CHN Sets World Record; INA Snatches Bronze From B Session
CHN claimed its third gold medal and first World Record of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Wednesday after an exciting men’s 73kg session that produced the bronze medalist from the B group of the competition.
SHI Zhiyong (CHI) broke his World Record in total with 364kg, one kilogram more than the record he set at the 2019 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Pattaya, Thailand. That total also set new Olympic and Asian continental records. His 166kg snatch and 198kg clean & jerk Wednesday also set new Olympic Records.
“All I want for Olympics is just to break the record for myself for a long time,” SHI said. “I’m really grateful [for] the IOC and the Japanese government for having the Games.”
SHI, the 2016 Olympic Champion in the men’s 69kg category becomes the second weightlifter to win back-to-back Olympic titles in the men’s lightweight category, after Waldemar BASZANOWSKI (POL) did it in 1964 and 1968.
VEN’s MAYORA PERNIA Julio Ruben took home silver, with a 346kg total.
“I dedicate it to my children, to my daughter, to my wife, to my parents, to my father. It is very important and I know with their support I can go to Paris in 2024,” MAYORA PERNIA said.
MAYORA PERNIA’s silver medal was VEN’s first medal of these Olympic Games, and only their second Olympic medal ever in weightlifting. RUBIO Israel won bronze in the men’s 62kg category at the Olympic Games Athens 2004.
The biggest shocker of the day happened eight hours earlier in the men’s 73kg B session, where ABDULLAH Rahmat Erwin (INA) matched the Olympic Standard in clean & jerk with a 190kg lift on his final attempt. The lift gave ABDULLAH a 342kg total, which earned him a bronze medal. He returned to the Tokyo International Forum to receive his medal, his nation’s third in weightlifting at these Games.
“The only thing I do is just praying I can get one medal,” ABDULLAH said about watching the A session.
Thursday and Friday are rest days for Weightlifting. Action at the Tokyo International Forum returns Saturday with the men’s 81kg and 96kg categories.
