Figueroa lifting an Olympic Record 177 kg at the 2012 Olympics
Olympics
At the 2004 Summer Olympics he ranked 5th in the snatch as well as the clean & jerk in the 56 kg category, lifting a total of 280 kg,[7] and finished 5th overall.
In the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, Figueroa failed to make a lift in the snatch category, he was unable to lift the bar from the floor in all three attempts. After the competition, it was discovered that he had a c6/7 cervical hernia which weakened his right hand.[8][9] He left the Olympics without posting a result and had surgery to correct the hernia.[10]
In his return to the Olympics after his injury, he placed 3rd after the snatch portion of the competition with a lift of 140 kg. After failing to make his first two lifts in the clean & jerk portion, he successfully completed an Olympic Record lift of 177 kg. This gave him a total of 317 kg; bronze medalist Eko Yuli Irawan also had the same total, but Figueroa had a lighter body weight (61.76 kg vs 61.98 kg) and won the silver medal.[11][12]
Earlier in 2016 Figueroa had surgery to repair his chronic back pain caused by a lumbar hernia,[13] and returned to the Olympics hoping to win gold. On August 8, 2016, Figueroa finally won gold in the 62 kg division with a total of 318 kg. After attempting and failing to lift 179 kg to set a new Olympic Record, Figueroa took off his shoes and placed them on the platform, signaling his immediate retirement from the sport.[14] On November 26, 2019, Oscar Figueroa formally announced his retirement from weightlifting competitions in a press conference.[6][15]
On April 12, 2019, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) reported that Figueroa was not allowed to participate in multiple weightlifting events. This was due to Figueroa failing to report his whereabouts in a timely manner so the IWF could perform surprise doping tests as required by international anti-doping regulations. It was noted this failure-to-report did not mean Figueroa was involved in any doping cases opened by the IWF.[17] When interviewed, Figueroa reported he failed to send them due to human error. He also reported that while he was prevented from participating in the 2020 Pan American Championship, he was not impeded from other competition that could help qualify him for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.[18]
