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New and old Veteran men and debut of women highlight competition
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Women weightlifters and Turkey's "Pocket Hercules" are poised to make Olympic history. Female lifters already are guaranteed a spot in Olympic annals when they make their debut in Sydney. With the addition of a women's division, fewer men will compete and weight categories were reshuffled. That's fine with Naim Suleymanoglu, the 1.50-meter (4-foot-11) Bulgarian-born lifter dubbed the "Pocket Hercules." He will try for an unprecedented fourth Olympic gold medal without facing top rival Valeris Leonidis of Greece. Leonidis, who lost the gold to Suleymanoglu in Atlanta, will compete in the new 69-kilogram (152-pound) division. At 33, Suleymanoglu came out of retirement last year despite sore knees and the prospect of competing against much younger lifters. In April, he placed third in the European Championships in the 62-kilogram (137-pound) category behind Croatia's Nikolay Peshalov and Bulgaria's Sevdalin Minchev. But Mevhibe Pekmezci, head of the Turkish Weightlifting Federation, said Suleymanoglu was ft and ready to try for gold in Sydney. "Naim is still the old Naim," she said. "He'll make it." The limit of 250 weightlifters -- the cap for men alone in Atlanta -- was not raised with the addition of women. About 170 men and at least 70 women will compete in Sydney. "We had to cram the women into this number, which was already low," said Aniko Nemeth, press representative at the International Weightlifting Federation. Men's weight classes were reduced to eight from 10 and "very, very strict qualification rules" were enforced for contenders, Nemeth said. Although the new weight divisions guarantee that Olympic records will be set, attention as usual is focused on the over-105 kilogram (231-pound) super heavyweight category. The favorite is 181-kilogram (400-pound) Russian Andrei Chemerkin, commonly called "the strongest man in the world." At the other end of the weight spectrum, Turkey's Halil Mutlu faces will try to repeat as gold medalist in the 56-kilogram (123-pound) category despite a challenge from a strong Chinese team. Bidding for their third gold medals are Grecian lifters Pyrros Dimas in the 85-kilogram (187-pound) division and Akakios Kakiashvilis in the 94-kilogram (207-pound) category. In women's competition, China is expected to dominate many of the seven categories, with the toughest competition coming from Eastern European lifters. Among the favorites are Bulgaria's Donka Mincheva in the lightweight division and Poland's 19-year-old super heavyweight Agata Wrobel, who set the world record during the European Championship this year. Despite the strength of the Turkish men's team, its female athletes won't be present in Sydney. A doping scandal prevented them from entering the European and world championships needed to qualify for the games. Federation spokeswoman Nemeth said the doping will be strictly controlled at Sydney. "We cover all aspects of the doping fight and our rates of positives are below the international average," she said. "No Olympian will go to Sydney uncontrolled beforehand."
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