Hou Zhihui


Hou Zhihui is a Chinese weightlifter, two-times Olympic champion, World champion, and two-time Asian champion competing in the women's 49 kg category.
she has set eleven senior world records throughout her career.

Career

She competed at the 2018 World Weightlifting Championships in the 49 kg division, winning silvers medals in all lifts, and setting two world records in the total.
In 2019 she competed at the 2019 IWF World Cup held in Fuzhou, China, in the 49 kg category. She swept gold medals in all lifts setting new world records in the snatch and total.
In 2021 at the 2020 Summer Olympics, she won China's second gold medal in women's 49 kg weightlifting, setting new Olympic records in the snatch, clean and jerk, and overall total, with 210 kilograms, which is three short of her world record from the 2020 Asian Weightlifting Championships.
She won the bronze medal in the women's 49kg event at the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships held in Bogotá, Colombia.
In August 2024, she again competed in the women's 49 kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France. She placed second in the Snatch with 89 kg, but she broke the Olympic record in the Clean & Jerk, lifting 117 kg and overcame Romania's Mihaela Cambei with 1 kg ahead in total.

Debunked Doping Allegations

On 26 July 2021, Indian news outlet ANI falsely reported that Hou, the new Women's 49 kg weightlifting olympic champion, would be tested by the International Testing Agency for doping, according to ANI's unnamed source. Huo had won gold against India's Mirabai Chanu, who won silver. The article claimed Mirabai Chanu would be upgraded to a gold medal if the tests were positive. This report was subsequently propagated across other news networks, including The Economic Times, Business Standard, India.com and Taiwan News. The World Anti-Doping Agency and ITA debunked the reports, saying they knew nothing of such tests being carried out and that any developments would be transparently reported on their site. On 30 July, ANI reported that no such test occurred, and claimed they made an "inadvertent error while reporting the news". As of 8 October, ANI's original false report remained on its website.