|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Strong showing China's Ding, Zhan win weightlifting goldPosted: Friday September 22, 2000 12:00 AMUpdated: Thursday November 09, 2000 11:36 AM
SYDNEY, Australia (CNNSI.com) -- By the time China's Zhan Xugang won his gold Friday, only three lifters were left in the men's "A" group at 77 kilograms (170 pounds), and all got medals. Expulsions, illnesses and injuries knocked out the others. China's Ding Meiyuan needed a world record to win her Olympic weightlifting gold medal.Ding won in the women's 75-kilogram-plus (165-pound) class after a duel with Poland's Agata Wrobel, the 19-year-old world junior champion, with the two women taking turns breaking records. Ding finally came out ahead by 11 pounds (5 kg), with a world record total of 661 1/4 pounds (300 kg). Cheryl Haworth, the 17-year-old high school senior who began lifting weights to build up her arm for softball, got the bronze while setting an American record. It was exactly the same order of finish as in the world championships last year.
Ding and Wrobel took turns breaking Chinese lifter Wang Yanmei's previous world record of 354 1/2 pounds in the clean and jerk before Ding hit her final lift of 363 3/4 pounds and Wrobel missed her lift -- for the gold medal -- of 373 3/4 pounds. "If she had made it that, I would have had a lot of regret," Ding said. Wrobel had never before lifted such a weight, but said, "It was for the gold medal. I had to try it." Ding, whose coach rubbed her ear lobes between lifts for encouragement, broke Wrobel's total lift record of 639 1/4 pounds set July 8 in Prague. Ding and Wrobel also each broke the snatch record before the Chinese lifter finished with 297 1/2 pounds. Wrobel put up 292 pounds, more than her previous record of 286 1/2 pounds also set in July. In the men's competition, Zhan became the favorite when top-ranked Zlatan Vanev and the rest of the Bulgarian team were expelled Friday after three Bulgarian medalists tested positive for drugs. Zhan had won gold in 1996 at 70 kilograms (154 pounds), but moved up to 77 kg (170 pounds) when the Olympics reshuffled weight classes. Zhan and Viktor Mitrou of Greece each had total lifts of 810 pounds (367.5 kg), but Zhan won because of lower body weight. He skipped his last lift after raising 457 1/4 pounds (207.5 kg) on the second of his possible three lifts in the clean and jerk. Mitrou had taken the lead by raising 446 1/4 pounds (202.5 kg) on his final lift. Arsen Melikyan of Armenia took the bronze at 804 1/2 pounds (365 kg), just 5 1/2 pounds (2.5 kg) more than the morning's "B" group leader, Sergei Filmonov of Kazakstan. The Bulgarian expulsion not only eliminated the favorite, it also took out third-ranked Plamen Zhelyakov. Saelem Nayef Badr, who won two gold medals in the world championships last year and was a threat to win the gold, and Nader Abbas, two Bulgarian-born Qatari lifters, sent word they could not compete because of "food poisoning" in the Olympic Village. There were no reports of any such intestinal problems until their former Bulgarian teammates were suspended. The expulsions and dropouts left only six in the "A" group. Then Mohammad Hossein Barkhah of Iran missed all three lifts in the snatch. In the clean and jerk, Dmytro Hnidenko of Ukraine dropped the bar on his left elbow in mid-lift and had to drop out. Ilirian Suli of Albania also skipped his final lift, apparently because of an injury. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
|
