Tokyo, Japan, July 31, 2021: Weightlifter Fares Ibrahim created history by winning Qatar’s first Olympics gold medal on Saturday, July 31.
The 23-year-old Ibrahim won the gold medal in the men’s 96kg category at the Tokyo Olympics with a total weight of 402kg and in the process setting two Olympic records - lifting 225kg in the clean and jerk along with the massive combined score of 402kg having lifted 177kg previously in the snatch.
“I am literally speechless about that. I hope that they are proud of me. I promise this is not the end, we still have more and more coming soon. We will do our best to make it even better,” Ibrahim was quoted as saying by the International Weightlifting Federation.
Ibrahim, who won a silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games, added: “We worked more on the clean and jerk. We were confident about it. We had great competitors so we had to go hard for it and make sure we won.”
After lifting 225kg to set the Olympic record in the clean and jerk, Ibrahim attempted 232 kg which would have been a new world record, but he didn’t make it.
Venezuela’s Keydomar Sanchez won the silver medal with a combined weight of 387kg while Georgia’s Anton Pliesnoi took the bronze medal also with the same score – Sanchez was ranked above because he made his best clean and jerk effort earlier in the competition.
