Fares Ibrahim, the current Olympic champion from Qatar, qualified for the 2024 Paris Games on Thursday after lifting 388 kg at the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 25-year-old Qatari has subsequently moved up to the 102kg weight division after winning gold in the 96kg division at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
He won the silver medal in the clean and jerk event in Riyadh with a 218kg lift. Then, to place eighth overall in the competition, he lifted 170 kg above his head in the snatch.
Liu Huanhua of China won the gold medal with a total lift of 404 kg, followed by Jang Yeon-Hak of South Korea (399 kg) and Yauheni Tsikhantsou of Belarus (394 kg).
Fares won Qatar's first-ever Olympic gold medal in Tokyo by breaking two Games records in the clean and jerk (225 kg) and total (402 kg) weightlifting events. The youngster will now participate in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, which get underway on September 23.
