Heavyweight (≤75 kg), Women

Colombian María Isabel Urrutia had competed at the 1988 Olympics in athletics as a weight thrower. She entered the shot put and discus throw but not make the final in either event, although during her career she won 10 gold medals in the South American and Bolivarian Games. Urrutia later turned to weightlifting, winning eight World Championship medals before the Sydney Olympics, including golds in 1990 and 1994, although she had competed as a super-heavyweight in 1998-99. In Sydney there was a three-way tie for first on total with Urrutia, Nigeria’s Ruth Ogbeifo, and Chinese Taipei’s Kuo Yi-Hang all lifting 245.0 kg. Urrutia weighed 73.28 kg to give her the gold medal, while Ogbeifo weighed 74.20 kg, which brought her silver over Kuo, who weighed 74.52 kg.