On the penultimate day of weightlifting at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the final day for Australians in competition, Matthew Lydement stepped up to the platform with the support of a nation behind him. 

Lydement came into the competition with a personal best of a 167kg snatch and 190kg clean and jerk. 

It was a big day for Lydement, the 27-year-old who up until this point had not competed beyond Oceania Championships level, but the pressure of the Olympic spotlight didn’t faze him. 

For a lifter who only started the sport in 2014, the Queenslander showed poise beyond his years, perhaps partly thanks to the guidance of Dual Olympian Damon Kelly who serves as Lydement’s coach at Cougars Weightlifting Club. 

Lydement pushed through his first snatch attempt at 152kg with ease, before raising the weight 6kg to 158kg. As with the first, the Australian took the lift in stride successfully completing his second attempt. 

Unfortunately for Lydement, his third snatch attempted at 165kg proved too much, forcing him to settle with his second. 

Moving to the clean and jerk, Lydement was unable to move beyond his attempt at 180kg, after faltering on his second and third attempts. His total score, 338kg for his first Olympic Games. 

“I’m obviously happy to be here, proud of the achievement of coming here, but it wasn’t ideal, it wasn’t what I wanted,” Lydement said. 

“In the leadup I felt great, I was really smashing my warm-ups. As I was going it was like the nerves were kicking in more and more as I was leading in, that led to a shaky warm-up which is why we dropped the numbers.” 

“Legs weren’t there today but that’s alright, back to the drawing board.” 

Although Lydement was disappointed in his Tokyo performance, he will take those experiences as he moves toward the next phase of his career. 

“To just be over here, hanging out in the village with some of the top athletes in the world, to rub shoulders with them and learn from them, it’s just been an amazing experience.” 

“It’s definitely not the last you will see of me.” 

With Lydement’s performance on Tuesday, the largest Olympic weightlifting team to leave Australian soil have closed out their Tokyo 2020 campaign. 

Matthew Barnard