Iran’s Kianoush Rostami won Olympic gold in the -85kg weightlifting, lifting a world record combined total of 396kg.
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China’s Tian Tao – seen by many as an ultra-talented but somewhat inconsistent lifter – took silver after making only his last attempts in both the snatch and clean & jerk. The previous world record was 395 kilograms and was set by Rostami in May 2016. And he broke his own total world record by 1kg to do so.
Rostami later jumped onto the podium to receive his gold medal as a boisterous band of supporters, who had cheered him on all night, chanted and waved Iranian flags. He won bronze in the same weight class in London.
“We’ve sometimes had problems in the past with Iranian coaches”.
Kianoush Rostami knelt and kissed the platform before adopting a position of prayer after his lift of 217 kilograms in the clean and jerk. Gabriel Sincraian secured bronze for Romania.
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“I haven’t done six out of six for ten years”, he told reporters afterwards, adding: “I wanted to get a medal”.
