Canadian weightlifter Maude Charron wins Olympic silver in women’s 59kg class

31-year-old changed classes after winning now-defunct 64kg event at Tokyo Games

CBC – The Canadian Press ·

Canada’s Maude Charron won a silver medal in the women’s 59-kilogram weightlifting event at the Summer Olympics on Thursday at South Paris Arena.

She lifted 106kg in the snatch and 130kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 236kg to win Canada’s 20th medal at the Paris Games.

China’s Luo Shifang, the reigning world champion, won gold with an Olympic-record total of 241kg (107 snatch and 134 clean and jerk), while Kuo Hsing-Chun of Taiwan, the defending Olympic champion at 59kg, won the bronze with a total of 235 kg (105 snatch and 130 clean and jerk).

Charron, 31, attempted a final clean and jerk of 132kg, the highest weight she had ever attempted, but was unable to complete it.

The silver is Charron’s second career Olympic medal.

Three years ago in Tokyo, the Rimouski, Que., lifter won gold in her Olympic debut in the women’s 64-kilogram division. However, that division doesn’t exist at the Paris Games, as the seven weight classes from the Tokyo Games were reduced to five.