Topic: News: 2008 Olympics News

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

European lifters to fight for title of “world's strongest man”

BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- European lifters will have to grab their last chance to get a gold in the men's +105kg category on Tuesday and claim the title of "the strongest man in the world" with the absence of legendary Iranian Hossein Rezazadeh.

Latvian parliamentarian Viktors Scerbatihs, who claimed title at last year's world championships when Rezazadeh gave up the events, and German lifter Matthias Steiner, ranked first in the list with an entry total of 455kg, are among the candidates for the title.

However, Scerbatihs, who is also runner-up at Athens Games, is only ranked eighth in the entry list.

He will face challenge from Russian Evgeny Chigishev, silver medalist at 2007 world championships, and Qatarian strongman Jaber Saeed Salem, bronze medalist in the same events.

Another lifter Scerbatihs will have to pay attention to is South Korean Jeon Sang-guen. The 27-year-old dropped off last year's world championships after failed three jerk attempts. This time, he is ranked third with an entry total of 445kg.

The men's super-heavyweight class has long been dominated by Rezazadeh, two-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion, who pulled out of Beijing Olympics due to an injury.

Until Sunday, Asian lifters swept all the 13 golds on offer in men's and women's events, however, European strongmen may win first gold in Monday's event of men's 105kg category.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Bulked-up Steiner competes for strongman title

BEIJING: Four years older and 40 kilograms (88 pounds) bulkier, Germany's Matthias Steiner enters his second Olympics craving the adrenaline rush of competing for the heaviest title in weightlifting.

The 24-year-old muscleman is among the front-runners for the gold medal Tuesday in the men's super heavyweight class, a title that carries with it the bragging rights of being the world's strongest man.

"I'm in good shape," Steiner said before a training session Monday. "I've had good training the last month. We are prepared for this. I think."

Steiner has overcome great adversity since placing seventh in the 105-kilogram category in Athens 2004, where he was competing for his native Austria.

He changed his citizenship to German after a falling-out with the Austrian Weightlifting Federation. Then last year, tragedy struck when his wife died in a car accident.

The hardship seems only to have helped him focus on the sport.

He placed second in the European Championships in March, only 1 kg (2.2 pounds) behind Latvia's Viktors Scerbatihs — one of his main rivals on Tuesday.

Steiner went on to set a personal-best total of 451 kg (994.3 pounds) — the weight of a small cow — in qualifying for the Olympics. That's nearly 50 kg (over 100 pounds) more than he lifted as a regular heavyweight in 2004.

"Until Athens, I was always trying hard to lose weight (to stay below 105 kg). But I couldn't lose weight any more," he said.

That's a problem he no longer has to worry about since there is no upper weight limit in the super heavyweight class.

Built like a tank, Steiner now weighs 145 kg (320 pounds), slightly more than Scerbatihs but less than Ukraine's Artem Udachyn, another medal contender.

He expected that a total of 455 kg (1,003 pounds) would be needed to medal in Beijing. The total score adds the heaviest weights lifted in the two events: snatch and clean and jerk.

That's a lot more than he takes in training, but Steiner said he cannot find the willpower needed to take the biggest weights unless he's competing.

"Some lifters take more in training, but I need the adrenaline of the competition," he said.

Missing from the competition is weightlifting legend Hossein Rezazadeh, who announced his retirement before the Olympics after doctors said his health was in danger. Also known as the "Iranian Hercules," Rezazadeh won gold in the past two Olympics and holds the world records for snatch, clean and jerk and total.

Steiner said he understood Rezazadeh's decision.

"He's quitting as double Olympic champion," Steiner said. "That's a good way to be remembered."

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Aramnau wins weightlifting gold, breaks 3 records

BEIJING (AP) — Andrei Aramnau of Belarus broke three heavyweight world records to win his country's first Olympic gold in weightlifting.

Aramnau lifted a total of 436 kilograms (961.2 pounds) in the 105-kg category. Russians Dmitriy Klokov and Dmitry Lapikov took silver and bronze.

Aramnau set a new world record in the snatch, becoming the first man in the weight class to lift 200 kg (440.9 pounds) in the event.

Having clinched the gold medal, he set another world record in the clean and jerk, taking 236 kg (520.3 pounds) in his final lift. His total was also a new high mark.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Triple WRs shattered by 105kg Weightlifting champ

(BEIJING, August 18) -- Andrei Aramnau of Belarus shattered three world records en route to the Men's Weightlifting 105 kilogram weight category title on Monday, August 18.

Russia's twin towers Dmitriy Klokov and Dmitry Lapikov finished second and third, respectively.

The 20-year-old Aramnau lifted 200kg in the Snatch followed by 236kg in the Clean and Jerk to get a total of 436kg, 13kg ahead of runner-up Klokov, who had 193kg in the Snatch and 230kg in the Clean and Jerk. Klokov's compatriot Lapikov took bronze at 420kg.

The 2006 world champion Marcin Dolega of Poland, who also lifted 420kg, missed out on a medal due to a higher pre-competition weigh-in.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Belarussian smashes world records in weightlifting

Belarussian Andrei Aramnau broke a series of world records to win Olympic weightlifting gold after a dramatic heavyweight showdown in the 105kg class on Monday.

Aramnau snatched a record 200kg and lifted 236kg in the clean and jerk, taking gold with a total of 436kg.

The 20-year-old bursts with confidence -- asked in a questionnaire to name today's most talented lifter, he answered "Andrei Aramnau" -- and he kept calm as he gradually raised his weights, not missing a single lift.

His main challenger, Poland's Marcin Dolega, who held the previous snatch record, lost his nerve after Aramnau pulled past him.

In a desperate bid to take back the record in the snatch, Dolega upped his weight to 201kg despite having failed to lift 200kg.

He angrily pounded the barbell with his fist after the lift went wrong and failed twice more in the clean and jerk.

That left space for Dmitry Klokov from Russia to grab the silver with a combined total of 423kg. His compatriot Dmitry Lapikov took the bronze.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Aramnau of Belarus wins gold, breaks 3 records in the 105-kg
 
World champion Andrei Aramnau of Belarus broke three heavyweight world records Monday to win his country's first Olympic gold in weightlifting.

Aramnau lifted a total of 436 kilograms (961.2 pounds) in the 105-kg category. Russians Dmitriy Klokov and Dmitry Lapikov took silver and bronze.

At first the competition looked to be a duel between the 20-year-old Aramnau and former world champion Marcin Dolega of Poland, but Dolega missed out on the medals after a disappointing clean and jerk session.

Aramnau broke Dolega's world record in the snatch, becoming the first in the weight class to lift 200 kg (440.9 pounds) in the event. The Pole tried to get the record back but missed his last snatch at 201 kg (443.1 pounds).

"I felt no pressure," Aramnau said. "I'm really stable psychologically. I think my Polish colleague was more stressed."

After clinching the gold medal in his second clean and jerk, Aramnau set another world record in the event by taking 236 kg (520.3 pounds) in his final lift. His total was also a new mark.

"I came here to win and break records," he said. "It's not just empty talk. I did it."

Both Russians overtook Dolega in their last clean and jerks. Klokov, who had the biggest emotional outbursts of the evening, finished with a total of 423 kg (932.6 pounds), 3 kg (6.6 pounds) higher than Lapikov.

Klokov celebrated his final lift by screaming, then kissing the barbell and pumping his fists in the air. At the medal ceremony, he started crying.

"That was the emotion that came naturally because I spent a lot of time preparing for this moment and I just couldn't hold back my tears," Klokov said.

Olympic weightlifters must complete at least one of their lifts in each event to score a total. In the snatch, the bar is raised above the head in one continuous motion. The clean and jerk is a two-part lift in which the bar is first raised to shoulder level before being pushed overhead.

Aramnau's victory was Belarus' first gold medal in Beijing, and its first ever in weightlifting as an independent nation.

It produced several good lifters during Soviet times, such as Aleksandr Kurlovich, who won two Olympic gold medals, competing for the Soviet Union in 1988 and for the Unified Team of former Soviet republics in 1992.

Russia, a weightlifting powerhouse, still hasn't won any gold medals on the platform at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. It has one last chance in Tuesday's super heavyweight competition, with clean and jerk world champion Evgeny Chigishev among the favorites.

China's 10-member team, which isn't represented in the final category, dominated at the weightlifting venue, winning eight gold medals and one silver.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Aramnau wins gold in weightlifting

Beijing, China (Sports Network) - Belarussian Andrei Aramnau broke several world records on the way to winning the gold medal in the men's 105kg weightlifting class.

Aramnau lifted 200kg in the snatch and then pumped it up to 236kg for the clean & jerk, earning the gold with a total of 436kg. All three marks were world records.

"I wanted to come to the Olympic Games and break Olympic records and world records," Aramnau said. "I didn't make any secret of this. I said openly that I came to win and break the records. It's not just empty talk, I did it. I am very thankful to those who told me I could not do it."

Russians finished in second and third place with Dmitriy Klokov winning the silver at 423kg and Dmitry Lapikov capturing the bronze at 420. Poland's Marcin Dolega also had 420kg, but lost out on a medal due to a higher body weight than Lapikov.

Aramnau won gold at the 2007 world championships with a junior world mark of 423kg, only to top that weight in Beijing.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Russian lifter blames coach for destroying his gold dream

BEIJING, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Russian lifter Khadzhimurat Akkaev got a bronze medal in the men's 94kg weightlifting at the Beijing Olympic Games on Sunday, but he was more angry than happy.

"My coach is stupid," said the 23-year-old, complaining his coach for making him be allocated in Group B.

"It's all my coach's decision," he said.

Competing in the Group B on Sunday, Akkaev, Athens runner-up, was in a class of his own.

He snatched 185kg, just 3kg under the world record and went on to lifted 217kg in clean and jerk, all without missing a lift.

He had full confidence before the Group A competition began.

"I think these 402kg should be enough for winning gold," he said.

However, Ilya Ilin of Kazakhstan and Polish lifter Szymon Kolecki edged him out of the podiums for gold and silver medalists.

Ilin totaled 406kg and Kolecki cleared 403kg.

The Russian lifter threw his bouquet to the spectators and stood on the platform without expression in his face after the medal ceremony.

"If I had competed in Group A, I would have won the gold," said Akkaev, who was only ranked third in Group B with an entry total of 390kg.

However, he admitted that he did not have good performance before coming to Beijing.

"I was lifting 390kg to 395kg before the Olympics, but in the process of preparation I improved to lift more," he said.