Canadian Olympic gold medalist Maude Charron of Saint-Luce, Quebec is now a Canadian Olympic silver medalist. After winning the gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 in the women’s 64 kilogram weight class, she needed to drop five pounds to meet the new weight standards for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The women’s 64 kilogram weight class was no longer on the Olympic program in Paris, as the number of Olympic events in weightlifting dropped from seven to five. Charron decided to enter the women’s 59 kilogram weight class rather than bulk up a little more and enter the women’s 71 kilogram weight class.
On Thursday, Charron successfully lifted 236 kilograms (106 kilograms in the snatch and 13o kilograms in the clean and jerk). Shifang Luo of China won the gold medal with a total lift of 241 kilograms (an Olympic record 107 kilograms from the snatch and another Olympic record of 134 kilograms in the clean and jerk). Hsing-chun Kuo of Chinese Taipei won the bronze medal with a total lift of 235 kilograms (105 kilograms from the snatch and 130 kilograms in the clean and jerk). Charron won an Olympic medal by six kilograms over Anyelin Venegas of Venezuela, who finished in fourth place with a throw of 230 pounds.
