Topic: News: 2008 Olympics News

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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North Korea's Pak, China's Liao win weightlifting gold

Beijing, China (Sports Network) - Pak Hyon Suk of North Korea won the gold medal in the women's 63kg weightlifting class on Tuesday.

Pak claimed North Korea's first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics with a total weight of 241kg, including the best lifts in the snatch (106kg) and clean & jerk (135).

She edged Kazakhstan's Irina Nekrassova by just one kilogram, with the silver medalist finishing with a 240kg total. Lu Ying-Chi of Taiwan took bronze at 231kg.

U.S. weightlifters Natalie Woolfolk and Carissa Gump finished outside the top 10.

Liao Hui of China won the men's 69kg division Tuesday night with a lift of 348kgs, including a mark of 190 in the clean & jerk. France's Vencelas Dabaya-Tientcheu and Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan of Armenia tied at 338, but the Frenchman was awarded the silver medal based on a lower body weight.

China has won all five of the weightlifting categories it has participated in thus far in these Games.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Pak Hyon Suk wins gold in women's weightlifting, Girard 4th

Pak Hyon Suk won North Korea's first weightlifting gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, taking the women's 63-kilogram category Tuesday, while Christine Girard of Rouyn-Noranda, Que., finished fourth.

Pak lifted a total of 241 kg, but was almost eliminated after failing two clean and jerks at 135 kg. She nailed her third and final attempt to become the Olympic champion.

Pak's winning total also included a lift of 106 kg in the snatch.

Irina Nekrassova of Kazakhstan took the silver medal with a total lift of 240 kg, while Taiwan's Lu Ying-chi took the bronze with a total lift of 231 kg.

Girard, 23, hoisted 102 kg in the snatch, and 126 kg in the clean and jerk to finish just three kilograms out of the top three. Her total lift of 231 kg just prior to the Olympics ranked her in the top three in the world at the time, and made her a legitimate threat to reach the podium.

The event did not feature world champion and world record-holder Liu Haixia of China, who was held out of the competition because the Olympic host chose to prioritize other weight categories.

A rule in the Olympic weightlifting competition limits countries to four women competitors.

That made Russia's Svetlana Tsarukaeva the favourite to win the event, but she was eliminated after three failed attempts to lift 107 kg in the snatch.

In other weightlifting action on Tuesday, China's Liao Hui won the men's 69-kg category.

Liao snatched 158 kg, and heaved 190 kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 348 kg.

France's Vencelas Dabaya-Tientcheu took the silver and European champion Tigran Martirosyan of Armenia claimed the bronze.

Francis Luna-Grenier of Montreal finished 17th.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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"General" Liao wins China gold

By Sophie Hardach, Additional reporting by Chris Buckley

BEIJING, Aug 12 (Reuters) - China's "young general" Liao Hui won the Olympic weightlifting gold medal in the 69kg class on Tuesday after a brutal competition during which one contender was injured but came back to attempt another lift.

Liao snatched 158kg and lifted 190kg in the clean and jerk, winning with a combined total of 348kg.

In what local media dubbed a "double insurance" plan for gold, China put up the relatively inexperienced Liao as well as the more experienced "old general" Shi Zhiyong, the 2004 Olympic champion in the 62kg class.

Vencelas Dabaya-Tientcheu from France won the silver. Knowing that he had already secured the medal with his first 187kg lift in the clean and jerk, he dropped the weights mid-air in the second lift and in the third lift merely walked up to the barbells, looked at them and walked away.

Tigran Martirosyan from Armenia took the bronze.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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China adds to weightlifting gold total

BEIJING, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- China added to its Olympic weightlifting gold medal total Tuesday and North Korea continued a surprisingly successful Games.

Lian Hui of China won the men's 69-kilogram class, the fifth gold medal for his country in seven weightlifting events at these Olympics.

He produced lifts totaling 348 kilograms, comfortably in front of France's Vencelas Dabaya-Tientcheu.

The Frenchman tied Tigran Martirosyan of Armenia for second but received the silver medal because of his lesser body weight.

The gold medal in the women's 63-kilogram class went to Hyon Suk Pak of North Korea.

Four days into the Olympics, North Korea had won seven medals -- two short of the country's all-time record set in 1992. Pak's gold medal was the first for a North Korean in 12 years.

She edged Kazakhstan's Irina Nekrassova by 1 kilogram. Lu Ying-Chi of Taiwan took the bronze.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Liao wins 69kg weightlifting gold
China's Liao Hui added to the host nation's gold medal tally by winning the men's 69kg weightlifting title.

Liao snatched 158kg and lifted 190kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 348 kg, 10kg more than France's silver medallist Vencelas Dabaya-Tientcheu.

The Frenchman secured his medal with his first 187kg lift in the clean and jerk for a combined total of 338kg.

Armenia's Tigran Martirosyan won bronze, also with a 338kg total, but had an inferior clean and jerk effort.

Dabaya-Tientcheu made a late bid for gold with an attempted 197kg lift in his second clean and jerk.

But he failed in his first attempt and, with silver assured, decided not to have a third lift.

China's Shi Zhiyong, who won gold in the 62kg in Athens four years ago, pulled out of the competition for unknown reasons after lifting 152kg in the snatch.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Some things can't be put off, even at the Olympics

Because doing well at an Olympics requires concentration, and because it's such a hassle to move around an Olympic host city, athletes and their families often agree to meet after a competition instead of before.

So, Melanie Roach of Bonney Lake, one of America's top weightlifters, came to Beijing early, and her husband, Dan, would come later with their five-year-old son Ethan.

But after arrival at their Beijing apartment, Dan heard in a phone conversation with Melanie all he needed to know to create Plan B. She said during the taping of an interview with KING-TV that she was asked something about the hardest thing at the Olympics.

The normally poised, upbeat Roach immediately cracked.

"She started tearing up," he said. She asked to turn off the tape so she could compose herself. She said, 'I really, really want to see you guys.'"

Dan quickly abandoned the post-event rendezvous and tried to get to Melanie Friday. But the Opening Ceremony presented a logistical nightmare on both ends. By Saturday, he had directions to the subway and arranged the credential to get to the Athletes Village, where the three spent a couple of hours talking about anything but sports and weightlifting.

By Sunday, her head was together and she set an American record in the 53 kg class, finishing sixth. Dan, Ethan and other family members and friends were in the gym screaming, and happy to pose for their Olympic moment, too.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Coach's slap helps Breeze finish
Devon-based Welsh Olympic weightlifter Michaela Breeze was slapped by her coach, Andrew Davies, to help her finish the competition in Beijing.

Breeze buckled in pain from a back injury, but finished seventh to the crowd's roars before collapsing to the floor sobbing.

She said: "It's an Olympic Games - pain's irrelevant. I've trained for so many years for this.

"My coach gave me a slap too. Anything to take the pain away from my back."

The 63kg lifter who won gold for Wales at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games added: "Adrenalin is the best pain-killer and the crowd could see I was struggling and really got behind me. They were fantastic.

"It's just the drive that got me through, I suppose."

Breeze, 29, converted snatch attempts at 80kg and 85kg, but could be seen to hold her back.

After treatment, she returned to post 100kg in the clean and jerk and has been assured there will be no long-lasting damage from the injury.

"I've had scans and everything. It was decided that competing would cause no further damage," said Breeze.

"I struggled. I had a back injury coming into the competition.

"If the situation had been different I would probably have pulled out a couple of weeks ago, but there was nobody to replace me.

"I just tried to dig deep and get through the training so I could make it to Beijing.

"I was in some discomfort in training and only managed to snatch up to 75kg in training and only clean-and-jerked 85kg.

"It's not that the weights felt heavy - the problem was the pain I was in.

"But after so many years of training to get this far I didn't want to pull out."

At the end Breeze began crying as she triumphantly held the barbell above her head to roars from the crowd, and later collapsed to the floor sobbing.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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I won a home game: Chinese Taipei weightlifter

BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Taipei weightlifter trained by a mainland coach said here on Saturday that she won a treasured Olympic bronze at "a home game."

Chen Wei-Ling of the Chinese Taipei delegation finished third in women's 48kg class weightlifting on the first day of the Olympic competition, next to gold medallist Chen Xiexia of China, who broke the Olympic record, and silver medallist Turk Sibel Ozkan.

Zhang Jiamin, a native of northeast China's Liaoning Province who is now the head coach of the Chinese Taipei weightlifting team, helped produce the Olympic bronze after training Chen Wei-Ling for less than 30 weeks.

After Chen's unexpected grab of the bronze, Zhang said at a post-game press conference: "Wei-Ling has the poorest skills among all Olympian weightlifters but she is very strong in power."

The Kaohsiung girl said enthusiastic support from the spectators made her feel like being "at home." In fact, the 26-year-old Chen played handsomely with a snatch weight of 84 kilograms. Her personal best in snatch was only five kilograms more than the Olympic result, after being trained by the mainland coach from a humble start of 70 kilograms.

"I love the people here who fueled me up for an excellent game," said Chen, who beat the defending Olympic champion Nurcan Taylan and two capable Thais.

Zhang said he expected more success of the Chinese Taipei weightlifters at the Beijing Games.

Chen's Olympic debut attracted the interest of Lien Chan, honorary chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang Party, who has stayed with the Olympics since its grand opening on Friday night.

"It's too soon to get the bronze and I am particularly joyous that the two weightlifters from the two sides of the Strait could stand side by side on the award podium," Lien said.

The spectators' strong support for both weightlifters was "a natural outburst of deep care for each other being all Chinese," said Lien.

"My congratulations to the mainland athletes -- they have earned respect for their excellence and great sportsmanship," Lien said.