Deng Wei won gold medal with clean and jerk, total world records.
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Chinese weightlifter Deng Wei won Olympic gold in the women’s 63kg category with a world record Tuesday after Taiwanese rival Lin Tzu-chi pulled out amid reports of a failed dope test.
Lin, who set the world record total of 261kg in winning the 2014 Asian title, was withdrawn by Taiwan’s Olympic committee and then lost her world record when Deng Wei managed 262kg.
Choe Hyo Sim of North Korea took silver and Karina Goricheva of Kazakhstan earned bronze.
“When I woke up this morning, I felt nervous, because it was my first Olympic Games”.
Despite taking an early lead, weightlifter Kim Myong Hyok – a veteran of the 2012 London Olympics – failed to properly complete any of his clean and jerk lifts in the Men’s 69kg event and therefore did not officially rank.
Tuesday’s gold gives her five career Olympic gold medals in five career events, evening her with countrywoman Wu Minxia for the most diving golds won by an individual in Olympics history.
Deng, 23, said she hadn’t been at all surprised by her record-breaking lift. Defending champion Maiya Maneza of Kazakhstan missed the Olympics after failing a drug test, while two of the top four from last year’s world championships were also out for doping-related reasons. “I have been targeting a gold medal for a long time, so I am very happy with this”, Deng added.
Deng said: “I’m very excited and thrilled to win this medal”. “Who knows? Being fourth is the best because if something happens, I’ll just climb on that podium”. “I would like to dedicate this medal to my team and coaches who give me confidence, love, courage and support”, Shi said. The 22-year-old Choe said.
Izzat Artykov of Kyrgyzstan won bronze.
Two of the sport’s superpowers, Russian Federation and Bulgaria, were kicked out of weightlifting at the Rio de Janeiro Games entirely after repeated doping cases.
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Results from the past are also in danger because of advances in testing.
