Neisi Dajomes

Neisi Patricia Dájomes Barrera was born on May 12th, 1998, and she’s an accomplished Ecuadorian weightlifter. She competes in the 76 kg category, and she became the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Champion. She is a six-time Pan American Champion, Pan American Games Champion, and three-time Junior World Champion. She is one of Ecuador’s most celebrated athletes. 

She started lifting at a young age and quickly showed her potential. She first gained international attention when she competed in the women’s 69 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she finished seventh overall.

In 2017, she became the Junior World Champion in the 75 kg division, a title she successfully defended in 2018. Her impressive performances continued, and she won a silver medal at the 2017 World Championships in the same division. Next year, she earned a bronze medal at the 2018 World Weightlifting Championships in the 76 kg category and set junior world records in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total. 

In April 2019, she competed at the Pan American Weightlifting Championships and won gold medals in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total. She continued her success at the 2019 Pan American Games in the 76 kg division, where she lifted 115 kg in the snatch and 140 kg in the clean and jerk and got a gold medal with a total lift of 225 kg. 

The pinnacle of her career came at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She competed in the women’s 76 kg event and won a gold medal with a snatch of 118 kg and a clean and jerk of 145 kg, totaling 263 kg. This historic victory made her the first Ecuadorian woman to win an Olympic gold medal in weightlifting. 

In 2022, she won a gold medal in the women’s 81 kg event at the 2023 Pan American Weightlifting Championships in Bariloche, Argentina. In 2024, she won another gold medal at the Pan American Championships in Caracas, Venezuela. 

Her inspiring journey has been captured in biographical documentaries. In 2021, she was featured in “Shell: Land of Champions,” produced by Retrogusto Films Inc. The film highlighted her and her lifting teammates, Angie Dájomes and Tamara Salazar. Another documentary titled “Neisi: The Power of a Dream” is set to be released in November 2023, and it also chronicles her life and achievements. 

In June 2024, the Ecuadorian National Olympic Committee named her and Olympic walker Daniel Pintado as the official flag bearers for the Paris 2023 Olympic Games.