Fares El-Bakh

Fares Ibrahim
Personal information
Full nameFares Ibrahim Sayed Hassouna El-Bakh
NicknameMeso Hassouna[1]
NationalityQatari
Born (1998-06-04) 4 June 1998 (age 26)
Egypt
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Weight95.95 kg (212 lb)
Sport
CountryQatar
SportWeightlifting
Event–96 kg
Coached byIbrahim El-Bakh
Achievements and titles
Personal bests
  • Snatch: 178 kg (2019)
  • Clean and jerk: 228 kg (2019)
  • Total: 404 kg (2019)
Medal record
Men's weightlifting
Representing  Qatar
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2020 Tokyo –96 kg
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2022 Bogotá –102 kg
Silver medal – second place 2019 Pattaya –96 kg
Silver medal – second place 2021 Tashkent –96 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Anaheim –94 kg
Asian Games
Silver medal – second place 2018 Jakarta –94 kg
Asian Championships
Gold medal – first place 2022 Manama 102 kg
Silver medal – second place 2020 Tashkent 102 kg
Junior World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2017 Tokyo –85 kg
Gold medal – first place 2018 Tashkent –94 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Tbilisi –85 kg

Fares Ibrahim Saed Hassouna El-Bakh (Arabic: فارس ابراهيم سعد حسونة الباخ, born 4 June 1998), commonly known as Meso Hassouna, is a Qatari weightlifter of Egyptian origin. He is an Olympic Champion, World Champion and two time Junior World Champion competing in the 85 kg, and 94 kg categories until 2018 and 96 kg and 102 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.[3]

He holds the junior world record in the clean & jerk (225 kg) and total (397 kg) in the 96 kg division. His father, Ibrahim Hassouna, represented Egypt at three consecutive Olympics from 1984 to 1992.

Career

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Olympics

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He initially placed eighth at the men's 85 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics,[4][5] but was updated to seventh[2][6] after the original bronze medalist Gabriel Sîncrăian failed a drug test in October of that year.[7]

At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, he competed in the 96 kg category. After the snatch portion of the competition, he was in fourth place with a 177 kg lift, although the difference between first and fifth place was just 2 kg. In the clean & jerk section, he attempted his first lift after every competitor had finished their lifts. He successfully lifted 217 kg, clinching the gold medal, he followed himself with an Olympic record lift of 225 kg, which gave him a total of 402 kg (also an Olympic record).[8] He attempted, but failed a world record lift of 232 kg, his total of 402 kg was 15 kg greater than the silver and bronze medalists. With his Olympic gold, he became the first Qatari Olympic Champion, regardless of sport.[9]

In August 2024, he competed in the men's 102 kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France.[10] He failed three attempts to lift 178 kg in the Snatch and he did not compete in the Clean & Jerk.[10]

World Championships

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In 2017 he moved up to the 94 kg category and competed at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships, where he won a silver medal in the clean & jerk and originally placed fourth overall,[11] but was upgraded to a bronze medal in the total after the original silver medalist Aurimas Didžbalis was disqualified after failing a drug test.[12]

The next year he competed in the 2018 World Weightlifting Championships, where he won a bronze medal in the clean & jerk portion in the new 96 kg category.[13] During the competition he set a new junior world record in the clean and jerk.[14]

Other competitions

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He competed at the 2016 Junior World Weightlifting Championships and won a bronze medal in the total in the clean & jerk and total in the 85 kg category. The following year he competed again at the Junior World Weightlifting Championships this time he got a gold medal in the 85 kg category.[15]

In 2018 he defended his title as Junior World Champion, he won a gold medal at the Junior World Weightlifting Championships in the 94 kg category. He also won the Asian Junior Championships in the 94 kg division,[16] later in 2018 he competed at the 2018 Asian Games and won the silver medal in the 94 kg category.[17] At the 5th International Qatar Cup[18][19] he swept gold in the 96 kg class,[20] where he set a junior world records in the clean & jerk with 225 kg and total with 397 kg.[21][22]

Major results

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Year Venue Weight Snatch (kg) Clean & Jerk (kg) Total Rank
1 2 3 Rank 1 2 3 Rank
Olympic Games
2016 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 85 kg 151 155 158 197 203 208 361 7
2021 Tokyo, Japan 96 kg 173 177 177 217 225 OR 232 402 OR 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2024 Paris, France 102 kg 178 178 178 DNF
World Championships
2017 Anaheim, United States 94 kg 163 167 167 10 210 215 220 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 383 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2018 Ashgabat, Turkmenistan 96 kg 171 174 174 9 217 217 222 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 388 5
2019 Pattaya, Thailand 96 kg 174 178 181 4 217 224 230 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 402 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2021 Tashkent, Uzbekistan 96 kg 172 175 175 6 217 222 229 1st place, gold medalist(s) 394 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2022 Bogotá, Colombia 102 kg 170 174 177 5 217 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 391 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2023 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 102 kg 170 174 176 15 218 223 223 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 388 7
Asian Games
2018 Jakarta, Indonesia 94 kg 166 170 170 215 222 222 381 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Asian Championships
2016 Tashkent, Uzbekistan 85 kg 145 150 155 8 191 196 200 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 346 6
2019 Ningbo, China 96 kg 170 174 174 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 221 221 222
2020 Tashkent, Uzbekistan 102 kg 174 174 174 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 222 229 232 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 396 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2022 Manama, Bahrain 102 kg 171 175 176 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 215 1st place, gold medalist(s) 386 1st place, gold medalist(s)
World Junior Championships
2016 Tbilisi, Georgia 85 kg 150 155 155 8 196 196 201 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 346 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2017 Tokyo, Japan 85 kg 156 160 163 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 193 193 200 1st place, gold medalist(s) 353 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2018 Tashkent, Uzbekistan 94 kg 163 167 170 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 205 215 1st place, gold medalist(s) 385 1st place, gold medalist(s)
IWF Grand Prix
2023 Doha, Qatar 102 kg 172 176 179 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 221 224 232 1st place, gold medalist(s) 400 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Qatar Cup
2018 Doha, Qatar 96 kg 168 171 172 1st place, gold medalist(s) 213 219 225 1st place, gold medalist(s) 397 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2019 Doha, Qatar 96 kg 173 173 176 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 213 223 228 1st place, gold medalist(s) 404 1st place, gold medalist(s)

References

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  1. ^ "Athlete Biography: ELBAKH, Fares Ibrahim E. H." IWF.net. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Fares Ibrahim E. H. Elbakh". Rio2016.com. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  3. ^ "PDF listing of 2018 Group A world championship entrants in 96 kg" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  4. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Fares Ibrahim". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 30 June 2019.
  5. ^ "Rio 2016: Qatari Weightlifter Faris Ibrahim Ranks 8th in Men's 85Kg Weightlifting". Qatar-Tribune. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  6. ^ "Men's 85kg – Standings". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016. ELBAKH Fares Ibrahim E. H.
  7. ^ "Weightlifter Gabriel Sincraian fails Rio Olympic drug test". ESPN. 13 October 2016. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  8. ^ "Weightlifting-Qatar's Elhakh wins gold in men's 96 kg event". Reuters. 31 July 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Fares El-Bakh makes history for Qatar and sets new Olympic record with gold in 96kg men's weightlifting final". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  10. ^ a b "Weightlifting Results Book" (PDF). 2024 Summer Olympics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  11. ^ IWF.net (4 December 2017). "MORADI makes World Records fall". Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  12. ^ "IWF Public Disclosure". IWF.net. 23 January 2018. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  13. ^ "Iranians bag eight world weightlifting medals". Iran Daily. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  14. ^ IWF.net (7 November 2018). "Iranian Gold in the men's 96kg". Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  15. ^ IWF.net (20 June 2017). "Qatari Gold – ELBAKH Fares Ibrahim E. H. Junior World Champion". Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  16. ^ "2018 Asian Junior Championships". iwf.net. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  17. ^ "Fares Lifts silver, brings Qatar joy". Gulf Times. 26 August 2018. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  18. ^ "PDF listing of 5th Qatar Cup 2018" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 December 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  19. ^ The Peninsula Qatar (21 December 2018). "5th International Qatar Cup weightlifting championship begins". Archived from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  20. ^ الأولمبية.قطر. "Hassouna wins best weightlifter title in Qatar Cup". Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  21. ^ IWF.net. "5th International Qatar Cup". Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  22. ^ "Fares tops Qatar Cup weightlifting". Gulf Times. 22 December 2018. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
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