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Cashing in Popova's earns big prize money with three record lifts
Updated: Saturday September 01, 2001 8:57 AM
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- Russian weightlifter Velentina Popova set three world records Saturday at the Goodwill Games in the women's 69-kilogram division -- in the snatch, the clean-and-jerk and the combined total. Popova lifted 113.5 kilograms to win the snatch, then lifted 143.5 kilograms in the clean-and-jerk about 45 minutes later for a combined total of 257 kilograms. China's Lin Weining set the previous mark for the total at 252.5 in March, 1999. Popova lifted 132.5 kilograms with her first attempt in the clean-and-jerk and then, after assuring gold for the total when the penultimate lifter could only match her in the clean-and-jerk, asked for 11 kilograms to be added to the bar for a shot at the world mark. Sun Tianni of China set the record for the clean-and-jerk at 143 kilograms in November 1999 at Athens. "I already had won. I wanted to aim for the world record and I didn't want to waste my energies," she said after setting the record with on her second lift and declining to take a third lift to improve on the record. The Olympic and world championship silver medalist earned bonuses of U.S. $25,000 each for the world records at the Goodwill Games, where athletes compete for prize money in each of 14 sports plus bonuses for producing world records. Popova said she was aiming to break the records at the Goodwill Games for the financial reward. She also won U.S. $2,000 for winning each category for total earnings of U.S. $81,000. Popova, a former gymnast who only turned to weightlifting after the birth of her daughter Ekaterine five years ago, is coached by her husband Sergei Popov. "In gymnastics there is very strong competition -- I couldn't do so well in gymnastics," she said. "I wanted to compete. I just love gymnastics and my husband." Her record in the snatch, when she improved on the 112.5 kilogram mark Erzsebet Markus of Hungary set at last year's Sydney Olympics, was the second of the Goodwill Games. Armenian-born Australian Sergo Chakhoyan set a world record in the men's 85-kilogram weightlifting division when he lifted 181.5 kilograms in the snatch. He also returned to win the clean-and-jerk with a best heave of 210 kilograms to claim three gold medals, including the total.
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