The silver medal won by Mari Leivis Sánchez this Friday at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was not in the plans of the Colombian delegation. However, a great performance by her allowed her to win the 11th medal for weightlifting in all of history and the 37th for the country.
According to the criteria of
Sánchez, 32 years old and born in Turbo (Antioquia), had earned her place by finishing in seventh place in the Weightlifting World Cup in Phuket (Thailand), in the 71 kilogram category.
However, her participation was in doubt. During the Colombian team’s training camp in Cali in February this year, Sánchez suffered a muscle tear that put her presence at the Games in doubt.
Mari Leivis Sanchez
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There were weeks of uncertainty, but his determination prevailed, the same one he had shown at 16 years old, when he left his native Turbo and settled in Medellín in search of fulfilling his dream of being a weightlifter.
The medal, we said, was not in the accounts. She had participated in three editions of the world championships: she was sixth in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, in 2018, with a mark of 228 kg; in Bogotá, in 2022, with 244 kg, to finish fourth; and a year later, in Saudi Arabia, she finished fifth, with 240. She has just lifted 257 to win the silver.
However, in 2020 he had won the Pan American weightlifting championship in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic). He also has three golds in the Central American and Caribbean Games: one in the snatch in Barranquilla 2018 and two in San Salvador in 2023, in the snatch and clean and jerk. To that we must add another gold in the clean and jerk at the Bolivarian Games in Valledupar, in 2022.
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