Topic: News: 2008 Olympics News

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Ilin wins gold in weightlifting

Beijing, China (Sports Network) - Kazakhstan's Ilya Ilin won gold in the men's 94kg weightlifting class Sunday night at the Olympics.

Ilin lifted 180kg in the snatch and his best mark in the clean & jerk was 226kg. The total of 406kg edged Poland's Szymon Kolecki (403), while Russian Khadzhimurat Akkaev (402) earned the bronze.

"In my second snatch I hurt my elbow and the doctor tried to fix it," said the spiky-haired Ilin. "I was worried that I could not compete, but my coached helped me and gave me confidence. He helped me stand up psychologically."

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Haworth's weightlifting career needs closure
Adam Van Brimmer

One by one, history's greatest lifters approached Cheryl Haworth backstage Saturday at Beijing's Olympic weightlifting venue.

The look in her eyes told them she was contemplating her future. Thirteen years in the sport, three Olympics, an immeasurable amount of pain and sacrifice.

Her body language begged for advice from those legends, long retired and now working as coaches.

Is it time for me to hang up my weight belt, too?

"You're still young," they all said. "You're still young."

Young enough, anyway, for one more Olympic run.

Haworth is not yet ready to commit to the 2012 London Games. The decision won't come anytime soon either. She's due some time off. And stepping away from the sport for a few weeks or months may lead to a new perspective.

But for now, she sees only missed opportunities. She should have won a silver medal Saturday. Her career-best total of 631 pounds was 22 pounds more than the runner-up posted in the Beijing Olympics.

Give her eight injury-free months to train instead of two - as she had coming into these Games - and she claims she's back on the medal podium.

And she probably would have taken off her shoes and left them on the stage, signifying her retirement from international competition.

"If I had the silver medal right now, we wouldn't be talking about another Olympics," Haworth said following the competition. "It would be easy to hang it up and move on with my life. But after this, it's hard to say my future doesn't involve another Olympics."

Haworth hates clichés, but she wants to look back on her career and know she "left it all out there." And she didn't perform her best Saturday.

She failed at weights she would have considered for warm-up lifts, not competition, four years ago. The fact she knew she would struggle with those weights was little consolation.

"If the Olympics were in December and I was at my peak, we'd be having a different conversation," Haworth said. "But from my training, I knew I couldn't hit the numbers that I'm capable of. Not even close."

So Haworth and the United States coaches took a strategic approach. Post a respectable score. Put pressure on the competition to top it. Hope they can't make the lifts - "bomb out" in weightlifting parlance. Back onto the medal stand.

Don't be good, just be good enough. Haworth could have lived with that Saturday. She would have treasured a medal from Beijing the same way she does the bronze she won eight years ago in Australia.

But she'd still see the asterisk on the medal's face as clearly as if she doodled it on there herself.

Haworth talks about how easy walking away would be if she had been "outmuscled." She loses while at her best, she retires with no regrets. She loses because of injury or abbreviated training schedule, she is left to wonder "What if?"

She can't live with that. So she'll keep lifting. She needs closure. Maybe she peaks for the next few world championships, medals and retires before the next Olympics. Maybe injures plague her again and she elects to build her strength and go for broke in London.

As weightlifting's legends reminded her Saturday, she's young. She's 25 in a sport where most athletes peak in their late 20s or early 30s.

That gives her plenty of time to retire - on her terms.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Russian double-safe

(BEIJING, August 17) -- The Men's Weightlifting 105kg competition will conclude on August 18. Giants from Belarus, Poland, Russia and Ukraine will lift for the gold medal.

2005 world champion Dmitriy Klokov of Russia is favored to win. The 25-year-old has performed quite consistently for the past few years, grabbing a bronze at both the 2006 and 2007 World Championships. He has an entry total weight of 420kg.

2006 world champion Marcin Dołęga from Poland comes to the Games with a favorable 430kg entry total weight, and is one of the medal-worthy finalists. Dołęga also holds the world record of 199kg in the Snatch.

Twenty-year-old wonder kid Andrei Aramnau of Belarus is another possible winner. The young lifter lifted 423kg in the 2007 World Championships to claim the gold at the age of 19. If he wins he'll bring Belarus' their first ever Olympic Weightlifting gold.

Other medal candidates include 2006 World Championships silver medalist Dmitry Lapikov of Russia, 2005 World Championships bronze medalist Martin Tešovič of Slovakia and Athens silver medalist Igor Razoronov of Ukraine.

The final will take place at 7:00 p.m. (UTC/GMT +8).

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Ilin wins weightlifting gold for Kazakhstan

BEIJING (AP) — Ilya Ilin won Kazaksthan's first weightlifting gold medal in Beijing, edging his opponents in a close contest for the men's 94-kilogram title.

Ilin finished with a total of 406 kg (895.1 pounds) Sunday, sealing the win with the last of his six lifts.

European champion Szymon Kolecki of Poland took second place and Russia's Khadzhimurat Akkaev won the bronze.

Kolecki and Ilin were in a chicken race ahead of their last lifts, raising the weights kilogram by kilogram until Ilin went for it at 226 kg (498.2 pounds). Kolecki added 2 kg (4.4 pounds) to the bar in a final attempt to gain the gold, but couldn't pull it off.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Late Coach Lifts Female Weightlifters to Olympic Glory

While Korean weightlifter Jang Mi-ran was breaking the world record on her way to a gold medal in over-75-kilogram women`s weightlifting competition, a paper bag was in a waiting room Saturday.

Women’s national team coach Oh Seung-woo brought it with him. A carefully folded piece of traditional Korean paper was in the bag.

Oh said, “This is the paper that covered the mortuary urn of Kim Dong-hee, a former coach who died of cancer in April.”

Kim, who led the national team when Jang won a silver in the 2004 Athens Olympics, was the godmother of female weightlifters. Considered a caring older sister for tired athletes, she was also seen as the best teacher for those who did not show significant improvement.

Kim was a coach who balanced practice and theory by studying at the Korea National Sports University to finish her master’s and doctoral degrees.

While lying in bed in the hospital after being diagnosed with cancer, she did not want her athletes to visit her because she wanted them to train. Her students came anyway.

Kim died April 1 at the age of 36.

“Doctors said she`d survive at least three months. She must have died early because she wanted her students to train more,” said Oh in a shaking voice as he took out the paper.

Yoon Jin-hee, 22, who won the silver in the women`s 53-kilogram competition last week, shed tears thinking of Kim after her win. Yoon lost her parents when young and was raised by her grandmother, but Kim was like her mother.

In 2000, Yoon met Kim when she began weightlifting in the eighth grade.

Kim was born in Busan and graduated from Korea National Sports University. She made the national weightlifting team, and later showed her knack for leading young female weightlifters with her solid theory and carefulness.

She remained single and gave most of her salary to her students, even buying expensive traditional herbal medicine as a supplement for Yoon to help keep her weight.

Oh plans to burn the paper at Yongdu Temple on Jeju Island or a Buddhist temple in Busan where Kim used to visit with team members when he comes back to Korea. “Kim loved sea,” Oh said.

Kim prepared a tailor-made program for four athletes who were to compete in the Olympics according to their personalities. Specific advice was written about how to best prepare for the competition starting from the day before the competition.

Kim failed to come to Beijing. Instead, as a piece of paper, she watched Yoon and Jang compete.

In the final, Jang lifted the barbell with no difficulty and no mistake as if someone from heaven was helping her.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Jang Wins Strongest Woman Title
By Kang Seung-woo

Weightlifter Jang Mi-ran broke three world records on her way to an Olympic gold medal in the women's over 75-kilogram competition at the Beijing Olympics Saturday.

The 24-year-old South Korean lifted a record total of 326 kilograms, which was seven kilograms more than the previous record she shared with China's Mu Shuangshuang.

Jang also set world records with lifts of 140 kilograms in the snatch and 186 in the clean and jerk.

Jang easily won the gold against a field that did not include her top rival, Mu. With each country allowed only four entries in women's weightlifting, China left Mu out of its Olympic lineup, filling its spots with lifters in less competitive weight classes instead.

After waiting for 10 other competitors to finish their snatch attempts, Jang, the three-time defending world champion, raised 130 kilograms on her first attempt, six kilograms better than silver medalist Olha Korobka of Ukraine.

Jang then lifted 140 kilograms on her third and final attempt to break Mu's world record of 139.

In the clean and jerk, Jang, who belongs to a team in Goyang City, heaved 183 kilograms on her second attempt to move within one kilogram of Tang Gonghong's record, set at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Responding to loud cheers from the crowd, she added three more kilograms on her final attempt to secure the record.

Jang became the first South Korean woman to win an Olympic weightlifting title and the first athlete from outside of China to top her weight division. Since women's weightlifting was introduced as an Olympic sport at the 2000 Sydney Games, China had won two straight titles in the 75-kilogram class.

Jang's gold also ended a string of disappointments in big competitions.

Though she topped the world championships three straight times, she had never placed first at the Olympics or Asian Games.

Jang lifted a total of 302.5 kilograms, 2.5 kilograms behind Tang, to settle for a silver medal at the Athens Olympics.

She also took second at the Asian Games in 2002 and 2006.

Jang, a native of Gangwon Province, started the sport when she was 15 in 1998 by the persuasion of her father, who was also a weightlifter.

Thanks to her strong physique and good concentration, she was considered a prospect to lead South Korean women's weightlifting.

In 1999, Jang, who stands 1.7 meters tall, established herself by taking two bronze medals at a local contest. She went on to become the nation's top women's lifter every year since 2004.

Jang quickly stepped up at the international level. After the Athens silver, Jang earned her first world championship title in 2004 and added two more by beating Mu.

She set her first world record in 2006 with an overall score of 318 kilograms.

Her younger sister Mi-ryeong is also a weightlifter.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Ilin edges Kolecki for 94kg gold

Ilya Ilin of Kazakhstan won gold in the men's 94kg weightlifting in Beijing.

Ilin, the 20-year-old 2006 world champion, finished with a total of 406kg sealing Olympic victory with the last of his lifts.

European champion Szymon Kolecki of Poland took second place and Russia's Khadzhimurat Akkaev won the bronze.

Kolecki and Ilin were in a tight race ahead of their last clean and jerk until Ilin finally upped the stakes at 226kg (498.2lbs) and succeeded.

Kolecki added two 2kg (4.4lbs) to the bar in a final attempt to gain the gold, but could not pull it off.

Georgian lifter Arsen Kasabiev, from the conflict-torn province of South Ossetia, failed a brave effort to jump from fourth to first place in the final lift of the competition.

He stumbled trying to clean and jerk 231kg and fell with the barbell crashing down on top of him.

Ilin is set to cash in on his success as Kazakhstan's athletes were on a promise of £125,000 for winning a gold medal.

China has won eight of the 15 weight classes but was not represented in the 84kg category, which was the most evenly contested so far.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Ilya Ilin makes huge breakthrough for Kazakhstan

(BEIJING, August 17) -- Ilya Ilin became the hero of Kazakhstan after his win in the Men's 94 kilogram Weightlifting final on Sunday, August 17. His win not only brought Kazakhstan's first gold medal in Beijing, but also the country's first ever Olympic Weightlifting gold medal in history.

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(L-R) Szymon Kołecki, Ilya Ilin and Khadzhimurat Akkaev (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Before going into the final, Ilin was among the favorites to win the gold, along with Poland's Szymon Kołecki and Azerbaijan's Nizami Pashayev. Ilin was the winner of the 2006 World Championship. Kołecki is the world record holder of the Clean and Jerk with 232kg. Pashayev was the world champion in 2005.

Pashayev did best among the lifters in the Snatch, reaching 181kg after three attempts. Ilin chose to give up his third attempt after lifting 180kg to reserve some energy. Kołecki used up all his three attempts and lifted 179kg. The 2008 Asian champion, Asghar Ebrahimi of Iran, also lifted 180kg.

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Ilya Ilin in the final (Photo credit: Getty Images)

However, the real battle came in the Clean and Jerk. Pashayev surprisingly failed his first two attempts at 215kg. He eventually succeeded with his last trial, but his chance of winning the gold had slipped away. On the other hand, world recorder holder Kołecki only lifted a conservative 217kg with his first attempt, which hindered his chance for much improvement.

Ilin directly tried for 223kg with his first attempt but failed. His strategy forced Kołecki to increase his second attempt to 224kg. Both succeeded in their second attempts and tied at 403kg, but Ilin's 0.09kg less body weight put him in first place. Under huge pressure, Kołecki changed his weight for the last attempt and let Ilin lift first. Ilin completed 226kg successfully, then Kołecki asked for 228kg, 4kg less then his world record, but he failed. A standing ovation from the crowd was dedicated to Kołecki and the new champion – Ilin.

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Ilya Ilin with the gold medal (Photo credit: Getty Images)

"In the Clean and Jerk I got 226kg. I began to congratulate myself because I had done my best. If others had lifted more than me, they are good boys. I would have been happy for them," said Ilin after the final. "In my second Snatch I hurt my elbow and the doctor tried to fix it. I was worried that I could not compete, but my coach helped me and gave me confidence. He helped me stand up psychologically."

Khadzhimurat Akkaev from Russian Federation only lifted 176kg in the Snatch, but an excellent 223kg performance in the Clean and Jerk handed him the bronze medal.

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Ilya Ilin (back) celebrates his victory. (Photo credit: Yang Lei/Xinhua)