|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Great Greek Kakiasvilis wins third gold medalPosted: Sunday September 24, 2000 7:35 AMUpdated: Thursday November 09, 2000 11:23 AM
SYDNEY, Australia (CNNSI.com) -- Kakhi Kakiasvilis won his third Olympic weightlifting gold medal Sunday. Kakiasvilis needed only one attempt in the clean and jerk to win in the 207-pound (94 kilograms) weight class. Kakiasvilis, who emigrated to Greece after winning in 1992, became the second Greek in as many nights to join Naim "Pocket Hercules" Suleymanoglu of Turkey as a three-time gold medalist. Pyrros Dimas won Saturday at 187 1/4 pounds (85 kg). "It is a great dream to have won three, because so many other great lifters got only two," Kakiasvilis said. Dimas and Kakiasvilis each will try for a record fourth gold, with the home-country advantage, in Athens in 2004. "I'm very happy with three, but my life is sports and I want to continue," Kakiasvilis said. Kakiasvilis, trailing by five pounds after the snatch, lifted 485 pounds (220 kg) on his first and only attempt in the clean and jerk, then watched the rest of the field fail to overtake him.
Szymon Kolecki, the 19-year-old world junior champion from Poland, could have taken the lead by five pounds, but was forced to pass up an attempt at 507 pounds (230 kg) because of a shoulder injury. At that point, Kakiasvilis had two lifts left to overtake him. Kakiasvilis and Kolecki each lifted total weights of 892 3/4 pounds (405 kg), but the 31-year-old Kakiasvilis had a lower body weight. Alexei Petrov of Russia raised 887 1/4 pounds (402.5 kg) for the bronze medal. Kolecki, who will move up to 105 kg next year, appeared distraught that he couldn't try the lift and took off his silver medal when he received it. "I'm definitely disappointed because, judging by the performance of the other competitors, I could have done better," Kolecki said. "I think it was the shoulder injury that was the reason." Kakiasvilis, recovering from a rotator cuff injury since last year's world championships, also had shoulder pain and doesn't know if he could have made another lift if Kolecki had been successful. "It would have been a risk for me to have attempted it, but I would have attempted it," he said. Kouroush Bagheri, an Iranian who preceded several lifts with an incantation before apparently being cautioned by his coach to stop, led after the snatch. But he lost his chance to win when he missed twice at 485 pounds (220 kg) in the clean and jerk after raising 473 3/4 pounds (215 kg). Kakiasvilis usually is better in the clean and jerk than the snatch, and trailing by only five pounds going into the second round of lifting put him in a good position to win. Like Dimas, Kakiasvilis was cheered on by a throng of flag-waving Greek fans. But because a fan's inappropriate cheer led to the colorful, crowd-pleasing Dimas missing a key lift Saturday, his rooters were much more subdued. Dimas is unusually expressive and emotional for a weightlifter, often playing to the crowd when he hits a lift or appealing for support when he misses. Kakiasvilis is less colorful and, probably as a result, less popular in Greece. Coincidentally or not, the country is not the homeland of either. Dimas was born in Albania, but emigrated to Greece with his grandparents. Kakiasvilis was born in Georgia and won his first gold medal in 1992 for the Commonwealth of Independent States. Soon after, he discovered his mother and grandmother were born in Greece and agreed to relocate there. His first name is Akakios, but he is known as Kakhi. Kakiasvilis, last year's world champion, has bounced all over weightlifting's ever-shifting map of weight classes to win in the Olympics. He won at 198 1/4 pounds in 1992, jumped to 218 pounds (99 kg) in 1996, then dropped to 207 for Sydney. Kakiasvilis' victory in 1992 was one of the most dramatic in the Olympics. He trailed by 22 pounds going into his last lift, made a world-record lift to tie and won by virtue of lower body weight. Kakiasvilis also had to make a world-record lift on his final attempt in the clean and jerk in 1996 to overtake Anatoly Khrapaty of Kazakstan. Suleymanoglu came out of a three-year retirement last week to try for a record fourth gold medal, but failed to make a single lift. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
|
