PARIS — Olivia Reeves tried treating the Olympics like just another competition. It didn’t work.
It didn’t matter, either.
Nerves or no nerves, Reeves won the United States’ first Olympic gold medal in weightlifting in 24 years Friday at the Paris Games.
“Feeling the weight of this competition is different than the others,” she said. “I kind of knew there were going to be tears, good or bad.”
There were good tears after Reeves lifted 117 kilograms (258 pounds) in the snatch and 145 kg. (320 pounds) in the clean and jerk for a total of 262 kg. to beat Mari Leivis Sanchez of Colombia by 5 kg. in the women’s 71-kg. division. Angie Dajomes of Ecuador took the bronze.
Reeves, from Hixson, Tennessee, said despite her attempt to treat the Olympics as just another event, “I got more nervous than all the others, so it didn’t really work.”
She seemed outwardly calm during the competition, but she wiped away tears during the medal ceremony and took deep breaths as the U.S. anthem played.
“I’ve heard the national anthem before. I’ve been on the podium before,” she said. “But this is the Olympics, and to be here, be the Olympic champion hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m not quite sure, but I’m trying to process it.”
Reeves chose higher starting weights than her opponents in both…
