3 in the Clean & Jerk so there is a surprising amount of math, tactics and drama involved. Especially when someone enters at a higher weight and they miss their first 2 lifts and have to decide to try that weight again or buy themselves some more recovery time and go for the next highest weight all while worrying about not making any lifts and being eliminated from the competition all together!! Gets your heart going.
Obviously not as much as the athletes themselves who seem to be in constant danger of blacking out and blowing out their knees and elbows and then in danger of dropping hundreds of pounds of metal on their heads. Pretty casual sport overall….
Back to the current competition, Kate Nye wins Silver!!! She is only the fourth American woman to win a weightlifting medal. She did great and just looked so proud after the competition ended.
Also, the gold medal winner Neisi Dajomes from Ecuador bringing some style to weightlifting and the first ever medal for Ecuador in the sport.
What you should watch
You should cheer on USA’s Wesley Kitts in the 109kg category on Tuesday morning starting at 6:50am. It will be a couple of hours but just put it on the background as you start your day.
Or just watch the replay of USA’s Harrison Maurus getting fourth last week since he kind of looks like Aquaman.
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