![Olivia Reeves](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3698x2465+0+0/resize/1800/quality/85/format/webp/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fab%2F23%2Fbc444c0740f7bdda5102f989f12a%2Fgettyimages-2166072955.jpg)
PARIS — The drought is over.
U.S. weightlifter Olivia Reeves won a gold medal in her Olympic debut, bringing the U.S. team its gold medal since before Reeves was born.
Reeves, 21 and a student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, was widely favored to win the gold medal after a string of impressive performances in international competition. The last time the U.S. brought home a gold medal was in 2000, at the Sydney Games. That was the first Olympic Games that included women’s weightlifting as part of the program.
Cara Heads-Slaughter, who was a member of the U.S. women’s weightlifting Olympic team in 2000, told NPR that Reeves is “on track to be the best U.S. weightlifter in women’s history.”