npr:

skunkbear:

You may have seen the exuberant celebrations of David Katoatau, an Olympic weightlifter competing in the 105-kg weight class for the island nation of Kiribati.

NBC titled their video clip, “Weightlifting makes David Katoatau want to dance.”

But there’s another, solemn reason for his joyful performance. Katoatau told Reuters he wants to raise global awareness of the climate change that threatens to destroy his country. 

Video: NBC, Map: Wikimedia

💃🏽

parliamentaryinquiry:

drst:

slowdecade:

she trained in abject poverty

This is Sarah Robles.  She won a Bronze medal in Rio yesterday, first US weightlifting medal in 16 years.

“I still have bad thoughts about myself, but I’ve learned that you have to love yourself the way you are,” Robles says. “I may look like this, but I’m in the Olympics because of the way I am.”

i needed this article today.  thank you.

the-movemnt:

Sara Ahmed just became the first Egyptian woman to stand on an Olympic podium.

Sara Ahmed, an 18-year-old Egyptian weightlifter, won bronze in her 69-kilogram division, to become the first Arab woman to be presented with an Olympic medal in weightlifting. She’s also the first Egyptian woman to win a medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics, according to the Khaleej Times.

Ahmed hopes her achievement will inspire Egyptian girls and women to take up weightlifting. "I hope it will encourage other girls to take up the sport,“ Ahmed said to the Khaleej Times. “A new weightlifting generation can be born, a new beginning.”

Interestingly, she’s the first Egyptian woman to stand on the podium but not the first to win a weightlifting medal. 

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