Fares Ibrahim will be aiming to make history on Saturday as the weightlifter bids to become Qatar’s first two-time Olympic champion at the Paris Games on Saturday. Fares, who won gold at the Tokyo Games three years ago in the 96kg weight class, will compete in the 102kg class as his previous category has been eliminated.
The 26-year-old faces stiff competition, notably from China’s world record holder Liu Huanhua, who is the overwhelming favourite to claim gold. Fares’ preparation for the event has been hampered by a hip injury, although he recently completed an extensive training camp in Italy. His training has been carefully monitored by his father and brother, both of whom have competed in the sport.
Fares first made his Olympic debut in the 85kg category at the 2016 Rio Games, where he finished seventh. By the age of 20, he was already setting junior world records in the 96kg class and had earned a reputation for his prowess in the clean-and-jerk. He went on to set new Olympic records in both the clean-and-jerk and the overall total on his way to gold in Tokyo.
However, Paris presents his toughest challenge yet, with a competitive field vying for medals. Leading the pack is China’s Liu, the only athlete to have bettered world standards at 102kg since the category came on to the programme in November 2018.
Liu finished clear at the top of the rankings and has already shown he can do better. When he won 109kg gold at the Asian Games last October, where there was no 102kg category, he totalled 418kg despite weighing less than 102kg. That is 5kg more than his current world record.
At the International Weightlifting Federation’s World Cup in April, where injury prevented Fares from competing, Liu’s 232kg clean-and-jerk lift rewrote the record books.
The battle for the remaining medals could be one of the closest contests of the week in Paris. Alongside Liu and Fares, five other athletes have a realistic chance of reaching the podium: the Tokyo Games 109kg champion Akbar Djuraev of Uzbekistan, Garik Karapetyan from Armenia, Yauheni Tsikhantsou from Belarus, Jang Yeonhak from South Korea and Lesman Paredes from Bahrain.
While Liu is the man to beat Saturday, Fares — Qatar’s first Olympic gold medallist, followed by high jump legend Mutaz Barshim in Tokyo — will be aiming to script another historic chapter.
