With weightlifting officially confirmed for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, keen eyes are turning towards the sport’s rising stars. And 20-year-old Olivia Reeves’ star is absolutely soaring. At the 2023 Pan American Games, a multi-sport international event held every four years and which runs from Oct. 21 to 24 in Santiago, Chile, Reeves swept gold.
Lifting as an underweight 81-kilogram athlete (she normally competes between 71 and 76 kilos), Reeves won gold overall with a 258-kilogram (568.7-pound) Total. She went six-for-six on the day, making every one of her competition attempts as well.
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Reeves ended with a 114-kilogram (251.3-pound) snatch and a 144-kilogram (317.4-pound) clean & jerk. According to a press release from USA Weightlifting, Reeves “entered the meet on a mission,” crushing several milestones along the way. Her performance in Santiago counted as:
- Multiple Junior Pan American snatch records
- Multiple Junior Pan American clean & jerk records
- A Junior Pan American record in the Total
- New Senior American Record Snatch
- New Senior American Record Clean & Jerk
- New Senior American Record Total
In Context
Reeves is one of three American women vying for the hotly contested 71-kilogram ticket to Paris 2024. Per the International Weightlifting Federation’s (IWF) qualification rules in accordance with the International Olympic Committee, the United States may send only one athlete per weight category to the Olympics next year. This stipulation has locked Reeves into a weightlifting battle with 2021 World Champion Meredith Alwine and 2019 World Champion (and Tokyo 2020 silver medalist) Kate Vibert-Davis.
Each of the three athletes has spent the better part of the past three years trying to cement their standing as the leading middleweight woman weightlifter in America. But at the recent 2023 IWF World Weightlifting Championships, it was Reeves who stood out from the pack. Reeves’ 253-kilogram personal record (at the time) Total landed her in the bronze medal position at Worlds, while Vibert-Davis ranked fifth overall.
Alwine, who opted to compete as a 76-kilogram lifter, suffered an injury and was unable to register a Total, though she did win a bronze medal on Oct. 22 at the Pan Am Games a day prior to Reeves’ gold. It’s still anyone’s game, but the Paris Olympics inch ever closer — while this 81-kilo category performance didn’t advance her position on the IWF’s ranking leaderboards in the 71s, it proves that Reeves has strength to spare and is still soaring.
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Featured Image: USA Weightlifting
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