Luo Shifang

Career

2017 Luo's first International Weightlifting Federation-sanctioned competition was the 2017 Asian Youth & Junior Weightlifting Championships in Kathmandu, Nepal. She competed in the women's 58 kg category in both divisions, where she snatched 85 kg and clean and jerked 110 kg for a total of 195 kg. She placed fourth in the junior division and placed first in the youth division.

2020–2022 Prior to her senior international debut, Luo won the 2020 and 2021 National Women's Weightlifting Championship, setting a national record in the snatch in the latter. She also won the women's 59 kg event at the 2021 National Games of China with a total of 241 kilograms, which would have surpassed the junior world record at the time. She made her senior international debut at the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships in Bogotá, Colombia. In the women's 59 kg event, she snatched 101 kg and clean and jerked 129 kg for a total of 230 kg, placing fourth overall. Although she did not win a medal for the total lift, she won the bronze in the clean and jerk. She then competed at the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in September. In the same category, she snatched 107 kg and clean and jerked 136 kg for a total of 243 kg, winning all three of the available gold medals in her event. In the same month, she competed at the 2022 Asian Games which were rescheduled to 2023 and were held in Hangzhou, China. She snatched 107 kg and clean and jerked 133 kg for a total of 240 kg, placing second behind Kim Il-gyong of North Korea.

Luo's last competition in 2023 was the 2023 IWF Grand Prix II in Doha, Qatar, in December. She snatched 108 kg and clean and jerked 139 kg for a total of 247 kg and the gold medal, which equaled the world record at the time held by Kuo Hsing-Chun of Chinese Taipei. She then competed in the 2024 IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand, in April, as a qualifying event for the Olympic Games. She lifted 108 kg in the snatch, 140 kg in the clean and jerk, and finished with a total of 248 kg to win the overall gold medal and her first total world record.

At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, Luo competed in the women's 59 kg event. Coming into the event, she was ranked first in the qualification ranking, and publications such as Sports Illustrated and Rappler predicted that Luo would be a medal contender in the event, with the former predicting she would win gold. She lifted 107 kg in the snatch, 134 kg in the clean and jerk, and finished with a total of 241 kg for the gold medal. She also set new Olympic records in snatch, clean and jerk, and total, breaking those originally held by Kuo. The Olympic Council of Asia later opined that she had "entertained" the crowd due to her hand gestures to make the crowd silent during her attempts.

Achievements