Italian Weightlifters Blew It at the 2024 Olympics [Video]

Whether you’re a fan of weightlifting (the sport), or you just like lifting weights (the hobby), you’ve probably seen Italian weightlifters on your Explore feed once or twice.

Over the past few years, Team Italy’s strongest men and women have captured the hearts and minds of millions online. But at the 2024 Olympics, Europe’s most popular weightlifting roster dropped the ball — or, rather, the bar — and hard. 

Three Italian weightlifters competed at the Olympics in Paris this summer. 

• Antonino Pizzolato came away with a controversial bronze medal.
• Lucrezia Magistris finished 11th out of 12 in her class.
• Sergio Massidda, a podium candidate, bombed out and didn’t finish. 

Meanwhile, two of their biggest thumb-stoppers on social media failed to even qualify. Team Italy’s fame and legions of followers didn’t materialize into success on the weightlifting stage, which begs the question: What the hell happened?

At the Tokyo Olympicsin 2021, Italian weightlifters won …