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105 kg: Russian Top Guns Faultless

In the presence of former two times Olympic Champion (1996, 2000) and four times World Champion judoka M. David Douillet, Sports Minister of France men's 105kg category has once again seen a fierce competition after the two Russian teammates fought with each other to win the gold medal. But finally Khadzhimurat Akkaev could win three gold medals of this category. The Dome was full again and many had to fall back on sitting in the lobby area and watching the competition on giant beamer only.All through the competitions, the Russian competitors, Akkaev and Dmitry Klokov bewildered the audience with their great performances, as they both made three-three correct lifts, and proved themselves to be the strongest athletes in the 105kg bodyweight category. The end of the competition in both Snatch and Clean and Jerk were completely unpredictable as the last three lifters, the two Russian and Ukraine's Oleksiy Torokhtiy, kept increasing their weights. Akkaev, who was 2011 European Champion, demonstrated himself as the strongest man in 105kg category, with an overall of 430kg, 198 in Snatch and 232 in Clean and Jerk. His last attempt in Snatch was only 2kg lower than the world record of 200kg formerly set by Belarus's Andrei Aramnau in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics. After his teammate Klokov finished Clean and Jerk with 232kg, Akkaev disappointed his fans as he also lifted ‘only' 232kg. Klokov, 2010 European Champion, once again came in second as he also won silver in 2010 World Champion and 2008 Beijing Olympics. He ended Paris 2011 World Championships with an overall of 428kg, 196 in Snatch and 232 in Clean and Jerk. World Champion's third icon was Ukraine's Oleksiy Torokhtiy who was experiencing his first World Championships, but his great jerks raised the audience to their feet. He ended the competition with a Total of 410kg, 181 in the Snatch and 229 in the Clean and Jerk. Georgia's Gia Machavariani also made 6 correct lifts and won bronze medal in the Snatch with 187kg. The weightlifting fans will definitely witness much more demanding competition in London as these four competitors promised to perform even on a higher level in the coming Olympic Games. Men's 105kg Press Conference: Speaking at press conference, Russian silver medallist Dmitry Klokov told the reporters that he had not been on the same club with Akkaev, as they live in different cities and train in different gyms. Right before the competitions the coach gathers them and they train together while they are staying in the National Team's camps. Dmitry also added it was the first championships that they were competing with each other, and that they know each other for ten years. He stressed that during training sessions he made better performances, including 200 in Snatch and 240 in Clean and Jerk. Being asked whether the two were friends and would celebrate their victories with each other, Russian world champion Akkaev said they are only "partners" and not friends, and that each is going to celebrate with the group that accompanied them for the IWF 2011 World Weightlifting Championships Paris. When asked if they had fan clubs, the gold medalist said he did not have official fan club but has been the subject of discussions in internet. Silver medalist said his family was his fan club. Ukraine's bronze medallist Oleksiy Torokhtiy also considered his family, friends and coaches as his fan club. Torokhtiy said 2011 Paris two bronze medals were his first medals at a World Championships and that he was very happy to compete

Ele Opeloge has medal dreams

Samoa has never had a medal at World Championships. Beijing Olympics fourth placed Ole Opeloge thinks it is really high time to open a new chapter and she expects medal today in women +75kg competition. Her personal best is 130kg Snatch, 165kg Clean and Jerk. She hopes to improve these results and aim at 300kg in Paris. She feels herself strong enough to achieve her goal. As she said her preparation was undisturbed during the trainings she had in Samoa. Her family helped her a lot to focus on her great task. The family works hard at a banana plantation and they live on this work. Finally Ele added she likes eating and her favorites are salmon, chicken and a local vegetable of Samoa, taro she misses very much here in Paris. As Ele Opeloge's plans mentioned she aims at Olympic participation and Commonwealth Games with her medals.

Ilyin : What a come back

94kg group A had a remarkable line up with the Olympic Champion Ilyin, all three medallists of Antalya World Championships, 2011 European and 2011 Asian Champion, additionally the current Junior World Champion. There was one significant lifter of the category missing, Sedov (KAZ) World Champion of 2009 who moved up to 105kg division. Kazakh team leaders replaced him by Uteshov who had a memorable debut by all Snatch attempts missed. Calancea (ROU) was the oldest of all (31 years old) while youngest Mohammadpour (IRI) stepped over 18 this year.After three years of absence Ilyin was very happy to come back however he docked just on the fifth place after Snatch. Ivanov (UKR) and Ivanov (RUS) looked to decide the fate of the first positions. The Russian lifter could not make a mistake ending Snatch at 186kg. Artem Ivanov and his coaches were clever enough not to get into trouble by risking 187kg. 186kg and the second rank made them satisfied. Korean Kim showed super power and could have riffled it all. He was challenged by 187kg. First place or third place? Hope of gold made him hungry; he was just 1kg away from Kakhiasvili's World Record. The record holder was sitting in the audience and he had to realize the time is close when one of these athletes will be sharp enough to wipe his name from the list of current records. In Clean and Jerk Nurudinov (UZB) failed with 225kg but had a good position with his 221kg also as he was the lightest among favorites. Not counting of course Ilyin who moved from 221 to 226kg at his second attempt. Non stop pressure characterized this competition. Regarding just the last attempts of the top 12 lifters Mohammadpour's 221kg was the only successful one. Artem Ivanov had one chance to take the lead as he needed 227kg. It could have meant 413kg Total, a new World Record, but Kakhiasvili's peak achievement still resisted. However he dropped his last attempt Ilyin became a World Champion due to his lighter body weight (407kg). He needed only four successful attempts to achieve his goal and return from his treacle sleep. There was nobody, known or unknown, in the warm up area he did not kiss expressing his emotions. Out of the 15 Beijing Olympic Champions he is the only one who had been crowned after three years time again.There are two more interesting statistics: six nations were represented at medal ceremonies and among the top 13 lifters 10 came from the territory of so called ex Soviet Union. Men's 94kg Press Conference: Over 40 weightlifters fought to capture the gold medals at men's 94kg weight class, however Kazakhstan's Olympic and World Champion title holder, Ilya Ilyin, could finally win two gold medals at this category. Attending the press conference, Kazakh gold medallist was asked why he did not take part in World Championships in 2009 and 2010. He explained that after 2008 Beijing Olympics he had injuries therefore he decided to take 2009 off and spent his time doing leisure activities such as reading books. And in 2010 he competed at Asian Games but again due to his serious injuries he could not participate in the Antalya World Championships. Ilyin stressed that he would make better performances in the coming Olympic Games, promising to break the World Record and accordingly collect the gold medals.Regarding the referees' decision not to accept his third attempt in the Snatch, Ilyin said that was what the referees decided and he had to accept the decision.He later added that his result at the Paris 2011 Xorl Weightlifting Championships was the top of his capacity for the time being. Ukraine's silver medallist Artem Ivanov, expressed his gratitude to his family and friends. Saying he could not manage the competition as he wanted because when he was doing the Snatch his back hurt. Iran's bronze medallist Saeed Mohammadpour Karkaragh, also present at the Press Conference, declared that he has been in Iran's national camp for 10 months and considered the continuous trainings and the camps' discipline as the key to his success. Adding he also had enough motivation to participate in the World Championships and win medals at the age of 18 as a junior weightlifter.

Hein Verbruggen: The IWF should face the problem of headcount

Hein Verbruggen was re-elected for another four-year term as President of SportAccord this April in London. He was among the VIP guests of the IWF who visited the competition and presented medals to the winners. Q: What was the reason of your "just a day long" trip to Paris? A: You know I travel a lot, recently I was at the rugby World Cup in New Zealand, than I visited korfball World Championships in China and now I am here. What I really want to do is obviously observing how it goes with weightlifting a year before the Games. I appreciate enormously that I am able to attend the World Championships where I found enthusiastic public, high level competition and really amazing atmosphere. I must add these championships are pretty well presented on television as well. Q: How can SportAccord support the so called smaller sports compared to soccer, track and field, swimming, etc.? A: Swimming, cycling, running these are basic things that everyday people do very often. What about the specialized sports? They are bounded to certain groups of countries, like weightlifting is very popular in many Asian and Eastern European countries. The IWF has the challenge to make the sport more and more popular outside these basic areas as well. I like to help this work very much. We study what we can do to promote this sport. We offer to the Federations YouTube to promote their sport, they can deliver us the footage and we put it on the internet. It is important there is diversification in sports and in this respect we will continue to help all Federations. If there is a sport recognized by us there is no difference between them. So there we go. Q: Let us talk focusing on weightlifting. This sport is led by Dr. Tamás Aján, IWF President since 2000. He introduced lot of novelties and his wish for further development is obvious. What future do you predict to weightlifting? A: Asking question about Tamás Aján it automatically leads you to answer: you have to give this man an enormous credit for what he does for weightlifting for a long time. He is a good friend, very straightforward, decent person who was elected president of the IWF 11 years ago.You know, sport has also to be modernized. A huge number of lifters are here giving a big challenge for the organizers. It is difficult to find cities or regions which can handle so many athletes. The IWF has perhaps found the solution for that - to be a little bit more restrictive. It is difficult to get to this point. It is a hard job to find cities especially in the Western Hemisphere with all the financial resources to organize an event of such magnitude. I think the IWF must face the problem of headcount

Night of celebration and more surprises

On the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the First World War ends. At that morning, Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France. France remembered this historical day. Many French celebrated the victory on a special way 93 years later. Weightlifting Dome was overcrowded and after the beginning of 85 kg Group A competition there was not a single seat available. There was quite a good turnout due to 'Benji' Hennequin representing France. It was not difficult to warm up proud local audience when the song associated with French soccer's victory as a world champion was played. The atmosphere in and out of the hall was elementary. The field was decorated with fantastic lifters, six out of the world ranking list top ten were present. Olympic, World and Asian champion Lu (CHN), title holder Zielinski (POL), junior world champion Rostami (IRI), Pan American champion Hernandez (CUB) all were ready to fight for medals and for Olympic slots. We had a very interesting snatch competition as Rybakov (BLR) achieved 178 kg some time earlier in group B and all members of group A were chasing his top result. With no success. However the competition showed really a high standard as all the athletes with one exception were successful by their first attempt. It was the case with Chinese Lu as well (170 kg). Later his experience could not help him and he finished snatch with only one correct attempt. Zielinski had his 174 KG AND Rostami his 173 kg to get medals behind Rybakov. It was embarrassing to see how Lu was suffering with 205 kg however he won Beijing Olympics with 214 kg clean and jerk. Finally he was eliminated. Who DOES remember when a Chinese lifter was not able to close a competition with a total result? While Lu was disillusioned on the other hand Hennequin was really fascinating as he failed just at his last attempt (210 kg) One surprise followed the other. Zielinski could not perform well. He remained on 202 kg and came down from the medal podium in clean and jerk. Young Iranian started well and he had to opportunities to break (219 kg) the World Record. He was jumping from 209 kg to 219 kg. His opening attempt was enough to win gold in Clean and Jerk and in Total. Home supported Hennequin gained double silver. The bronze went to Cuban Hernandez in Clean and Jerk, while Zielinski grabbed the bronze in total. Men's 85kg Press Conference Men's 85kg category finally ended with Iranian weightlifter Kianoush Rostami winning two gold medals in Clean and Jerk and Total and a bronze medal in Snatch.Speaking at the Press Conference, the Iranian gold medallist expressed his satisfaction over the results, adding only setting new World Record could make him happy at this competition. When being asked what he shouting before lifting the weights, Kianoush said he was from a western city of Kermanshah where people speak Kurdish, and when lifting the weights he always say the same phrase by which he is asking for help from God. The gold medallist stressed that he has started weightlifting in 2002, and has had continuous trainings with different coaches. He said he wanted to perform better at 85kg weight class, but as he had injuries in his knee and elbow he could not perform as he had planned.Iran's first medalist at the 2011 IWF World Championships in Paris hopes his teammates will also perform as good as he did. Adding: "Behdad Salimi, our superheavy man, is our great hope and hopefully will set new World Record at this competition, and also Saeid Mohammadpour Karkarach, 94kg weightlifter, is also very much ready to perform well." Expressing his gratitude to the Iranian Weightlifting Federation and his coaches, Kianoush promised to break the World Record at the coming Olympic Games.French Silver Medalist Benjamin Hennquin also said he was very happy with his results, as it was his personal best record. He formerly Snatched 165kg, Clean and Jerked 208kg with 373kg as his Total. He declared he was very thankful for the great support of the crowd and also the French Weightlifting Federation.Poland's bronze medalist Adrian Zielinski also attended the press conference; he was very disappointed with his result, since Paris 2011 Championships was very important for him. Adding he learnt a lot from this contest and he would prepare himself much better for the London

Australian Malek Chamoun is the first blind lifter to compete at the world championships

Chamoun was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at the age of seven and by 15 was declared legally blind. Today he must use a cane to get around. Fort the first time he started at the Worlds in Paris last night in 85 kg division. 'It was good, I got the total but it was not my best day yesterday' he said.' Feeling a little bit tired because of the long flight trip. This is the biggest competition in my life ever. The atmosphere was nice; I heard there was a big crowd. I enjoyed very much to know I am together with the best of the world. The motivation to my last lift was enormous as I really wanted to have a total. I can praise the good atmosphere here, lot of people, lot of champions around me, even the ex-champions, coaching now. I met Pyrros Dimas, David Rigert. We took a photo with them. It is always good to be around these people.' "My dad guides me right up to the edge of the platform," Chamoun said. 'He was disappointed as he can do more he had here yesterday' his father George added. He had no energy for some reason. His personal best is 319 kg but last night we had only 305 on the scoreboard.'Yet with George, a former Australian weightlifting representative, as his coach and with mother Rita supporting on the home front, Malek took up weightlifting at age 12. "I learnt the lifts by feel. I use my other senses. Balance is an issue I seem to have worked out. I can see the weights, but not properly," Chamoun said. "If there are several red plates they blend into each other. I can see a blur of a bar.' 'I hope I may become the first blind weightlifter to compete in the Olympics. However it is not an easy task as only one representative will go to London representing Australia. If I will improve ten kg on my total I think I will be the one to make it. I think 325-330 will make the Games. My dream is to be there with my whole family behind me. When I was a child I wanted to win Olympic gold, but as I grew up I understood what I could do and to be there is good enough for me now. My main goal is to win at Commonwealth Games and make Olympics.' So on five days every week, morning and again in the afternoon, Chamoun lifts under the watch of his father. And they will continue to work together until the final moment before Malek competes. 'People are over excited with his disability, many can not anticipate he lifts weights, his father explains. ‘I have to be with him full time get his food, take him to venues. Her mother did not come with us as she is very busy with our other three kids. ' 'I called my mother just after my last lift and she said how proud she is. She does a lot for me outside, helping me food, taking me to school, I can relax at home. I am doing a sports massage therapist course and I finish by the end of this year and my mother helps me with my homework. I always want to be involved in weightlifting somehow, after my career as a competitive