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)