Venezuela at the 2020 Summer Olympics

In 2019, Venezuelan Olympic Committee (COV) president Eduardo Álvarez set the nation's 2020 Summer Olympics targets. They aimed to have between 60 and 70 athletes competing, and to win 20 Olympic diplomas (awarded to the top 8 in each event). The COV also co-hosted the karate referee training course in 2019, in anticipation of the sport premiering at the 2020 Games and following new rules being implemented in both kata and kumite disciplines. In July 2020, the COV formed a working group to re-organize the Americas boxing qualifying event, which had been due to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, earlier that year but was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic event restrictions. In December 2020, the COV held X Session, which "aims to reinforce Olympic values." The COV and Venezuelan Olympic Academy have held X Sessions in previous years, usually taking place over three days. The 2020 event was condensed to one day to limit social interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was attended, either in-person or virtually, by delegates from around the world. The matters of Olympism, particularly anti-doping in sports, were discussed in presentations to spread sport education. During the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the COV has suffered financially. The Venezuelan boxer Eldric Sella, who had asylum in Trinidad and Tobago, competed at the 2020 Games with the Refugee Olympic Team. He had been dropped from the Venezuelan team in 2014 due to lack of resources, and left the country in 2018. Despite not competing for Venezuela, and going out in his first match, his perseverance to make it to the Olympics while living as a refugee was said to be inspiring to his compatriots, many of whom are also refugees abroad. ==Medalists==

In terms of medals, the 2020 Games was Venezuela's best performance in its participation history, receiving one gold and three silver medals, as well as six diplomas. In Venezuela, controversy arose over statements made by the medalists in supervised calls to president Nicolás Maduro. Noticiero Digital reported that in the video featuring the dedication to Chávez, Venezuelan Youth and Sport Minister can be heard in the background instructing Mayora to say it. Mayora's silver is Venezuela's second weightlifting medal after Israel Rubio's bronze at Athens 2004. The Caracas Chronicles reported that Mayora, who still lives in Venezuela though trains in the Dominican Republic, told friends that the best part about winning the medal is that he can now claim a better house for his mother from the government. El Pitazo interviewed Venezuelan Olympic cyclist Daniel Dhers about the controversy, with Dhers saying that regardless of politics, everyone is at the Games for Venezuela. Prior to the controversy, Juan Guaidó had congratulated Mayora on the win. while El País noted that outside of the Twitter vitriol Mayora's dedication was "generally tolerated and understood". and on 1 August, Daniel Dhers won the men's BMX freestyle silver medal, in its Olympic debut. Later in the day, Yulimar Rojas won the gold medal in women's triple jump. She is Venezuela's first female Olympic gold medalist, and also Venezuela's first athletics gold and third gold medal overall. It is Venezuela's third medal in the triple jump, following Rojas' silver at Rio 2016 and Asnoldo Devonish's bronze at Helsinki 1952, which was also Venezuela's first-ever Olympic medal. Each of the medalists was obliged to speak with and thank Maduro under supervision of Venezuelan officials shortly after their wins, He later shared a message on Twitter lauding the athlete: "warrior, you shine with your own light, you are a faithful reflection of the fighting spirit and greatness of the Venezuelan people." Guaidó also celebrated that she had literally gone further than anyone before. El Nacional noted that the athletes have faced criticism at home for praising Maduro in the calls. In an opinion column, it acknowledged the statements were "guided if not forced" and that the athletes would be concerned for family in Venezuela, but said that Krystsina Tsimanouskaya had more dignity in criticizing her nation. ==Opening ceremony==

Venezuela took part in the Parade of Nations, marching 160th in accordance with the Gojūon order, based on the names of countries in Japanese, with "Venezuela" rendered as "ベネズエラ". The delegation in the parade wore bright blue suits. The flagbearers for Venezuela were chosen by popular vote, with one male and one female representative to be flagbearers: karateka Antonio Díaz and triple jumper Yulimar Rojas were selected. The voting program, called "Abanderado por el Pueblo" ("The People's Flagbearers"), was devised by the COV in May 2021. On 22 July 2021, the day before the opening ceremony, Rojas was still slated to be a flagbearer, but she did not appear at the ceremony. Judoka Karen León walked alongside Díaz at the opening ceremony, but did not carry the flag. Díaz was the only karateka flagbearer, and both he and Antonio Espinós, president of the World Karate Federation (WKF), felt proud to have a representative for the sport featured in the opening ceremony, with Espinós saying that the WKF "couldn't have asked for a better ambassador for karate". ==Closing ceremony==

Venezuela also participated in the closing ceremony. As in the opening ceremony, they entered 160th, with Díaz as the flagbearer at this ceremony, too. ==Competitors==

Forty-three Venezuelan athletes competed. After the Olympics, each was given a car by the Venezuelan government, presented at a celebration on 10 August 2021 when the delegation (excluding Rojas and Dhers) returned to Venezuela. After the athletes arrived at Maiquetía Airport they were paraded via open-top bus, decorated in the colors of the Venezuelan flag, to Miraflores Palace in Caracas. ==Athletics==

Field Four women qualified to represent Venezuela at athletics events. The athletes achieved the entry standards, either by qualifying target or by world ranking. Women's pole vault Robeilys Peinado qualified for Venezuela in the pole vault. She won the silver medal at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics, and was set to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics but suffered an injury during practice jumps when her pole broke and she was unable to take part. At the 2020 Games, she took part in Group A in the qualification round on 2 August 2021, jumping , a distance matched but not exceeded by fourteen other athletes across both qualifying groups, and they all qualified. Peinado jumped the height without making any faults, qualifying joint first with six other athletes. In the final on 5 August, she jumped fourth in each round and cleared on her second jump. She then failed to clear at , placing joint eighth with four other athletes. Women's triple jump Yulimar Rojas represented Venezuela in the triple jump, after winning the silver medal at the 2016 Games and setting a new indoor world record in 2020. She is regarded as one of the best athletes in the world, and was favorite to win the gold medal. She told Sport that she had been visualizing winning gold since Rio 2016. Rojas later said that she had wanted to compete in the long jump in Tokyo, but the schedule of events prevented it. She had previously said she wanted to compete at the Games alongside her sister, Yerilda Zapata, who represents Venezuela in discus throw. She took part in Group A in the qualification round on 30 July. On her first attempt she jumped ; further than everyone else, she did not jump again and qualified for the finals in first. In the final held on 1 August, Rojas won the gold medal. She set a new Olympic record of with her first attempt. On her final attempt, she improved this to (5.86m hop, 3.82m skip, 5.99m jump), also breaking the world record, which had previously been held by Inessa Kravets since 1995 with . In the women's shot put qualifying round held on 30 July at Japan National Stadium, athletes had to throw at least or be one of the 12 best throws (including tied for more than 12 athletes) to progress. Ahymara Espinoza competed in qualifying group B, placing 12 in the group and 25 overall with a best throw of , a worse performance than her Rio 2016 appearance. In 2021, she had previously thrown over 18 metres, though her best throw (Venezuela's national record) of would not have seen her advance. Despite not making it to the final, she told media she was happy to have been able to compete at the Olympics. and was considered a possible medal contender. In the event, held on 1 August, Rodríguez threw thirteenth in group B, by random designation, in the qualifying round, only managing to come eleventh in the group and twenty-second overall. ==Boxing==

Venezuela qualified four boxers into the Olympic tournament. All of them qualified via their rankings after the 2021 Pan American Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament, which was due to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was cancelled. Prior to the Games, Gabriel Maestre, who was due to serve as the captain of the nation's boxing team, withdrew to focus on his professional boxing career. The boxing events were held in Ryōgoku Kokugikan. Men's flyweight Yoel Finol, brother-in-law to the iconic late disgraced Venezuelan boxer Edwin Valero, was awarded the silver medal at Rio 2016 after originally winning the bronze when silver medalist Mikhail Aloyan was disqualified for doping. In the run-up to the Tokyo Games, in early 2021, Finol shared a statement to say that he forgave Valero for killing his sister, and wanted to move on "if only for his own peace of mind." He was uncertain if he would qualify for the 2020 Olympics, and his Olympiad had been disrupted. Due to the crisis in Venezuela, the boxing team were not given the resources to travel to major competitions, which negatively affected the rankings of its boxers. Finol took up professional boxing in 2019 to make money and continue competing. As the COVID-19 pandemic also saw the Americas qualifying boxing competition canceled, the Venezuelans could not prove themselves in the ring and had to rely on their rankings. The bout had to be stopped twice for Finol to tie his hair back as it got in the way. Speaking to the press after his loss, Finol said he wanted to apologize to the Venezuelan people for not doing better. Men's light heavyweight Nalek Korbaj, known as the "Rocky of Venezuela", due to his hometown of Philadelphia and his short stature for his weight class, won several medals in American tournaments in the Olympiad running-up to Tokyo 2020, qualifying for the Olympics in May 2021. Korbaj represented Venezuela in the men's light heavyweight on 25 July, going out in the round of 32 after losing on points 2–3 to Mohammed Houmri. The fight was competitive, reflected in the judges' scores being wildly divergent, some awarding full marks to one boxer and lowly ranking the other, and others vice versa. Women's flyweight Irismar Cardozo represented Venezuela in the women's flyweight. She qualified for the Olympics by drawing lots against Miguelina Hernández of the Dominican Republic; the two were tied in rankings and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had exhausted other tie-breakers. Cardozo went out on 25 July in the round of 32 after losing on points by unanimous decision to Giordana Sorrentino. ==Cycling==

Road Men's road race Venezuela entered one rider, Orluis Aular, to compete in the men's Olympic road race, by virtue of his top 50 national finish (for men) in the UCI World Ranking. The race took place on 24 July 2021. The men's race started at Musashinonomori Park in Chōfu, western Tokyo, and finished at the Fuji Speedway circuit in the Shizuoka Prefecture. The race was long with a total elevation gain of . The conditions were and overcast. As soon as the race started, a group of eight riders broke away from the peloton, including Aular. The break reached a maximum advantage of around 20 minutes before the peloton began its pursuit, but they were unsuccessful on several attempts. The break was reduced to five riders – Aular, Nicholas Dlamini, Polychronis Tzortzakis, Michael Kukrle, and Juraj Sagan – after the first climb, ahead of the peloton by around 16 minutes. The break's lead gradually decreased as the climb went on, reaching the top of Fuji Sanroku with a lead of almost six minutes. This had dwindled to around four minutes as the leading group reached Fuji Speedway. During the speedway run, the peloton launched more chases of the lead group, which began to splinter as Sagan and Dlamini couldn't continue with the quick pace. The rest of the lead group was slowly consumed back into a much-decreased peloton during the second speedway pass, with Aular and Kukrle the last to be caught just as the group headed to Mikuni Pass. Aular was one of 41 cyclists who did not finish the course; He returned to Europe after the race to compete in the Volta a Portugal beginning 4 August. BMX Men's freestyle Venezuela automatically qualified for the men's BMX freestyle as one of the highest ranked at 2019 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships. The BMX freestyle competition is a two-round tournament, with a seeding round and a final. Each round has the cyclists perform two runs, which are 60 seconds long. Five judges give scores between 0.00 and 99.99 based on the difficulty and execution of the rider's run; the scores are averaged for a total run score. The scores in the seeding round are used to determine the start order of the cyclists in the final, with the top-seeding cyclists going last and the rest preceding in reverse order. In the final, only the best of the rider's two runs counts. The events took place at the Ariake Urban Sports Park. had helped BMX events become competitive in the late 1990s and, in the 21st century, advocated for it to be added to the Olympics, acting as the "de facto spokesperson" for BMX riders negotiating how the sport would transition. When BMX freestyle was added to the Olympic program in 2017, Dhers expected it to not appear until the next Olympiad and debut at Paris 2024, by which time he had planned to retire. Being told that the event would appear at Japan 2020, he decided to stay in competition and try to qualify. During the Games he told CNN that he hopes to also compete at Paris. In seeding on 31 July, Dhers went fourth and placed third with an average 85.10 run, meaning he would perform third-last in the final. Dhers scored in the mid-80s in the seeding, having a first run of 84.20 and second of 86.00, slightly below second-placed Nakamura, while Australian Logan Martin achieved two runs scoring above 90. Dhers improved on his seeding scores with two runs scoring above 90 in the final on 1 August; At the Olympics, Dhers said: ==Diving==

Venezuela qualified one diver. Men's 10 m platform Óscar Ariza competed for Venezuela in the men's 10 m platform after qualifying at the 2021 FINA Diving World Cup. The preliminary round was held on 6 August at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. There are three rounds to the platform diving: preliminaries, semi-final, and final. In each round, divers perform six dives, one from each of the six groups (forward, back, reverse, inward, twisting, and armstand). The top 18 in the preliminaries move on to the semi-final, and the top 12 of the semi-final progress to the final. Each dive is given a difficulty rating, and seven judges rank the execution of the dive out of 10 (in increments of 0.5); the three median execution scores are added together and multiplied by the difficulty to give the points for each dive. Ariza went out in the preliminary round, placing 22nd with a total of 327.05, 219.85 points behind first-placed qualifier Yang Jian and 12.25 points behind the lowest reserve place scorer Isaac Souza. ==Fencing==

The fencing events took place at Makuhari Messe; the competition is run in an elimination format, with the first fencer to achieve 15 touches on their opponent winning. Men's épée At the 2012 Olympics, Rubén Limardo won the gold medal in men's épée, becoming Venezuela's second Olympic gold medalist overall. He hoped to win again in Tokyo and become the first Venezuelan to win at two Olympic Games, as well as aspiring to win an Olympic medal in the team event with his two brothers, Jesús and Francisco. After his 2012 gold, Limardo was the flagbearer for Venezuela at Rio 2016. The brothers primarily live and train in Poland; to afford to bring his wife and family to Europe and support them during the COVID-19 pandemic, Limardo took a job as a food delivery rider. In December 2020 he said he was still training for Tokyo despite needing to work, complaining on social media that even though he won a gold medal and was an elected senator for the ruling party in Venezuela, he gets no funding to support his training; he had similarly criticized Maduro in 2019, when Limardo explained that he only attempted to get into politics to help fund sports in his impoverished home state of Bolívar. Limardo qualified in the men's épée as the top-ranked fencer from the Americas in the FIE Adjusted Official Rankings. Men's sabre José Quintero qualified for the Olympics by winning the final match of the men's sabre at the Pan American Zonal Qualifier in San José, Costa Rica. He contested the men's sabre, which took place on 24 July 2021; In the round of 64 he fought in bout 15, defeating Japan's Kento Yoshida 15–13. Quintero led 8–6 after the first period, putting in a similar performance in the second period to win. He went out in the round of 32 after losing in bout 40 to two-time champion and eventual gold medalist Áron Szilágyi 7–15. In the first period, Quintero took the first touch and made it to 3–2 before a barrage from Szilágyi closed the period 3–8; Szilágyi continued to dominate at the start of the second period, taking it to 3–13, at which point Quintero managed a barrage of his own, reaching 7–13 before Szilágyi took the last two touches to win. ==Golf==

Venezuela entered one male golfer into the Olympic tournament. Jhonattan Vegas qualified directly among the top 60 eligible players for the men's event. Venezuela's most successful golfer, he previously represented the country at the 2016 Olympics. The golf was played on the east course at Kasumigaseki Country Club from 29 July to 1 August. In the first round, Vegas teed off twelfth, starting at the first hole, with Thomas Detry and Kalle Samooja. The same trio teed off second in round 2, also from the first hole; and Vegas ended it tied eleventh on six under par. In the third round, Vegas teed off thirteenth with Paul Casey and Rory Sabbatini, again from the first hole. In the final round, he teed off twelfth and from hole one again, with Sungjae Im and Alex Norén. He finished joint sixteenth at eleven under par. During the tournament, Vegas ranked first for driving distance, averaging 304metres (333yards); he was tied seventh on driving accuracy, with 62.50% rate; he was tied ninth on hitting the green in regulation, with 76.39%; in scrambling, a measure of putting ability, Vegas managed 76.47% to tie on eighth. He tied on forty-four for sand saves, making one out of three, and was twenty-fourth in gaining strokes around the green, with 0.764; thirty-sixth for strokes gained approaching the green, with -0.784; and fortieth for strokes gained putting, with -0.992. However, he came first for strokes gained off the tee, with 4.260, making him eighteenth for total strokes gained on 3.248. He ranked twenty-fifth for his proximity to the hole distance putting, averaging 12metres (37'9"). He was tied twenty-eighth for total birdies, and tied first for total bogeys. ==Judo==

Venezuela entered three female judoka into the Olympic tournament based on the International Judo Federation Olympics Individual Ranking. Women's 63 kg Anriquelis Barrios competed for Venezuela in the women's 63 kg category at the Budokan on 27 July. Barrios had lived and trained in Tokyo for three years prior to the Olympics. Barrios was drawn in pool C, and first fought Daria Davydova in contest 11 in the round of 32. After receiving a yellow card at 47 seconds, Barrios went on to win by direct ippon (full point) in 2 minutes 52 seconds. She repeated the feat in contest 21 in the round of 16, defeating Maylín del Toro Carvajal. Barrios scored a waza-ari (half point) at 2 minutes 20 seconds, took on a yellow card at 3 minutes 7 seconds, before scoring another waza-ari to make a full ippon at 3 minutes 22 seconds. In contest 26, the quarterfinal, Barrios took the first waza-ari at 10 seconds, with her opponent Tina Trstenjak scoring a waza-ari at 1 minute 43 seconds. Barrios picked up a yellow card at 3 minutes 10 seconds. The round ended tied, and went to a golden score fight; Barrios got another yellow card at 6 minutes 22 seconds, before Trstenjak scored a waza-ari at 7 minutes 13 seconds, winning the fight, with Barrios going into the repechage to have a chance to contest the bronze medal. In her repechage, contest 33, against Agata Ozdoba-Błach, Barrios picked up a yellow card at 26 seconds but scored a waza-ari at 1 minute 3 seconds, going through to the bronze medal bout. In contest 41, the bout for bronze medal B, Barrios fought Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, picking up a yellow card at 1 minute 45 seconds. With no points in normal time, the fight went to golden score; Beauchemin-Pinard scored a waza-ari at 7 minutes 3 seconds, winning. Women's 70 kg Elvismar Rodríguez contested the women's 70 kg category on 28 July. She was drawn in pool D and went out in contest 11 in the round of 32 in her fight against Giovanna Scoccimarro, who scored a waza-ari at 1 minute 13 seconds; though Scoccimarro picked up a yellow card at 3 minutes 20 seconds, Rodríguez did not score and so did not proceed. Women's 78 kg Karen León contested the women's 78 kg category on 29 July. She was drawn in pool D and went out in contest 7 in the round of 32 in her fight against Patrícia Sampaio, who scored an ippon at 2 minutes 51 seconds. ==Karate==

Venezuela entered three karateka into the inaugural Olympic tournament. Kumite The kumite competition begins with a round-robin stage to sort athletes into pools, followed by a single elimination stage. The top two athletes from each pool advances to the semifinals, with the athlete that finished first in pool A facing the athlete that finished second in pool B in the semifinals, and vice versa. There are no bronze medal matches in the kumite events, with losers of the semifinals each receiving a bronze medal. Men's 67 kg The men's 67 kg kumite event took place at the Nippon Budokan on 5 August. Andrés Madera contested the elimination round in pool B, which featured an extra athlete (total six) due to the addition of Refugee Olympic Team athlete Hamoon Derafshipour. In the third bout of the round, he fought Italian Angelo Crescenzo and won 5–0, however, Crescenzo was injured and withdrew from the competition, with the result of the bout cancelled and the points Madera won forfeited. Madera went on to lose the other four bouts, placing fifth in the pool and joint-ninth in the event: in bout eight he fought Kalvis Kalniņš of Latvia, losing 2–4; in bout twelve he fought Derafshipour, losing 3–9; in the sixteenth bout he fought Steven Da Costa of France, losing 0–2; and in the twenty-first bout he took on Jordan's Abdelrahman Al-Masatfa, losing 1–4. Women's 61 kg The women's 61 kg kumite event took place at the Nippon Budokan on 6 August. At the end of the elimination round, she was tied second in pool A with Çoban; as the Turkish athlete had beat Garcés in their bout, she proceeded to the semifinal, and Garcés was ranked third in the pool and joint-fourth in the event. Kata The men's kata event took place at the Nippon Budokan on 6 August. Díaz is the all-time world leader in kata wins. He planned to retire in 2020, following the Olympics, and postponed this for a year so that he could still make the Games. The 2020 Olympics was his last competition, and he told Inside the Games that he felt some regret at his swan song having no spectators, but that his wife had assured him there would be no bigger audience than people watching the Olympics from home around the world; he said that he wanted "to give [his] career a true Hollywood ending". ==Rowing==

Venezuela qualified one boat in the men's lightweight double sculls for the Games by finishing last in the A-final and securing the second of three berths available at the 2021 FISA Americas Olympic Qualification Regatta in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Qualification Legend: FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal); FC=Final C (non-medal); FD=Final D (non-medal); FE=Final E (non-medal); FF=Final F (non-medal); SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage Men's lightweight double sculls ==Sailing==

Venezuelan sailors qualified one boat in each of the following classes through the class-associated World Championships, and the continental regattas. M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race Men's finn ==Shooting==

Venezuela entered one shooter at the games, after getting the allocation quotas. Men's 10 m air rifle Men's 50 m rifle 3 positions ==Swimming==

Men's 50 m freestyle In the heats, the swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the swimmers with the best 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final. Men's 100 m freestyle The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advance to the semifinals. Men's 400 m freestyle The swimmers with the top 8 times, regardless of heat, advance to the final. Men's 800 m freestyle The swimmers with the top 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final. Women's 50 m freestyle The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the semifinals. Women's 100 m butterfly The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the semifinals. Women's 10 km open water The marathon 10 kilometre races are held in open water. No preliminary heats are held, with only the single mass-start race being contested. The race is held using freestyle swimming, with a lack of stroke regulations. ==Volleyball==

Indoor Men's tournament Venezuela men's volleyball team qualified for the Olympics by winning the pool round and securing an outright berth at the South American Olympic Qualification Tournament in Mostazal, Chile, marking the country's reappearance in the sport for the first time since Beijing 2008. The Venezuelan team was seeded 36th following the serpentine system according to the FIVB World Ranking as of 15 October 2019. They were seeded bottom of pool A in the preliminary rounds, and were the lowest-ranked team in the competition. ;Team roster The captain of the Venezuelan team was number 9, José Carrasco, and the assistant coach was Humberto Montes de Oca. ;Group play Venezuela faced Japan in match 2 of pool A. Japan won in straight sets. Japan made the first serve of the first set, serving out and giving Venezuela a point. Venezuela then served, the ball was returned, and it was sent out to give Japan a point. The short volleys and missed serves continued until the end of the set, with no volley having more than three touches, including serves. Japan edged the set to defeat Venezuela 25–21. Japan again served first in the second set, taking three points from Venezuela fouls before Venezuela scored. The fifth point of the second set, taking Venezuela to 3–2, was the first and only of the match to go over three touches, with the teams then returning to short volleys, missed serves, and fouls, to finish out the set 25–20 to Japan. The third set went much the same, the teams matching each other for eight points before Japan began taking multiple points in succession; though Venezuela pulled some back, Japan had a cleaner lead and won the set 25–15. ---- Venezuela played Poland in match 8, winning the third set to lose three sets to one. Poland served first in the first set, winning the point but conceding the next. In the next few points they edged ahead of Venezuela, something repeated until they reached 13–10 in Poland's favor, when they won three points in a row; though Venezuela took points to bring it to 16–11 and then 17–12, Poland continued to win multiple points in succession as Venezuela tried to catch up, winning 25–16. In the second set, Venezuela served first and dropped the point, as they did with the next two. They then took a point to bring it to 3–1, but Poland again took a sequence of points. With two points for each of Venezuela's, Poland continued to dominate in this way for the rest of the second set, including an unbroken six-point win streak from 13–9 to 19–9; they took the set 25–13. Venezuela performed better in the third set, starting well after Poland served but lost the point, with Venezuela also taking the second point. Trading points through the set, Venezuela maintained their small lead before adding to it with a run of points from 9–10 to 11–17. Though Poland began to take points to match Venezuela, the margin led Venezuela to an 18–25 win. The match then went to a fourth set, with Venezuela serving first but losing the point to start on the back foot. Poland re-asserted their dominance with a run of points from 3–2 to 8–4; continuing to trade points again, Poland had a last run from 22–15 to 25–15, winning. ---- In match 10, Venezuela faced Canada, losing in straight sets. They served first in the first set, winning the point before Canada took the next two points; though Venezuela equalized, a run took Canada to 5–2 and they began trading points to reach 10–8. Canada then only dropped two points while taking it to 19–10. A dominant end to the set gave Canada the win 25–13. Canada served first in the second set, taking three points before Venezuela scored. Venezuela closed the margin at 6–6, and the two teams stayed close throughout the set, reaching 21–21 before diverging when Canada took a run of points to lead 24–21. Each took one more point for Canada to win 25–22. In the third set, Venezuela served first but Canada won the point; though Venezuela won the second point, Canada had a run to reach 5–1. Four points later they repeated the feat, leading a run to 9–4. Canada continued to show dominance, taking several more runs of points, winning 25–12. ---- Venezuela played Italy in match 14, losing in straight sets. In the first set, Venezuela served first and dropped the point, but fairly matched Italy throughout the set all the way to 22–22; Italy then had a run of points to win 25–22. In the second set, Italy served first and won the point, taking it to 5–1 before Venezuela started matching them. A run for Italy from 9–6 to 17–7 set them apart further; while Venezuela countered to match point-for-point in the remainder, the margin saw Italy win the set 25–15. The third set began with the teams matching each other again, reaching 11–11 before Italy moved a few points ahead, holding that margin to 17–14 before increasing it to 19–14 and finishing out the set and match 25–17. ==Weightlifting==

Venezuelan weightlifters qualified for four quota places at the games, based on the Tokyo 2020 Rankings Qualification List of 11 June 2021. After new weight classes were introduced in 2018, the previous records were retired and replaced with Olympic and World (Olympic format) Standards to be met. The Olympic weightlifting event comprises two parts: a snatch lift, where the bar is raised in one movement, and a clean and jerk lift, where it is raised to the chest and then above the head. Men's 73 kg The men's 73kg weightlifting competitions took place on 28 July at the Tokyo International Forum. Julio Mayora represented Venezuela in the men's 73kg category. In Mayora's second lift of the clean and jerk, he matched the Olympic Standard of 190kg. Added to his snatch lift, his total weight lifted, 346kg, was 1kg greater than the Olympic Standard. He came second to Shi Zhiyong, who set the new Olympic and World records. Mayora and Shi lifted in Group A, and Mayora celebrated his win with a back flip. Men's 96 kg The men's 96kg weightlifting competitions took place on 31 July at the Tokyo International Forum. Keydomar Vallenilla represented Venezuela in the men's 96kg category. Meso Hassona won Qatar's first gold medal, with Vallenilla 15kg behind in second, taking the silver. After missing his second clean and jerk lift at 215kg, Vallenilla raised the bar to 216kg; after the lift, he and his team celebrated wildly on the mat before noticing that he was given two red lights, showing that two of the three judges felt the lift was not clean. The Venezuelan team sent it to a jury review, which stuck with the failed lift. Making the lift would not have changed the results. Women's 59 kg The women's 59kg weightlifting competitions took place on 27 July at the Tokyo International Forum. Women's 87 kg The women's 87kg weightlifting competitions took place on 2 August at the Tokyo International Forum. ==Notes==