Heavyweight (≤109 kilograms), Men

The men’s heavyweight class was contested in Tokyo over a weight up to 109 kg which was almost equal to former heavyweight classes, -110 kg (1972-1992) and -108 kg (1996), but was four kilograms higher as the second-heaviest class held from 2000-16, when it was 105 kg.

The best qualifier was Simon Martirosyan, the world record holder in total with 435 kg. He was also the 2018 and 2019 world champion, and 2019 European champion, but he missed a valid attempt in clean & jerk at the European Championships in April 2021 and was placed last. The season’s best lifter was Ruslan Nurudinov, who won the Asian championships in April 2021 with a new world record in clean & jerk (241 kg) and a total of 429 kg. After his samples from the 2012 London Games had been re-tested, they revealed doping and he was suspended for two years from December 2018. He was therefore prevented from qualifying for Tokyo as it was required to compete in at least one event in each of the three qualifying periods. As Yang Zhe was not selected for the Chinese team, because only four male athletes per nation were allowed to compete, it meant the world record holder in snatch with 200 kg, achieved at the Asian championships in April 2021, was also not present in Tokyo. This meant Akbar Djuraev was the season best qualifier with 428 kg, set on the way to winning silver at the last Asian championships. Behind Martirosyan and Djuraev, the field was wide open as numerous athletes had performed on almost the same level. They were Timur Naniyev, the only male weightlifter for the Russian Olympic Committee competing in Tokyo, with a qualification best of 409 kg, Hristo Hristov, season best 406 kg, or Ali Hashemi and Artūrs Plēsnieks, both with qualification bests of 405 kg.

The snatch element did not create any surprises as Martirosyan lifted 195 kg and Djuraev 193 kg, followed by Hristov 189 kg, Naniyev 188 kg, and Hashemi 184 kg, while Plēsnieks and Jin Yun-Seong cleared 180 kg. These results indicated what was to come in the rest of the competition. As expected, the clean & jerk element was also close for all three medal positions from early on. Hristov lifted 219 kg in his second attempt, while Naniyev lifted 221 kg and Plēsnieks cleared 225 kg in their second lifts, which gave Naniyev the lead with 409 kg, followed by Hristov on 408 kg and Plēsnieks on 405 kg. Naniyev, Hristov, and Jin all failed to improve their totals while Hashemi failed to clear any weight, but Plēsnieks came from behind and lifted a personal best 230 kg for a total of 410 kg to get into the bronze medal position. The race for gold was started by Djuraev who cleared 227 kg with his first attempt, which was answered with a 228 kg by Martirosyan. After Djuraev failed to lift 234 kg, Martirosyan tried to put pressure on the young Uzbek as he increased the weight so that Djuraev had to lift again immediately, but this went wrong when Djuraev cleared 237 kg in his last attempt. Martirosyan had to go for 238 kg, three kilograms more than needed for gold, but he failed both lifts and won a second successive silver medal.

The Olympic Standard for Olympic records was 193 kg for snatch, 231 kg for clean & jerk, and 419 kg for total. Martirosyan set an Olympic record in snatch with 195 kg while Djuraev set a record in clean & jerk with 237 kg and he then set the in total record with 420 kg, until bettered by Martirosyan with 423 kg, but Djuraev got it back after lifting 430 kg.