Rahmat Erwin Abdullah Secures His Second Asian Games Gold Medal, Along with a World Record.

The name Rahmat Erwin Abdullah has once again claimed the top spot on Asia's sporting stage. Three years after winning gold at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, this Indonesian weightlifter repeated his winning success at the 2026 Asian Games hosted in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

For this edition, Rahmat competed in the men's 75kg category. He had previously claimed gold in the men's 73kg division at the 2022 Asian Games, an event that was delayed until 2023 due to the global pandemic.

The weight class adjustment did nothing to break Rahmat's consistent elite form. Not only did he secure the Gold Medal, he also delivered a historic performance by breaking official world records.

Across two Asian Games appearances, Rahmat now holds two gold medals. However his Nagoya victory carries special weight, as this win was achieved alongside two brand new world records.

Rahmat set a new men's 75kg clean & jerk world record with a 206kg lift. He also claimed the overall combined total world record after registering a final combined lift of 366kg.

Competition in this division was extremely tight. North Korean weightlifter Ri Chong-song had already set a snatch world record earlier in the session, successfully lifting 162kg.

That mark was not enough to carry Ri to first place however. His final total lift finished behind both Rahmat and Thai weightlifter Weeraphon Wichuma. Ri also failed to match the scores posted by his two rivals during the clean & jerk round.

Final Standings placed Rahmat as gold medallist, followed by Weeraphon with silver, and Ri Chong-song taking home the bronze medal.

The men's 75kg division delivered on expectations for fierce competition. Multiple world records and Asian Games records were broken and reset repeatedly throughout the entire duration of the contest.

During the snatch round alone, the world record was broken twice, alongside one new Asian Games record. Ri Chong-song and Weeraphon Wichuma traded the record title back and forth during this phase of the event.

Tensions rose even higher once the clean & jerk and overall total rounds commenced. Across these two disciplines, world records were broken a total of five times. This includes Rahmat's two record-breaking lifts, one in clean & jerk and one for the overall combined total.

Olympic Qualification Heartbreak

Before competing at the 2022 Asian Games, Rahmat had already proven his calibre at the highest international level.

On 9 December 2022 in Bogota, Colombia, he broke both the world and Asian records for clean & jerk at the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships.

On that occasion, Rahmat successfully lifted 200kg. This mark beat the previous world record by 1 kilogram, a record previously held by Chinese weightlifter Shi Zhiyong that was set at the 2021 World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

However, Rahmat's path to the 2024 Paris Olympics did not go as planned. In an unexpected turn, he failed to qualify for the world's biggest sporting event after losing out to Rizki Juniansyah for Indonesia's national quota spot in the men's 73kg class.

Rizki had delivered a standout performance to take victory at the 2024 Weightlifting World Cup held in Phuket, Thailand. Olympic qualification rules also prohibit one nation from fielding two athletes in the same weight division.

Even so, Rahmat still put up a highly competitive showing in Phuket, taking home both a silver and bronze medal at the event.

This meant he could only watch the 2024 Paris Olympics from outside the competition arena. This disappointment came after Rahmat had previously won bronze for Indonesia at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021.

At the Paris Games, Rizki went on to win gold. That medal was one of only two gold medals claimed by Indonesia at the 2024 Olympics, alongside the gold won in sport climbing.

Now, Rahmat has answered that disappointment with his performance at the 2026 Asian Games. This weightlifting gold is Indonesia's second gold medal of the Games, coming after the men's Badminton team ended the nation's five day wait for a first title.

For Indonesia's weightlifting program, Rahmat's gold adds to the nation's proud Asian Games legacy. One of the country's previous gold medals in the sport was won by Indonesian weightlifting legend Eko Yuli Irawan, who took the men's 62kg title at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games.

Comeback And Inspiration

Rahmat's journey to the top of the podium in Nagoya cannot be separated from the disappointment of missing the Paris 2024 Olympics. Rather than being broken by the setback, he used that experience as fuel to return to winning form.

After missing out on Paris, Rahmat bounced back to win gold in the 73kg class at the 2025 Asian Championships. He followed this up with another gold medal, this time in the men's 88kg division, at the 2025 SEA Games held in Thailand.

One year later, Rahmat once again proved his class on the continental stage. This time he claimed the men's 75kg Asian Games title, alongside his two new world records.

This level of consistency is the product of Rahmat's long career as an elite athlete. He has competed internationally since his teenage years, amassing a string of major honours including gold medals at both the 2021 and 2022 World Weightlifting Championships.

Born 13 October 2000, Rahmat made his international debut at the 2017 Junior World Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, competing at the time in the 69kg weight class.

Years of competition experience have forged his unshakable competitive mentality. Alongside dedicated training and match experience, family support has also been a foundational pillar of Rahmat's career.

Rahmat is the only son of Erwin Abdullah, a former Indonesian weightlifter who won silver at the 2002 Asian Games. His mother Ami Asun Budiono was also a national team weightlifter, and won gold for Indonesia at the 1995 SEA Games.

It comes as no surprise that family holds a special place in every one of Rahmat's achievements.

After delivering Indonesia's second 2026 Asian Games gold, Rahmat dedicated his victory first and foremost to his loved ones.

"This is for my child, my wife, and my parents back home," he told reporters after the medal ceremony.

Victory in Nagoya marks another defining chapter in Rahmat Erwin Abdullah's athletic career. After suffering the setback of missing the Paris Olympics, he has returned to the very top of his sport, leaving Nagoya with a gold medal and two new world records.

This achievement also serves as a huge morale boost for the rest of the Indonesian contingent still competing at the 2026 Asian Games, as they look to follow Rahmat's example and add to the nation's medal haul.