Gold medallist Bulgaria's Karlos May Nasar (C), silver medallist Colombia's Yeison Lopez (L) and bronze medallist Italy's Antonino Pizzolato (R) pose on the podium after the men's -89kg weightlifting event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the South Paris Arena in Paris, on August 9, 2024. Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP.
Paris: Karlos Nasar of Bulgaria won weightlifting gold at the Olympics and broke two world records on Friday, just over a year after a hotel sink fell on him and severed his left Achilles tendon.
Nasar was showering the night before an awards ceremony in May 2023 when he reached for shampoo and pressed down, causing the sink to fall out of the wall and onto him.
After undergoing emergency surgery and missing six months, he returned to weightlifting in December and set the clean and jerk world record that he surpassed in this event.
"I believed, and I imagined in my mind to come here after the accident and to win the Olympic title,” Nasar said in Bulgarian through an interpreter.
"It was very difficult because I could not move for months. But I have very strong power to do this.”
The 21-year-old Nasar, a Paris native, lifted 180 kilograms (397 pounds) in the snatch and a world-record 224 kilograms (494 pounds) in the clean and jerk to become champion in the men's 89 kilogram division in his Olympic debut with a score of 404 - also a world record.
"This place is very special in my life,” Nasar said. "I was born here, and I was Olympic champion here.”
Asked about an incident involving a lengthy police chase two years ago, Nasar did not want to discuss it but said, "It was not the only incident in the last two years for me. ... But clearly I grew up a lot in these two years.”
Nasar said he expects to move up from 89 kilograms (196 pounds) to 94 kilograms (207) pounds going forward, working toward the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
Yeison López of Colombia got silver and Antonino Pizzolato of Italy took home the bronze.
The event, merging the 81 and 96 kilograms as part of a reduction of weight classes from Tokyo in 2021, was not for the faint of heart, with multiple weightlifters going down in pain during the course of the competition.
Karim Abokahla of Egypt grabbed at his right bicep on two consecutive lifts and received medical attention for several minutes for an injury that knocked him out midway through.
Boady Santavy of Canada also did not finish after he was unable to complete a lift in the clean and jerk.
Host country fan favorite Romain Imadouchène did not medal but got through it while appearing to fight through a left leg ailment.
Later Friday, Olivia Reeves competes in the women’s 81-kilogram division, looking to join Hampton Morris as U.S. weightlifters to medal in Paris.
The 21-year-old from Chattanooga, Tennessee, is making her Olympic debut as the top qualifier in her weight class.
