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No myth

Greece's Dimas wins record-tying third Olympic gold

Pyrros Dimas is all smiles after winning his record-tying third gold medal. AP

SYDNEY, Australia (CNNSI.com) -- Pyrros Dimas' joins Naim Suleymanoglu, the Pocket Hercules from Turkey, as the only three-time Olympic weightlifting gold-winner.

A fan's poorly timed cheer shook his concentration and almost cost him the medal. Dimas, forced to make his third lift in the snatch just to stay in the competition after being unnerved by the fan, recovered from missing his first two lifts to win the gold medal at 187 1/4 pounds (85 kg) Saturday.

"I was nervous. There was a lot of pressure and stress on me to win the gold medal for my country," Dimas said. "But it wasn't the fault of the audience. I'm an experienced athlete, and I shouldn't be distracted like that."

Dimas lifted 473 3/4 pounds (215 kg) in the clean and jerk to take the lead, then watched as George Asanidze of Georgia missed at the same weight -- possibly costing him the gold.

Dimas would have had another lift if Asanidze had been successful. But after securing the gold, Dimas missed his attempt at the world-record weight, 481 pounds (218.5 kg), that he would have had to lift had Asanidze converted.

"But I think I could have lifted any kilos it would have taken to win the gold," Dimas said.

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Dimas, silver medalist Marc Huster of Germany and Asanidze all had total lifts of 859 3/4 pounds (390 kg), but Dimas won because of lowest body weight. He weighed 185 pounds (84.06 kg) to Huster's 185 1/2 pounds (84.22 kg) and Asanidze's 186 1/2 pounds (84.70 kg).

Remarkably, Dimas won in almost identical fashion in Barcelona in 1992. Then, the top three not only had the same totals but the same body weight. Dimas won by the second tie-breaker, as the first lifter to lift the weight.

Huster, bothered by a torn wrist ligament and a cramp in his leg, also was the silver medalist in Atlanta in 1996.

"I thought this might be my time, then it was Pyrros again," Huster said. "I thought this was my night to get the gold, but I am happy to get the silver."

Shahin Nasirinia, the Iranian lifter who upset Dimas in the 1999 world championships, injured an elbow on his first lift and could not continue.

The Greek fans who helped fill the Sydney Convention Center for the first time since weightlifting began Sept. 16 were one of Dimas' biggest advantages -- but, as it turned out, also his biggest disadvantage.

As Dimas, Greece's most popular athlete, stepped to the bar for his first lift (385 3/4 pounds, 175 kg) in the snatch, the crowd was unusually noisy. Several fans seemed to be competing with each other to be the last to give Dimas their encouragement and advice.

Just as Dimas began to lift, a fan sitting to the right of the podium yelled and a cell phone went off. A disrupted Dimas dropped the bar in disgust, looking angrily toward the direction of the crowd noise.

Apparently still upset with his first miss, Dimas then also missed his second attempt. That meant he had to make his third -- at 385 3/4 pounds (175 kg), the initial weight he planned to lift -- just to move on to the clean and jerk.

He made the lift cleanly and easily, pounding his chest and, it seemed, sighing in relief that he hadn't bombed out in the snatch as Suleymanoglu did in unsuccessfully trying for his fourth gold last week at 136 1/2 pounds (62 kg) Sunday.

"I felt very stressed and I felt I had to win the medal for my country," Dimas said. "I lost my concentration on the first lift. On the second, I was very anxious again and I missed it. On the third, I found myself and I did it."

Dimas, who is 29 and grew up in Albania before emigrating to Greece with his grandparents, hopes to win a fourth gold medal at home in Athens in 2004.

"I think Naim made a mistake that he stopped training and competing and I don't plan to do something like that," Dimas said. "I plan to continue competing ... and I believe I will win a fourth."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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