Auckland 20-year-old weightlifter Kanah Andrews-Nahu put up a plucky performance in her Olympic debut, finishing fifth in the B group of the women’s 87kg competition Tokyo.
Andrews-Nahu, the Oceania champion in 2019 and third in the junior worlds the same year, put up a snatch mark of 94kg with her first lift in the group B class, but was unable to improve to 98 or 100kg at her other two lifts.
When she nailed 112kg with her clean and jerk it left her with a combined score of 206kg.
It matched her Oceania performance but the young lifter was hoping to better that mark.
Korean Yeounhee Kang, with a combined score of 231kg, topped the group, with the A group to compete later in the day.
Andrews-Nahu was disappointed with her performance. “It was different to any other international stage I’ve been on,” she said.
The Aucklander said it was so difficult to make the team for Tokyo that she felt she had let people down. “It’s hard to feel proud when things don’t go the way you hope they will.”
Though Andrews-Nahu’s performance was not quite what she had hoped, she was a bit tough on herself. She was not far below her best and is only starting out in international weightlifting – she was the youngest competitor by some margin in the 87kg competition.