Colombian weightlifter wins gold medal, retires on the spot
Oscar Figueroa, a 33-year old, four-time Olympian, finally won his first gold Monday in Rio. He revealed immediately after that it would also be his last.
Figueroa won the men’s 62-kilogram weightlifting event after a long road that included a devastating back injury during the Beijing games that required surgery.
As soon as he finished, he took off his shoes, a traditional sign of retirement in the sport.
While the sport will surely miss him, his rationale is hard to argue with: “Its 22 years since I started and now is the time to retire, which is why I removed my shoes. But I am full of emotion – it’s as though I was lifting for the whole country, and those tears were for all of Colombia.”
Here are the best photos of the US gymnastics team winning gold
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