Canada's Maude Charron takes silver as Luo Shifang gets China more Paris Olympic weightlifting gold

Canada’s Maude Charron takes silver as Luo Shifang gets China more Paris Olympic weightlifting gold

1 of 16 |

Silver medalist Maude Charron of Canada celebrates on the podium during the medal ceremony for the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

2 of 16 |

Medalists, from left to right, Maude Charron of Canada, silver, Luo Shifang of China, gold, and Kuo Hsing-Chun of Taiwan, bronze, celebrate on the podium during the medal ceremony for the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

3 of 16 |

Maude Charron of Canada competes during the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

4 of 16 |

Maude Charron of Canada competes during the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

5 of 16 |

Luo Shifang of China competes during the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

6 of 16 |

Luo Shifang of China competes during the women’s 59kg weightlifting event, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

7 of 16 |

Luo Shifang of China competes during the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara,Pool)

8 of 16 |

Luo Shifang of China competes during the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

9 of 16 |

Luo Shifang of China competes during the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara,Pool)

10 of 16 |

Maude Charron of Canada competes during the women’s 59kg weightlifting event, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara,Pool)

11 of 16 |

Maude Charron of Canada competes during the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

12 of 16 |

Maude Charron of Canada competes during the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara,Pool)

13 of 16 |

Luo Shifang of China celebrates as she finishes first to win the gold medal during the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

14 of 16 |

Luo Shifang of China competes during the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

15 of 16 |

Gold medalist Luo Shifang of China celebrates on the podium during the medal ceremony for the women’s 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

16 of 16 |

By STEPHEN WHYNO

PARIS (AP) — With a silver medal hanging around her neck, Maude Charron cried. It was a much different moment than how she felt after winning gold in Tokyo in 2021.

The 31-year-old Canadian was overjoyed just to be back at the Olympics — a real one with fans, and not confined to a bubble. So coming in second to Luo Shifang of China in women’s 59-kilogram weightlifting on Thursday simply put an exclamation point on a journey that included dealing with a knee injury and shedding more than 10 pounds just to compete.

“The medal is just the cherry on top,” Charron said. “I didn’t come here for a medal. I didn’t come here for a podium. All I wanted is the experience of the Olympics that I didn’t have in Tokyo. I had the perfect result in Tokyo. Now I just wanted the experience.”

Charron was the victim of two weight classes being eliminated between Tokyo and Paris, one of them the 64-kilogram (141-pound) division she won three years ago. She chose going down over up and, as a result, had to get down to 130 pounds.

At the beginning, she and her support group did not know which foods to limit and which to focus on, but by this week she was able to eat and felt confident enough that she ended up on the podium. Before receiving silver, she hugged bronze medalist Kuo Hsing-chun of Taiwan and raised her arms in the air when she stepped up.

This time, she was cheered rather than getting gold in an empty arena.

Paris Olympics

The Olympics are more than fun and games. They’re a billion-dollar business with political overtones.
Breakdance will make it’s debut as an Olympic sport in Paris.. Here’s what else will be different at this year’s games.
Follow all of AP’s coverage of the Summer Games.

“It ended well, but I was still like, ‘Where’s my gang? Where’s my support system?’” Charron said. “So it was happiness but also — not regret — but sour maybe of I did all of that, it’s wonderful, but I’m alone. I felt alone. Here I felt so well surrounded.”

Luo, 23, gave China a third gold medal in weightlifting at the Paris Olympics. She set three Olympic records in her debut at the Games, lifting 107 kilograms (236 pounds) in the snatch and 137 kilograms (302 pounds) in the clean and jerk to finish with a score of 241 to Charron’s 236 and Kuo’s 235.

“I was super, super nervous but once I got on the stage, I didn’t think too much and then I made it happen,” Luo said. “At the moment I lifted, all I could think about was my country.”

Her country remains a powerhouse in weightlifting. Li Fabin won the men’s 61 kilograms, and Hou Zhihui won the women’s 49 kilograms on Wednesday.

China could add two more titles in Paris, with Shi Zhiyong in the men’s 73 kilograms later Thursday and Li Wenwen in the women’s +81 kilograms on Sunday. Each won Olympic gold three years ago.

On Thursday night, Rizki Juniansyah of Indonesia won in the men’s 73 kilograms with a score of 354, keeping China from going 4 for 4 in the opening weightlifting events. Weeraphon Wichuma of Thailand got silver with a score of 346 and Bozhidar Andreev of Bulgaria bronze at 344.

Muhammed Furkan Özbek of Turkey, who was allowed to compete after the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed an application by Spanish weightlifter David Sánchez López asking for a ban on all members of the Turkish Weightlifting Federation, was fourth.

___

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Olympic Hightlights

1 of 7 |

FILE - South Africa’s Jacques Freitag competes in the men’s high jump of the 2004 Olympic Games, in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Friday Aug. 20, 2004. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

2 of 7 |

FILE - Ilona Maher of USA is tackled by Sharni Williams of Australia in a semifinal of the Rugby World Cup 7’s championship held in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. The main task for Maher, the breakout social media star on TikTok at the Tokyo Olympics, is winning a medal in Paris. (AP Photo/Halden Krog, File)

3 of 7 |

FILE - Jacques Freitag of South Africa waves his national flag after he won the Men’s high jump event at the World Athletics Championships, at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2003. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

4 of 7 |

Sammy Sullivan of USA in action during HSBC rugby sevens series in Singapore, on May 4, 2024. The anthem played as Army officer Sammy Sullivan stood to attention and saluted beside her U.S. rugby teammates before a gold-medal game in Hong Kong against Olympic champion New Zealand. No prizes for guessing where her mind may have drifted to: Paris in July. (AP Photo/Suhaimi Abdullah)

5 of 7 |

USA Water Polo Women’s Senior National Team attacker Ryann Neushul, left, trains at Long Beach City College Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Long Beach, Calif. Following in the footsteps of two older sisters who won gold with the U.S. women’s water polo team, Ryann Neushul is making her Olympic debut in Paris this summer. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

6 of 7 |

Iranian wrestler Iman Mahdavi, 28, practices at the Lotta Club Seggiano gym, in Pioltello , northern Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

7 of 7 |

FILE - Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands competes during the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Vienna 2022 men’s semifinal game against Austria at the Red Bull Beach Arena in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Van de Velde, convicted and imprisoned eight years ago for raping an underage girl in England has qualified for the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, File)