Weightlifting at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's 55 kg

The women's 55 kg weightlifting competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo took place on 26 July at the Tokyo International Forum.

Women's 55 kg at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Athletes' introduction before the event, pictured by NOC of Ukraine. From left: Konotop, Chinshanlo, Landoulsi, Liao, Nabieva, Diaz, Ham, López and Şermetowa.
Venue	Tokyo International Forum
Date	26 July 2021
Competitors	14 from 14 nations
Winning total	224 kg OR
Medalists
Hidilyn Diaz  Philippines Liao Qiuyun  China Zulfiya Chinshanlo  Kazakhstan

The event was won by Hidilyn Diaz, the first Olympic gold medal (in any event) for the Philippines. China's Liao Qiuyun took silver and Zulfiya Chinshanlo of Kazakhstan takes the bronze.

Meanwhile, in the group B, Poland's Joanna Łochowska, Japan's Kanae Yagi, Canada's Rachel Leblanc-Bazinet, Chinese Taipei's Chiang Nien-hsin and Solomon Islands' Mary Kini Lifu earned their top 14 spots.

The bouquets were presented by IWF Executive Board Member Karoliina Lundahl (Olympian in weightlifting, Finland), and the medals were presented by IOC Executive Board Member Mikaela Cojuangco-Jaworski (Philippines).

Background

Two lifters from the previous Olympics - Diaz (silver medallist) and Yagi - returns for the event. Chinshanlo and Łochowska also returns after 9 years since 2012, missing out the Rio Olympics. Two former Nanjing 2014 participants - Chiang (champion in 58 kg; representing Chinese Taipei), and Tunisia's Nouha Landoulsi (bronze medallist at the 53 kg) - made their senior Olympic debuts. Followed by other debutants, they were split into two groups (A and B).

During the snatch, all lifters are well in first attempts, except South Korea's Ham Eun-ji and Yagi who failed to complete. Uzbekistan's Muattar Nabieva later sets new Olympic record for heaviest snatch ever to be lifted. By the later attempts, they had showed improvement in second and third attempts, yet some had still fails. By the end of snatch, Diaz and Łochowska leads A and B groups (total lifts are 97 kg and 84 kg), chased up by Chinshanlo, Liao, Yagi and Leblanc-Bazinet.

In clean and jerk, Not much difference were occurred. In group A, after failed two earlier attempts, Ham manages to lift on the third attempt, securing her survival. Ukraine's Kamila Konotop cleans all attempts, like Diaz and Liao. Diaz, Liao and Chinshanlo competes in attempts to determine who is winning the medals. With the Kazakh had failed two attempts (123 kg and 125 kg), takes up the bronze, Diaz takes up the gold, lifting 1 kg heavier (224 kg) than Liao (223 kg) who concedes silver, ensuring the Philippines' first gold medal at the Olympics in 100 years. On the other hand, Mexico's Ana Gabriela López and Landoulsi had failed last two attempts. Their total lifts are 195 kg and 196 kg, placing them at bottom two in that group, and Turkmenistan's Kristina Şermetowa missed just one lift (117 kg). With total lifting calculated at 205 kg, she sits at 6th place at the end of the event.

In group B, despite failed third attempts, all lifters earn their spots in total lifting. Łochowska, Yagi and Leblanc-Bazinet leads the group, joined by Chiang and Kini Lifu (whose totals are 176 kg and 154 kg), with total lifts are 189 kg for the Polish, 183 kg for the host country (Japan) and 181 kg for the Canadian. None of these lifters in both groups are eliminated from the event, ensuring their survivals.

During the Victory Ceremony, Diaz, Liao (who had all clean attempts in both parts) and Chinshanlo are awarded medals by Lundahl and Cojuangco-Jarowski.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World Record	Snatch	Li Yajun (CHN)	102 kg	Ashgabat, Turkmenistan	3 November 2018
	Clean & Jerk	Liao Qiuyun (CHN)	129 kg	Pattaya, Thailand	20 September 2019
	Total	Liao Qiuyun (CHN)	227 kg	Pattaya, Thailand	20 September 2019
Olympic Record	Snatch	Olympic Standard	97 kg	—	1 November 2018
	Clean & Jerk	Olympic Standard	121 kg	—	1 November 2018
	Total	Olympic Standard	217 kg	—	1 November 2018

Results

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Group	Body weight	Snatch (kg)				Clean & Jerk (kg)				Total
					1	2	3	Result	1	2	3	Result
	Hidilyn Diaz	Philippines	A	54.80	94	97	99	97	119	124	127	127 OR	224 OR
	Liao Qiuyun	China	A	54.65	92	95	97	97	118	123	126	126	223
	Zulfiya Chinshanlo	Kazakhstan	A	54.95	90	93	93	90	123	123	125	123	213
4	Muattar Nabieva	Uzbekistan	A	54.95	95	98	98	98 OR	114	114	117	114	212
5	Kamila Konotop	Ukraine	A	54.95	91	94	96	94	106	110	112	112	206
6	Kristina Şermetowa	Turkmenistan	A	54.85	90	93	93	90	111	115	117	115	205
7	Ham Eun-ji	South Korea	A	54.90	85	85	90	85	115	115	116	116	201
8	Nouha Landoulsi	Tunisia	A	54.85	88	92	92	88	108	113	113	108	196
9	Ana Gabriela López	Mexico	A	54.80	90	94	95	90	105	110	110	105	195
10	Joanna Łochowska	Poland	B	54.70	81	84	86	84	102	102	106	102	186
11	Kanae Yagi	Japan	B	54.75	78	78	81	81	99	102	106	102	183
12	Rachel Leblanc-Bazinet	Canada	B	54.90	79	82	85	82	99	102	102	99	181
13	Chiang Nien-hsin	Chinese Taipei	B	54.80	75	78	81	81	95	100	101	95	176
14	Mary Kini Lifu	Solomon Islands	B	54.50	64	67	67	67	84	87	90	87	154

New records

Snatch	98 kg	Muattar Nabieva (UZB)	OR
Clean & Jerk	123 kg	Liao Qiuyun (CHN)	OR
	124 kg	Hidilyn Diaz (PHI)	OR
	126 kg	Liao Qiuyun (CHN)	OR
	127 kg	Hidilyn Diaz (PHI)	OR
Total	220 kg	Liao Qiuyun (CHN)	OR
	221 kg	Hidilyn Diaz (PHI)	OR
	223 kg	Liao Qiuyun (CHN)	OR
	224 kg	Hidilyn Diaz (PHI)	OR