Men’s 94 kg: Kazakhstan’s first Beijing gold and at the same time the country’s first ever Olympic weightlifting gold medal
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Ilya Ilin (KAZ), winner of the 2006 WC was among the favorites to win the gold, along with Szymon Kołecki (POL), world record holder in clean and jerkl and Nizami Pashayev (AZE), the world champion in 2005. |
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| Pashayev did best among the lifters in the snatch, reaching 181kg after three attempts. Ilin gave up his third attempt after lifting 180kg to reserve some energy. Kołecki lifted 179kg. The 2008 Asian champion, Asghar Ebrahimi of Iran, also lifted 180kg.They were so close to each other nothing was sure about the final outcome. The real battle came in the clean and jerk. Pashayev surprisingly failed his first two attempts at 215kg. He eventually succeeded with his last trial, but his chance of winning had slipped away. On the other hand, world recorder holder Kołecki only lifted a conservative 217kg with his first attempt. |
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Ilin directly tried for 223kg with his first attempt but failed. His strategy forced Kołecki to increase his second attempt to 224kg. Both succeeded in their second attempts and tied at 403kg, but Ilin’s 0.09kg less body weight put him in first place. Under huge pressure, Kołecki changed his weight for the last attempt and let Ilin lift first. Ilin completed 226kg successfully, then Kołecki asked for 228kg, 4kg less then his world record, but he failed. Khadzhimurat Akkaev (RUS) started in group B only snatched176kg, but an excellent 223kg helped him handed him the bronze medal.
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| Kolecki POL | Akkaev RUS |
