Lisa lifts RI to first medal

Lisa lifts RI to first medal

Agencies
Athens

Raema Lisa Rumbewas made history on Sunday by becoming the
first Indonesian woman to win a medal at consecutive Games,
taking the silver with a 210.5 kg total and adding it to the 48
kg silver she won in Sydney.

Weightlifter Udomporn Polsak of Thailand won the gold medal,
topping the 53 kg weight class.

Polsak added the Olympic crown to the world championship she
captured last year by hoisting 97.5 kg in the snatch and 125.0 kg
with her final attempt in the clean and jerk for a total of 222.5
kg.

Mabel Mosquera of Colombia took the bronze with 197.5 kg.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Olympic swimming competition opened
with a bang with world records from Michael Phelps and the
Australian women's 4x100m freestyle relay team.

Phelps set the standard in the first medal race of the
evening, taking gold in the 400m medley in a time of 4 minutes
8.26 seconds, bettering his previous mark of 4:09.09 minutes set
in July 2003.

Compatriot Eric Vendt took silver in 4:11.81 with Hungary's
Laszlo Cseh winning bronze in 4:12.15.

The 19-year-old Phelps, who is hoping to eclipse Mark Spitz's
record of seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics, secured
the first of a possible eight golds with consummate ease, even
though he admitted pre-race nerves meant he endured a sleepless
night.

"The whole day I was thinking about the race," said Phelps,
who will most likely have his next opportunity for gold Sunday if
he is selected the 4x100m freestyle relay.

"I didn't sleep last night and I just swam as fast as I
could," said the 1.93-meter teenager.

Apart from almost definitely being part of the three U.S.
relay teams, Phelps is also due to compete in the 100m and 200m
butterfly, 200m medley and 200m freestyle, where he will come up
against Thorpe in one of the most anticipated showdowns of the
Olympics.

The Australian women's 4x100m medley relay team accounted for
the second world record of the evening as Alice Mills, Libby
Lenton, Petria Thomas and Jodie Henry won gold in 3 minutes 35.94
seconds, beating the previous record of 3:36.00 set by Germany in
July 2002.

"That was fun. I'm not hurting all now," said Henry, who swam
the final leg.

The United States took silver in a time of 3:36.39 minutes
while the Netherlands held off Germany to take bronze in 3:37.59.

Also on Saturday, Weightlifter Nurcan Taylan became the first
Turkish woman to win Olympic gold, setting a world record with a
knee-buckling flyweight victory.

Lifting more than twice her own weight, Taylan combined a
world record of 97.5 kg in the snatch and a trembling 112.5 kg
lift in the clean and jerk for a new world record total of 210 kg
to take gold in the 48 kg class.

The 20-year-old also ended China's domination of women's
weightlifting as Li Zhuo settled for silver with a total of 205
kg while Thailand's Aree Wiratthoworn took the bronze.

"Naturally it makes me happy, it is the first victory for a
woman and I dedicate it to the Turkish nation," said Taylan,
whose snatch added a hefty 4 kg to Li's previous world record.

"I stopped the time. It was too long without a gold medal."

Turkish officials said Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had
called with congratulations and Taylan had been rewarded with a
bounty in gold coins worth some US$400,000.