Lebanese weightlifter Khodor Munir Alaywan, born on September 17th, 1973, proudly won the gold medal at World Masters Weightlifting Championship that was held in Montreal, Canada, from 16 until 24 August 2019.
Alaywan won the first place in his category (Weight: 73 Kgs – Age group: 45-49) lifting a total weight of 219 Kgs (102 Kgs Snatch, and 117 Kgs Clean and Jerk).
The Lebanese athlete received congratulatory messages all over social media, most notably a tweet from Lebanese Prime Minister Saad el Hariri to whom Alaywan dedicated this accomplishment. At the end of the tweet, Hariri used the hashtag #Hero_from_Lebanon, in the local language.
This is not the first time that Khodor Alaywan represents Lebanon at an international competition. He previously participated in the 1988 Summer Olympics that were held in Seoul – South Korea, coming in the 19th place at the 52 Kgs category.
Twelve years later, he ranked 21st at the 85 Kgs event, in the 2000 Summer Olympics, held in Sydney – Australia. He also competed at world championships, most notably the 1999 World Weightlifting Championships that were held in Piraeus in Greece, and ranked 51st.
Khodor Alaywan is a living example of perseverance, commitment, and hard work. Like him, many Lebanese athletes have proved, and are proving themselves, day after day, to be worthy of international recognition.
Whether our men and women bring back trophies, and gold, silver, and bronze medals to their beloved country or nothing at all, we can’t be more proud. Just participating in such important events is a big accomplishment, given that these men and women are coming from a small country, and they are receiving limited support compared to other athletes.
Alaywan just embodied a fact that we know deep inside our souls. No matter what, when you set a goal that you are deeply passionate about, you just can’t go wrong. Mabrouk!
