Mary Theisen-Lappen Finishes Fifth in First Olympic Games

PARIS - Mary Theisen-Lappen finished in fifth place in the women’s +81 kg session at Paris 2024 on Sunday morning. Competing in her first Olympic Games as the oldest athlete in her session, Theisen-Lappen went 3/6 and lifted 119/155/274.

China’s Li Wenwen took gold on only four attempts, lifting 136/173/309. Silver and bronze went to South Korea’s Hyejeong Park and Great Britain’s Emily Campbell, respectively, with totals of 299 kg and 288 kg.

Theisen-Lappen opened competition with a successful 115 kg snatch. She moved her second attempt up to 118 kg, but couldn’t control the lift. Looking to stay in the range to make a shot at a medal during the clean & jerk portion, she raised her third to 119 kg. This weight is just one shy of her personal record, but Theisen-Lappen fought hard and drove the snatch up successfully. After the snatch portion of the competition, she sat in sixth.

Theisen-Lappen opened the clean & jerk portion with an attempt at 155 kg, just one shy of the heaviest opener of her career. She nailed the opener, and moved her second attempt up seven kilos to 162 kg. The clean proved too heavy, but Theisen-Lappen dug deep and attempted to add two kilograms to her American record 163 kg clean & jerk on her third attempt. This would have put her ahead of Ecuador’s Cabezas Ayovi, who she beat in last year’s Pan-American Games and IWF World Championships, but the weight of 165 kg was just too heavy.

A historic week of weightlifting for Team USA, Paris 2024 saw Olivia Reeves (71 kg) score the United States’ first gold medal since 2000 and Hampton Morris (61 kg) earn America’s first men’s medal since 1984 with his bronze. Team USA has now had a medalist in three straight Olympics, and had two medalists in both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.