It may have seemed like an eternity for Iván Cambar as he waited for the end of his men’s weightlifting competition at the London Games… But the wait was worth it.

The 28-year-old Cuban weightlifter claimed the bronze medal on Wednesday in the 77 kg category at the 2012 Summer Olympics with a total of 349 kg.

Cambar faced a nervous wait as two lifters— Thailand’s Chatuphum Chinnawong and Egypt’s Ibrahim Ramadan Ibrahim—tried, and failed, to snatch the medal from him after he’d completed his final lift.

Competing in his first Olympic Games, Cambar’s hard-earned bronze gives Cuba its third medal at the London Games.