Middle-Heavyweight (≤96 kilograms), Men

Unlike the World Championships, there was no weight class up to 89 kg contested at the Olympics. As a result, this created the biggest gap between two weight divisions with a 15 kg difference from light-heavyweight (81 kg) and middle-heavyweight (96 kg). The two world record holders in this class Sohrab Moradi, season best 384 kg, and Tian Tao, qualification best 410 kg, were absent in Tokyo. Moradi, the holder of the snatch (186 kg) and total (416 kg) record, did not qualify whereas Tian, record holder in clean & jerk (231 kg), missed the Games due to an elbow injury. Tian was the reigning world champion and also the back-to-back winner of the last two Asian championships. Their absence made the best qualifiers for this event Fares Ibrahim with 404 kg, and Yauhen Tsikhantsou with 400 kg, but both set these results back in 2019. In that year Ibrahim won silver at the World Championships, and Tsikhantsou was the European champion and also world champion in the 102 kg class. Both men had not competed in the 96 kg class since late 2019, and Tsikhantsou had not participated in any event since then. Ibrahim finished second in the 102 kg class at the 2020 Asian championships, held in April 2021. As Jhonatan Rivas (COL), season best 393 kg, missed the Games following the Colombian Weightlifting Federation being sanctioned due to the high number of doping offences, the competitors in Tokyo with the season bests were the reigning European champion Anton Pliesnoi with 393 kg, Boady Santavy 389 kg, and Keydomar Vallenilla 384 kg.

After the snatch the first five lifters were packed together within 2 kg of each other. Santavy led the field with 178 kg followed by Vallenilla, Ibrahim, and Pliesnoi with 177 kg each, and then Chen Po-Jen with 176 kg. Chen was the only one to attempt 180 kg, but failed. Of the top five, Santavy ended his clean & jerk attempts first, with a final lift of 208 kg, which moved him into first place, but when Vallenilla and Pliesnoi both cleared 210 kg for a total of 387 kg they both overtook Santavy by 1 kg. Chen failed to lift 211 kg in his last attempt and was out of the medals, while Vallenilla, already in first place, tried to improve his total with 215 and 216 kg, respectively, but missed both. Ibrahim then started his clean & jerk attempts and he secured gold with his first try following a 217 kg lift, which he improved to 225 kg in the second lift. His 232 kg in the third attempt would have been a world record, but he did not make it.

Ibrahim’s gold medal was still historical, as it was the first ever Olympic gold medal for Qatar. With Bekdoolot Rasulbekov finishing sixth he achieved Kyrgyzstan’s best ever Olympic weightlifting result. Finishing tenth in this event was Cyrille Tchatchet II who represented the Refugee Olympic Team after being invited by the IOC. Also present was Palestine’s first ever Olympic weightlifter Mohammed Hamada, who had received a Tripartite Commission Invitation.