Fares Ibrahim Saed Hassouna El-Bakh (, 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.
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 Olympics He initially placed eighth at the men's 85 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, but was updated to seventh after the original bronze medalist Gabriel Sîncrăian failed a drug test in October of that year.
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). 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.
In August 2024, he competed in the men's 102 kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France. He failed three attempts to lift 178 kg in the Snatch and he did not compete in the Clean & Jerk.
World Championships 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, but was upgraded to a bronze medal in the total after the original silver medalist Aurimas Didžbalis was disqualified after failing a drug test.
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. During the competition he set a new junior world record in the clean and jerk.
Other competitions 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.
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, later in 2018 he competed at the 2018 Asian Games and won the silver medal in the 94 kg category. At the 5th International Qatar Cup he swept gold in the 96 kg class, where he set a junior world records in the clean & jerk with 225 kg and total with 397 kg.
Major results Year Venue Weight Snatch (kg) Clean & Jerk (kg) Total Rank 1 2 3 Rank 1 2 3 RankOlympic Games2016 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 85 kg 151 155 158 197 203 208 361 72021 Tokyo, Japan 96 kg 173 177 177 217 225 OR 232 402 OR 2024 Paris, France 102 kg 178178178————World Championships2017 Anaheim, United States 94 kg 163 167 167 10 210 215 220 383 2018 Ashgabat, Turkmenistan 96 kg 171 174 174 9 217 217 222 388 52019 Pattaya, Thailand 96 kg 174 178 181 4 217 224 230 402 2021 Tashkent, Uzbekistan 96 kg 172 175 175 6 217 222 229 394 2022 Bogotá, Colombia 102 kg 170 174 177 5 217 — — 391 2023 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 102 kg 170 174 176 15 218 223 223 388 72024 Manama, Bahrain 102 kg 171 174 177 7 222 222 225 399 Asian Games2018 Jakarta, Indonesia 94 kg 166 170 170 215 222 222 381 Asian Championships2016 Tashkent, Uzbekistan 85 kg 145 150 155 8 191 196 200 346 62019 Ningbo, China 96 kg 170 174 174 221 221 222 — — —2020 Tashkent, Uzbekistan 102 kg 174 174 174 222 229 232 396 2022 Manama, Bahrain 102 kg 171175176215——386Junior World Championships2016 Tbilisi, Georgia 85 kg 150 155 155 8 196 196 201 346 2017 Tokyo, Japan 85 kg 156 160 163 193 193 200 353 2018 Tashkent, Uzbekistan 94 kg 163 167 170 205 215 — 385 IWF Grand Prix2023 Doha, Qatar 102 kg 172 176 179 221 224 232 400 Qatar Cup2018 Doha, Qatar 96 kg 168 171 172 213 219 225 397 2019 Doha, Qatar 96 kg 173 173 176 213 223 228 404
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