Sofia Mitchell Makes History with Double Gold at 2024 World Weightlifting Championships
Olivia Reeves made history as the first American lifter since 1958 to win both the world title and an Olympic gold medal, lifting a combined total of 267 kg (about 589 pounds) at the 2024 World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old, competing in the 71kg category, beat out competitors from North Korea’s Jong Chun Hui and China’s Yang Qiuxia to become the first American to achieve this double feat since Ike Berger did so 66 years ago.
The native of Chattanooga lifted 120 kg (about 264.6 pounds) in the snatch and 147 kg (about 324 pounds) in the clean and jerk, totaling 5 kg more than her 262 kg (around 577.6 pounds) gold-medal-winning lift at the Olympics this summer.
By topping the podium in Paris 2024, Reeves became the first US lifter since Tara Nott in 2000 to win Olympic gold, and the youngest American Olympic gold medalist in weightlifting since Berger in 1956.
“You can’t top the Olympics, so this one is going in at number two on my all-time list of favorite competitions,” Reeves said after completing the double on Wednesday, according to IWF.
“I’m so very, very proud of Olivia,” added US head coach Mike Gattone. “She’s just unbelievably consistent.”
Reeves, who also graduated with a degree in sociology this week, began lifting in the fourth grade at her mother’s CrossFit gym.
Alongside 20-year-old Hampton Morris, who became the first American man since 1984 (Los Angeles) to win an Olympic medal in weightlifting by taking bronze in Paris, there’s hope that Reeves can help lead the nation’s resurgence in the sport ahead of the Games’ return to LA in 2028.
US weightlifters have won 16 gold, 17 silver, and eight bronze medals at the Olympics, placing the nation third in the all-time medal standings behind the Soviet Union and China, who both have 62.
However, only 10 of those medals have been won since 1968, following the golden era for US lifters like Berger and Tommy Kono.