Lightweight (≤59 kilograms), Women

On the fourth day of the Olympic weightlifting competition two women’s events were held on the same day for the first time in Olympic history. The first of them was the women’s lightweight class, contested up to 59 kg, after being held up to 58 kg from 2000-16. The clear favourite was Kuo Hsing-Chun, who won a bronze medal in the 58 kg class in Rio, but since then she had been unbeaten, winning world titles in 2017 (58 kg), 2018, and 2019, as well as winning the Asian Championships in 2017 (58 kg), 2019 and 2020 (held in 2021). Furthermore, she was the world record holder in snatch (110 kg), clean & jerk (140 kg), and total (247 kg). She achieved the snatch and total record shortly before the Olympics in April 2021. The snatch world record was previously held by Choe Hyo-Sim, but she did not compete in Tokyo due to the renouncement of PRK. China’s former clean & jerk world record holder Chen Guiming, and Luo Xiaomin, second in the season ranking with 227 kg, and silver medallist at the last Asian Championships, were not present as this was one of the three weight classes China had chosen to meet the determination of only four female athletes per nation. Consequently, this was the first weightlifting event in Tokyo with no Chinese competitor. Not present in Tokyo also were Janeth Gómez, season best 220 kg, and Rosive Silgado (COL), and Taylor Wilkins (USA), both with a season best of 217 kg. This gave medal chances to Yusleidy Figueroa, season best 218 kg, Hoàng Thị Duyên, qualification best 223 kg, and Alexandra Escobar with a qualification best of 220 kg.

When Kuo started her snatch attempts all other athletes had finished and there had been some surprises. Hoàng, known as a good snatcher, lifted only 95 kg, which put her behind Polina Guryeva and Dora Tchakounté, who both cleared 96 kg, while Escobar failed to set a valid attempt when she missed 95 kg three times. A good performance was shown by Mikiko Ando clearing 94 kg, while Figueroa cleared 91 kg, but she was better at clean & jerk. Kuo finally lifted 103 kg for a comfortable lead. In the clean & jerk Guryeva lifted 119 kg in her second attempt to put her in the lead. When Hoàng missed 119 kg twice, and Tchakounté missed 120 kg, a weight that was cleared by Ando in her third attempt, the Japanese moved into second place. Only Figueroa was still fighting for a medal but she missed 125 kg. Kuo cleared 125 kg in her first attempt, which gave her the gold medal, with Guryeva taking silver and Ando bronze. Finally, Kuo tried to lift 141 kg in her last attempt. It would have been a new world record, but she failed.

The Olympic Standard for Olympic records was 102 kg for snatch, 127 kg for clean & jerk, and 229 kg for total. All three were achieved by Kou, who cleared 103 kg and 133 kg for a total of 236 kg.

The silver medal won by Guryeva was the first ever Olympic medal for Turkmenistan. The gold medal won by Kuo was the fourth Olympic gold medal for Chinese Taipei in weightlifting, their most successful sport at the Olympics, and all their gold medals had been won by women, one at each of the last four Olympics. The bronze medal for Ando was the only weightlifting medal for the host nation in Tokyo. Escobar competed in her fifth Olympics to become the third woman to do so, only three days after Hiromi Miyake and Dika Toua achieved that feat. Also competing in this event was the first ever weightlifting competitor at the Olympics for Botswana, but as Magdeline Moyengwa failed to set a valid lift in clean & jerk she was unplaced.