Zhang Xiangxiang of China won the men’s 62kg weightlifting gold medal in Beijing while compatriot Chen Yanqing retained the women’s 58kg gold medal yesterday.
Zhang claimed the title with a best lift in the snatch of 143kg and followed with a 169kg first lift in the clean and jerk, which he improved on with a 176kg second heave for a total of 319kg.
Zhang failed to beat the 182kg world record of compatriot Le Maosheng when missing a final 184kg clean and jerk effort.
Colombian Diego Salazar won the silver medal with 305kg total while Triyatno of Indonesia took the bronze with 298kg.
Im Young-su, the world No. 2, continued his run of bad luck at the Olympics by failing to convert all three attempts at 168kg in the clean and jerk, in a repeat of the North Korean’s miserable outing in Athens four years ago
Taiwan’s Yang Sheng-hsiung (楊勝雄) ranked second in the men’s 62kg Group B with a total of 287kg but missed out on a place in the final.
Yang lifted 125kg and 130kg in the snatch but failed in his attempt at 134kg. In the clean and jerk he lifted 151kg and 157kg but failed at 163kg.
Chen struck gold after recovering from serious depression during which she said she repeatedly tried to quit.
The 29-year-old defending champion secured a total lift of 244kg, a new Olympic record; she also set a clean and jerk Olympic record with a best effort of 138kg. Russian Marina Shainova bagged the silver while O Jong-ae of North Korea won the bronze.
Chen later revealed she had gone through months of despair and had planned to quit the sport three times, only to be pressured by Chinese officials to soldier on.
“I went through a very low period in my life ... There was a period of five months when I stopped doing any training,” she said.
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