LIU BREAKS 3 WEIGHTLIFTING RECORDS
China Post
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Taiwan
BEIJING — Liu Chunhong broke three world records in the women’s
69-kilogram division Wednesday, def ending her Olympic title to win
China’s sixth gold medal in the weightlifting competition.
Liu set a new high score of 128 kg (282.2 pounds) in her third attempt
in the snatch. She then lifted 158 kg (348.3 pounds) to set a new
top mark in the clean and jerk.
Her total of 286 kg (630.52 pounds) also was a world record, beating
the previous mark by an astounding 10 kg (22.1 pounds).
World champion Oxana Slivenko of Russia was a distant second, lifting
a total of 255 kg (562.17 pounds). Ukraine’s Natalya Davydova took
the bronze.
Sa Jae-hyouk of South Korea stopped China’s gold rush in weightlifting
by edging home crowd favorite Li Hongli to win the men’s 77-kilogram
division.
Sa and Li both lifted a total of 366 kg (806.9 pounds), but Sa got
the win because of a lower body weight. Armenia’s Gevorg Davtyan took
the bronze, totaling 360 kg (793.7 pounds) in the two events.
China had previously won all six of the weight categories it had
participated in.
Sa was 3 kg (6.6 pounds) behind Li after lifting 163 kg (359.4 pounds)
in the snatch, but stunned the Chinese crowd by heaving 203 kg (447.5
pounds) in his second clean and jerk.
It was South Korea’s first gold in the weightlifting competition.
Liu’s performance, meanwhile, was the most impressive yet in the
weightlifting competition, which China has dominated from the start.
The Olympic host has won three gold medals for women and another
three for men in the sport, boosting its overall Olympic medal count.
Underscoring her superiority, Liu entered the snatch at 120 kg (264.6
pounds), 5 kg (11 pounds) higher than any of the other lifters had
managed in all three attempts.
After easily clearing that weight, she set new snatch world records
in her next two lifts, at 125 kg (275.6 pounds) and 128 kg (282.2
pounds), delighting the home crowd.
Even the third attempt looked easy. Instead of holding for a moment
in a squat like most lifters, Liu stood up as soon as she had pulled
the bar overhead. She took one small step with each foot and then
remained perfectly steady.
The lift was 5 kg (11 pounds) higher than Slivenko’s previous snatch
world record.
In the clean and jerk, Liu took 145 kg (319.7 pounds) in her first
try and 149 kg (328.5 pounds) in the second. At that point she already
had set a new world record total.
Backed by the chants of the Chinese audience, she then obliterated
Russian’s Zarema Kasaeva’s clean and jerk world record to cap a
perfect competition.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
