IWF120y/103 – 2021: Akbar Djuraev, the best so far for Uzbekistan
Taking part in the Olympic Games as an independent nation since 1996, Uzbekistan has successfully amassed a total of 49 medals so far. Four come from weightlifting and Akbar Djuraev is responsible for half of them. Born in October 1999, the Uzbek star had a very successful junior career, winning the silver in the 2018 world championships in this age group, and then the gold in the 2019 edition. In both years, he was fourth at the IWF (senior) Worlds. Arrived at the Tokyo 2020ne Games, he competed in the 109kg category and convincingly became the Olympic champion (photo) in 193-237-430. The success in Japan was followed by two world titles in 2021 and 2023. Qualified for the Paris 2024 rendezvous in the 102kg category, he had a solid competition in the French capital, clinching the silver in 185-219-404, just 2kg less than the winner (China’s Liu Huanhua). He is the only lifter from Uzbekistan with two Olympic medals so far. Despite his great feats, he was not the first lifter from his country to reach the top of the Games hierarchy – in 2016, in Rio de Janeiro (BRA), Ruslan Nurudinov gave the first-ever gold in the sport for Uzbekistan. In 2013, he was also the first world champion for his nation, an achievement he repeated on two other occasions (2022 and 2024). Closing the Olympic medal count for Uzbekistan, Ivan Efremov was on the other hand the first Uzbek lifter to climb to a Games podium, after earning a bronze medal in London 2012 (in the 105kg category). At the World Championships level, Uzbekistan has a total of 16 medals (only considering Total results) – two of them were obtained in the last edition of the event, in Manama (BRN) in 2024.
