Fares El-Bakh (Meso Hassouna)

Fares Ibrahim Saed Hassouna El-Bakh, also known as Meso Hassouna, was born on June 4th, 1998, and he is a Qatari weightlifter of Egyptian origin. He’s an Olympic Champion and two-time Junior World Champion competing in the 85 kg and 94 kg categories until 2018, and in the 96 kg and 102 kg categories starting in 2018 after the international Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories. He holds the junior world record in the clean and jerk (225 kg) and total (397 kg) in the 96 kg division. His father, Ibrahim Hassouna, represented Egypt at three consecutive Olympics – from 1984 to 1992. 

Meso Hassouna started weightlifting because he was influenced by his father and brothers. He first explored other sports like wrestling, boxing, and football, but his true passion was always weightlifting. His first major competition was at the 2016 Junior World Weightlifting Championships, where he won a bronze medal in the 85 kg category. Next year, he won gold in the same category at the Junior World Championships. 

Hassouna made his Olympic debut at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men’s 85 kg event. He first got eighth place, but was later bumped to seventh after another competitor was disqualified. At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, he competed in the 96 kg category. He was in the fourth palace after the snatch portion with the 177 kg lift. In the clean and jerk, he lifted 217 kg and then set an Olympic record with a 225 kg lift, totaling 402 kg to win the gold medal. This made him the first Qatari Olympic Champion in any sport. 

He moved up to the 97 kg category in 2017 and won a silver medal in the clean and jerk at the World Weightlifting Championships and later got a bronze in the total after another competitor was disqualified. In 2018, he won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk at the World Weightlifting Championships in the 96 kg category and set a new junior world record in the process. 

At the 5th International Qatar Cup, he set junior world records in the clean and jerk (225 kg) and total (397 kg). 

Hassouna believes that athletes should work on their social skills to promote the sport better and says that weightlifting isn’t as popular as it could be because athletes spend most of their time in training camps from a young age, so there’s less interaction between them. 

He’s known for his pre-competition ritual where he dresses in his competition outfit the night before and visualizes his performance. Outside of lifting, he likes cooking and often prepares meals for his family. He also enjoys reading and has read many of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s books.