Deng Wei of China won the gold with a world record total of 262kg.
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Gold medalists athletes of the United States of America (C), silver medalists athletes of Russian Federation (R) and bronze medalists athletes of China attend the awarding ceremony of women’s team final of Artistic Gymnasitcs at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 9, 2016.
In the 63kg weightlifting competition, the action got pretty dramatic on Tuesday afternoon. Hua Tian was the first to ever represent China in the event when he competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Deng won the women’s 63-kilogram category, setting a world record total of 262 kilograms.
Taiwan’s Lin was widely regarded the favourite ahead of the Olympics after her world-record combined lift of 261kg at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
“Because this is my first Olympic Games, I was quite nervous”, Deng said.
On the men’s side, China’s Shi Zhiyong would come out on top in the 69 kilogram division.
Deng, world champion in the 63kg class for the past two years, lifted 262kg in total to set a new milestone. She broke her own clean & jerk world record from Houston (146kg) by successfully lifting 147kg on her second attempt.
Choe Hyo Sim of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, bronze medalist at the world championships in 2015, clinched the silver medal at 248kg while Karina Goricheva of Kazakhstan, third in 2015 world ranking, grabbed the bronze at 243kg. “I am very excited and very thrilled to win this medal”. “I am not happy with the result”.
“I haven t heard anything about reports of her failing a dope test”. “Who knows? Being fourth is the best because if something happens, I’ll just climb on that podium”.
It’s been an up and down Olympics for Chinese weightlifters, with several high-profile bombouts to go with gold medal winners.
“‘You must deserve this name, respect this name, ‘” Shi said he was told. “I have had too many injuries I have felt that I could not carry on any more”, Chen said. “It really motivated me more”.
Kazakhstan’s involvement in the weightlifting had been in major doubt in the run-up to the Games due to a number of high-profile positive doping cases.
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Other top contenders were also absent because of doping.
