Super-Heavyweight (>87 kilograms), Women

Just a few hours after the women’s heavyweight competition, the final women’s weightlifting event in Tokyo was contested and was the super-heavyweight class for lifters with a bodyweight of more than 87 kg.

The clear favourite was Li Wenwen, the reigning world champion from 2019 and back-to-back winner of the last two Asian championships in 2019 and 2020 (held in 2021). At the last Asian championships four months before the Olympics, she set world records in snatch (148 kg), clean & jerk (187 kg), and total (335 kg). The only other athlete to set a world record in this class was Tatyana Kashirina, but she was suspended after anti-doping investigations in December 2020. The best qualifiers were Sarah Robles, qualification best 290 kg, Laurel Hubbard, qualification best 285 kg, Verónica Saladín, qualification best 283 kg, Lee Seon-Mi, qualification best 280 kg, and Emily Campbell, season best 276 kg. Not present was Son Yeong-Hui, the silver medallist at the last Asian championships with 279 kg.

A controversy was the participation of Hubbard who was the first ever openly transgender athlete competing at the Olympics. She lived as a man until 2012 when she underwent a gender reassignment surgery; still it was argued that she was born in a men’s body and went through male puberty, but she fulfilled all requirements including a low testosterone level. The IOC had already allowed transgender athletes at the Olympics since 2004, but Hubbard was the first to compete, which was seen as an important step for more inclusion at the Games not only by the LGBT community.

The competition was easily won by Li who started her snatch, as well as her clean & jerk, after all other athletes had already finished their lifts. She enjoyed a perfect competition as she cleared all six attempts, finishing with a total of 320 kg and a winning margin of 37 kg. The battle for the other medals was closer as Robles lifted 128 kg, Lee 125 kg, and Campbell 122 kg in snatch, while Hubbard failed to give a valid lift. In clean & jerk, Lee started with 148 kg while Robles and Campbell lifted 150 kg each. Lee went on to 152 kg, which was answered with a 154 kg by Robles, and when Lee missed 155 kg, and Campbell cleared 156 kg, the Korean was out of the medals. Robles was not able to improve, but Campbell also cleared another personal best with 161 kg to secure silver.

The Olympic Standard for Olympic records was 139 kg for snatch, 172 kg for clean & jerk, and 306 kg for total. All records were broken by Li who managed to lift 140 kg in snatch, and 173 and 180 kg in clean & jerk, for totals of 313 and 320 kg. After Li Fabin and Chen Lijun both won weightlifting gold for China on the same day earlier in this Games, Wang Zhouyu and Li did the same for their native country for a total of seven weightlifting gold medal for China at these Games, a mark only once achieved previously by the Soviet Union in 1976.

Despite failing to show a valid lift, Hubbard became the oldest female weightlifter ever to compete at the Olympics aged 43 years 174 days, surpassing Maria Elisabete Jorge who was only 24 days younger when she participated back in 2000. Overall, Hubbard was the third oldest weightlifting competitor ever, male or female, with only Josef Schuster and Adelfino Mancinelli, who both competed in 1952, being older. Kuinini Manumua was the first ever female weightlifter from Tonga to compete at the Olympics and finished eighth. Tenth place finisher Sarah Fischer was the first ever female lifter from Austria at the Olympics.