Russians shine at weightlifting championship

Russians shine at weightlifting championship

JAKARTA (JP): Russia has lived up to the Soviet Union's legacy in
weightlifting with a haul of five golds at the 20th junior world
weightlifting championships yesterday, which saw two more new
world records.

Russia's Alexei Petrov demonstrated his incredible strength in
a one-man show, scooping all three gold medals offered in the 91-
kilogram division in front of nearly 100 cheering female high
school students at Senayan tennis indoor stadium.

E. Sheshlannikov confirmed Russian rule when he snatched a new
world record of 180kgs on his way to winning two golds and a
bronze in the 99kg category.

The other world mark was set by Mario Kalinke of Germany who
lifted 212.5kgs in the clean and jerk for a gold. Kalinke added
his gold to a silver as he scored the second best total lift
behind his Russian foe.

The five golds helped Russia to take the overall lead from
China with 10 golds, three slivers and a bronze. China, which did
not field any lifters in the past two days, had nine golds, two
silvers and a bronze.

Petrov, 20, showed no hint of stress as he made three
successive snatch lifts -- starting from 165kgs -- while all his
closest rivals had given up at 157.5kgs. Petrov seized his first
gold with a snatch of 175kgs and failed to surpass the world mark
of 180kgs.

Muscular Petrov also had to wait for his real opponents in the
clean and jerk. He asked for 200kgs in his first attempt with
only Bulgarian Ilian Paspalov surviving. The Bulgarian equalized
Petrov's mark of 200kgs in his second attempt, but then was
forced to throw his towel when the Russian offered 210kgs.

Petrov maintained the pressure with his striking 210kg lift,
but opted not to go on with his third attempt weighing 212.5kgs,
just 7.5kgs away from the newly set world standard.

The massive total lift of 385kgs earned Petrov his third gold,
with Bulgarian Simeon Slamov finishing a distant second with
350kgs. Paspalov was awarded the bronze although he scored the
same as his teammate because Slamov's weight was 0.15kg lighter
than Paspalov's.

Slamov also took two bronzes as he lifted 157.5kgs in the
snatch, equal to that of Oleg Gavrich of Ukraine, and 192.5kgs in
the clean and jerk. Slamov was weighted 0.55kgs heavier than
Gravich.

Drought

With only a day left, new records, which usually prevail any
weightlifting meet, have been swept by a drought. As of
yesterday, only five new records were established in 24 events
contested in seven divisions. A total of 187 lifters from 38
countries entered the annual event.

Lazar Baroga, president of technical commission of the
International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), found the lack of
records to be a common phenomenon. "It, to the contrary, reveals
how serious and tough this sport is," he said.

He indicated that breaking world record is not the ultimate
goal in weightlifting. "All lifters always think of taking the
top honors first," the Rumanian IWF top official said. (amd)