2024 Olympic Games, Day 1 Recap – Men’s 61 kg: First Day Brings New Olympic Record from Team China

The countdown to the 2024 Olympic Games is already over as today we witnessed the performance of the first Men’s lightweight category. Day 1 of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris was expected to be one of the most long-awaited events for the whole four years since the last Games in 2020.

Indeed, a cutthroat competition between 12 athletes in the Men’s 61-kg category was fierce. Today we spectated solid performances of the Olympic veterans and lifting attempts of first-timers. Watch the category’s recap to know the details.

Athletes’ presentation

Twelve galvanized weightlifters were listed in the start list of this weight category. Four big names deserve our separate attention due to their immense experience in competing in events of the high level and their prospective performances at the recent continental and world competitions:

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Li Fabin

Being considered the 61-kg category’s Top lifter, he’s dominating the division. He’s the current Olympic gold medalist, World Champion, and four-time Asian Champion who’s known for his hard work, passion, and determination to reign in Paris.

Hampton Morris

Being just 20 years old, he’s a three-time gold medalist at the Pan American Championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023; holding both the Junior and Senior Clean & Jerk World Records in the category. At the 2024 IWF World Cup, he claimed the first Senior world record for the United States in over 50 years as he jerked 176 kilograms.

IRAWAN Eko Yuli, who’s entering his fifth Olympic Games and is already an Olympic veteran heading to win another medal. He has an incredible medal history winning them at every Olympics he competed in starting from 2008 – two bronze and two silver medals are already on his belt.

Sergio Massidda, a silver medalist of the 2023 European and World Championships, this time is ready to hit the podium in Paris at the first Olympic Games in his career.

The category’s athletes ordered an opening total between 293 kg and 314 kg, so these athletes will burn the podium by pushing their limits to the maximum.

Snatch

The performance in the Snatch exercise showed us that dominantly debutants failed their three attempts. Four athletes missed their chance to outshine in the Olympic Games: Ivan Dimov from Bulgaria, Sergio Massidda from Italy, Van Vinh Trinh from Vietnam, and John Febuar Ceniza from the Philippines.

So, we got the following list of weightlifters who succeeded to finish in Snatch:

6: Shota Mishvelidze – 121 kg
5: Hampton Morris – 126 kg
4: Mohamad Aniq Bin Kasdan – 130 kg

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Top 3 leaders’ results

Now let’s analyze the Top 3 lifters’ performance:

• 3: Theerapong Silachai – 132 kg
• 2: Eko Irawan – 135 kg
• 1: Li Fabin – 143 kg

Theerapong Silachai from Thailand took 3rd place in this session by lifting 127 kg at the first lift, 130 kg on the second try, and the last of 132 kg. He lifted confidently today and showed his second best result repeating the weight he lifted at the 2023 Asian Champs.

The second place in Snatch went to Eko Yuli Irawan from Indonesia who aimed to snatch 135 kg at  the first attempt, but failed the lift, then repeated successfully the same 135 kg on the second try, and finished with 139 kg-attempt he managed to lift, but it wasn’t accepted by the judges.

First place went to a Chinese weightlifter Li Fabin who did 137 kg at the first attempt, 140 kg at the second, and resulted in 143 kg. Thus, he set a new Olympic record in Snatch, managing to improve the previous weight by one kilo.

Snatch results:

Concluding the Snatch session, we can say that this round proved to us the power and strength of the Chinese team. Li Fabin demonstrates his supremacy in the category with three clear lifts with no hand and leg shake.

While athletes who succeeded to qualify for the Olympics for the first time showed that they need more time to prepare, both physically and mentally to show more stable performance and character firmness.

Clean & Jerk

The contest in the Clean & Jerk session was even more challenging for weightlifters. Just two did all three lifts successfully, while one more lifter bombed out from the competition in this round. 

Athletes who succeed in C&J session:

6: Shota Mishvelidze – 135 kg
5: Baru Morea – 161 kg
4: Mohamad Aniq Bin Kasdan – 167 kg

Top 3 leaders’ results

Let’s describe the performance of the Top 3 lifters:

• 3: Li Fabin – 167 kg
• 2: Theerapong Silachai –  171 kg
• 1: Hampton Morris –  172 kg

The Chinese Li Fabin secured third place. His opener was 167 kg but he failed it, then he attempted 167 kg again and it resulted successfully. He didn’t perform the 3rd lift, because he saw the Morris’s result.

The second place in this battle became Theerapong Silachai. Today he started from 167 kg he lifted well, then moved to 169 kg on the second attempt lifting with success, and closed his performance with winning 171 kg.

The American Hampton Morris became a frontrunner in this round – he proved his technique, strength, and inner stability. He started with 168 kg but this attempt finished with red lights. Then he increased the weight by 4 kilos aiming to lift 172 kg and he did it on the second try. Despite the ambitions to lift 178 kg, unfortunately he failed this attempt.

Clean & Jerk results:

This portion was also tense as usual, and to be honest it impressed us with the number of red lights on the scoreboard. Both experienced athletes and Olympic Games debutants failed the opportunity to show better results because of psychological pressure and lack of experience in participation at the events of such a level.

Total results

🥇 Li Fabin – 310 kg
🥈 Silachai Theerapong – 303 kg
🥉 Hampton Morris – 298 kg
4 Mohamad Aniq Bin Kasdan – 297 kg
5 Baru Morea – 279 kg
6 Shota Mishvelidze – 256 kg

The gold medalist in the category was Li Fabin from China who did 310 kg overall. He became a two-time Olympic champion, shattering a new Snatch Olympic record of 143 kg.

The silver holder was Silachai Theerapong from Thailand falling behind the leader by 7 kilos. Today he showed his best total result improving his previous junior world records at the World and Asian Championships.

The U.S. team’s representative Hampton Morris took bronze thanks to his total of 298 kg. This performance made him the first American lifter who won the Olympic medal since 1984.

Final thoughts

Today’s performance in the 61-kg division proved that both mental and physical maturity of the Chinese lifters prevails greatly against young promising athletes. Because the Olympic Games are about solid character and impeccable strength.

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Stay strong and remember – warm body cold mind!