Paris, Men 89kg: Karlos Nasar smashes world records to take gold and become weightlifting’s flag-bearer for the future

Karlos Nasar is unstoppable. The 20-year-old Bulgarian broke two world records – one of them by 8kg – in putting on the best show of the week on the Paris 2024 weightlifting platform.  

In winning 89kg gold he boosted his own profile to a new level, and raised awareness of weightlifting as his spectacular triumph was broadcast live in all parts of the world. He showed that he can be the superstar of the sport in the years to come.

“I am not the only symbol of a new future and a new image for weightlifting, there are others besides me who can do this, but yes I am happy to promote the sport,” Nasar said after posing for dozens of photos with fans who included Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev.

Karlos Nasar (BUL)

“The Olympic Games is a great forum. It’s like space for me. I feel like I’m on Mars.”

Nasar was Europe’s first winner at these Games and the first Olympic champion for Bulgaria, formerly the sport’s top-achieving nation, in 20 years.

He was too young to feature at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo because he was under the minimum age of 15 when qualifying began.

“Yes, I was too young, but I was ready to win,” he said. “Just after the Tokyo Olympics I had a better result than the gold medallist there.” That was when he won the 81kg senior world title aged 17 in December 2021, totalling 9kg more than Lu Xiaojun had made in winning Olympic gold four months earlier.

Nasar looked unbeatable from the moment he walked out for his first attempt. Bulgarian fans were on their feet and waving flags in all parts of the South Paris Arena when he easily made his opener on 173kg.

When he followed up on 177kg and 180kg he was already ahead of his biggest rival Yeison Lopez from Colombia, the snatch world record holder who finished second on total, 14kg behind Nasar.

“This medal is a dream come true,” Lopez said. “I didn’t think I could compete today because three weeks ago I had a back injury. But with a lot of perseverance, I’m here.”

Yeison Lopez (COL)

Antonino Pizzolato from Italy took bronze in dramatic fashion when the jury overturned a unanimous no-lift decision by the referees on his final attempt. That decision relegated Marin Robu from Moldova to fourth place. Robu failed with a challenge when his own final attempt was ruled a no-lift and was unhappy with both jury decisions.

Pizzolato has made a total of four good lifts in two Olympic Games, in Tokyo and Paris, and that has been enough for two bronze medals.

This time Pizzolato had to wait while athletes from Korea, Armenia and Iran tried, and failed, to overtake him. None of those three – Yu Dongju, Andranik Karapetyan and Mir Mostafa – could cope with big jumps on their final clean and jerk attempts. Nasar made it look easy.

Antonino Pizzolato (ITA)

He started on 213kg, then went straight up to 224kg to better his own world record by 1kg in clean and jerk and smash Li Dayin’s total world record by 8kg. He declined his final attempt.

Nasar, who weighed in at 88.4kg, finished 180-224-404, Lopez 180-210-390 and Pizzolato 172-212-384.

Nasar appeared to pause after the clean and smile before making the jerk that earned the biggest cheer of the week. “I don’t remember every moment of what happens on the platform,” he said when asked about it.  

He declined to say how much he had been lifting in training, but responded to a question about a tattoo on his arm which says, “You Lost.”

“It’s for my opponents, not for me,” he said.

In May last year, Nasar was badly injured in a freak accident that might have ended his Olympic hopes. When a sink fell and a shard sliced into his achilles tendon, Nasar had emergency surgery and told a TV interviewer, “The back of my leg is all cut off.” Doctors said he would be out of action for six months.

“It was very difficult because I couldn’t move for a month,” he said. “But I could still dream, and I did believe that I would win at the Olympic Games. My message to children everywhere is to follow your dreams, because you can make them come true.”

Below the podium, Robu totalled 383kg in fourth, followed by Mir Mostafa, Yu and Karapetyan all in the low 370s.

Boady Santavy from Canada, fourth at 96kg in Tokyo, had an injury-plagued preparation and failed to make a total, but he aims to try for a third Olympic Games in 2028. Like Nasar, Santavy is hoping that the weight categories will change and “there will be something around 95 kilos”.

Kyle Bruce from Australia finished 10th, a long way behind Nasar but was delighted to have featured in a memorable session – and to have trained with Nasar in the morning. “Even being on the platform with the world record holder was awesome,” he said. “It’s important for Australian weightlifting to have athletes involved in events like this. It would be great to line up alongside Karlos Nasar again.”

Another who was pleased to be involved was the man chosen to conduct the traditional trois coups ceremony that opened proceedings, as it has done at every medal event in Paris. Appropriately for a session that will go down in weightlifting history, it was weightlifting’s most decorated Olympic medallist Pyrros Dimas.

By Brian Oliver