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Russian sandwich with Chinese flavor in the middle

Xiang Yanmei this year's 75 kg Asian Champion moved to 69 kg to fight against a very strong Russian duo. The junior lifter performed well with three correct attempts finishing snatch at 116 kg. This weight made Huang (TPE) unworried as well. After six years absence the 36 years old athlete returned with a bronze medal. Last year's World Championship bronze medalist Daluzyan (ARM) had no correct attempt and she had to pack and leave instead of preparing for clean and jerk. After her successful participation with three gold medals during the last three European Championships Russian Oxana Slivenko wanted to win her third World Championships gold medal as well. Before the last attempt the question was open who would own gold, silver and bronze medal. Finally Slivenko was taking the gold with 118 kg. The other Russian lady Matveeva was far behind her by 8 kg ranked fourth. Not too many thought another Matveeva appeared in clean and clerk. After reaching fourth place in the snatch she took revenge in clean and jerk. She was able to catch position number three after her143 kg in clean and jerk. Huang missed her last attempt (140 kg) and at the same time she missed her third position and had to be satisfied with her rank number four. 69 kg ended up being a fierce competition for top honors. Xiang jumped 8 kg for her second clean and jerk exercise and the 19 years old athlete took over the lead. At this time the competition was nothing else just the battle of stategies. Slivenko regained her leading position by 148 kg. 151 kg was needed to win. 19 years old Xiang tried but she was not able to handle 151 kg in clean and jerk. For her first appearance at World championship she was good for a silver medal. Slivenko became World Champion for the third time after 2006 and 2007. Women's 69kg Press Conference Women's 69kg weight class faced a demanding competition as several universal icons had competed at this category, but finally Russia's Oxana Slivenko could select three gold medals. Attending the press conference, when Oxana was asked if she had planned to set new world record as she did great performances, she said although she really wanted to do so, the current world records in both clean and jerk and snatch was very high. Adding she would do her best to beat the records in Olympic Games, despite the fact that she did not like to say anything in advance and that time would reveal everything. Oxana also said that she has been training with the Russian bronze medalist Tatiana Matveeva since 2001 and have been both members of national team for ten years.Asked if she knew her young Chinese competitor, Oxana declared her attitude to each competitor was very positive, and doesn't regard them as her rivals but colleagues. The Chinese competitor was very young and achieved very good results, but added her real competitors were Armenia's Meline Daluzyan, Tatiana and like every competition Chinese athletes. Praised for her nice hair style, Oxana said it was not just a style for competition; she usually did it as it was very comfortable and nice. Chinese silver medalist Yanmei Xiang congratulated her Russian friends and said she would do her best to be qualified to participate in the Olympic Games. Yanmei who could not clean and jerk 151kg to win gold medal, declared she had formerly elevated 151kg overhead in training sessions. She revealed that she had to change her category from 75kg, in which she was Asian Championships gold medallist, to 69 kg due to her body weight, and to guarantee she would select medals. Yanmei then added she might beat the world junior record in clean and jerk in short time.Meanwhile she could not provide the curious journalists with reasonable answer over the time of China's national competitions to choose the Olympic competitors. Saying the time has not been yet decided. Russia's bronze medalist Tatiana Matveeva, also at the conference, said snatch was not her strong point, and after the competition for snatch she was quite sure she would get the bronze medal.

Famous Ghani Yalouz visit to weightlifting Dome

Among President Jean Paul Bulgaridhes' guests there are many famous persons come to enjoy weightlifting competitions. Yesterday it was a full house not only on the stands but in the VIP zone as well. Among France's most well known faces we could find one of the most known French sportsmen Ghani Yalouz. This very successful wrestler had two European Championships title and an Olympic silver medal besides his other great results.Nowadays he works as the Technical Director of French track and field sport. "I was very happy to come to Disneyland as this world championship is really a great sport festival, as magical as Disneyland is. I consider weightlifting a basic sport of all, like athletics and we always respect strength. As an active athlete I used to lift a lot. Today I prefer golf instead of struggling the weights. It is really a very hard work and the idea of raising my hat to all strong athletes brought me here" - he said. Q: What is your impression on the competition? A: I think the atmosphere is great. I love people supporting lifters by all possible ways. I think the audience is very satisfied with this event. They enjoy the outstanding battles of the top lifters on their way to be qualified to London. I wish France was organizing the world championship not only in every 30 years. Last time we had this great caliber event in Lille in 1981. We had fantastic lifters at that time let us name just Senet. His successor Dabaya however could not perform well in the Dome will do better next

20 years old Tang was unbeatable

Three brilliant athletes dominated the field in snatch. There was no weight too much for Tang Deshang (China) who had all his attempts without mistake. At his last appearance he snatched 155 kg. He was very fast and confident. Russian Chen this year's European Champion wanted to be more powerful but he failed at 159 kg, by his last trial and he had to content himself with 156 kg. He lost an opportunity for the gold as Mete Binay, the title holder did better with 157 kg. It is important to notice that Binay felt himself in excellent condition taking a risk when he asked for 166 kg. Markov' world record (165 kg) has been untouched since 2000.Binay wanted to jump 9 kg. The question was so simple he closed the first session by 1 kg or 10 kg advantage. 1 kg has remained. In clean and jerk Chen had the same route to run, could not go further than 180 kg. There were two lifters of Group B passing him, Kingue Matam (France 181 kg) and Won Jeongsik (KOR) who reached the podium by his 182 kg clean and jerk. Binay was able to produce only 177 kg ranked him only fourth in total. It was due not just to him but to Wu Chao as well. 19 years old Chinese lifter coming from the dark was faultless in clean and jerk (185 kg) and secured the bronze in total one kg behind Russian Chen (336 KG) who looked tired by the end of the day and missed his last attempt. These two Chinese juniors had a nice battle for the gold in clean and jerk and it was cleared Tang was unbeatable this evening. 20 years old newcomer celebrated his very first victory at big competition. He showed everybody the way how to register six correct lifts ending 341 kg in total. Men's 69kg Press Conference Over 40 weightlifters competed in Men's 69kg category and finally Chinese Deshang Tang selected two gold and one bronze medals. Speaking at the press conference, the Chinese world champion Deshang Tang said he started weightlifting in 2001. Deshang declared he competed many times with his teammate Wu Chao, and each of them had won equally. Chinese bronze medalist Wu Chao who competed very closely with his gold medalist team mate, said he was born into a four-member family and has begun this sport in 2001.He then highlighted that his snatch was not that strong and in order to be selected for the Olympic Games he has to improve it. And that due to his coach's plan he will work harder on his snatch. Being asked why he elevated 185kg over head and not 186 to win the gold medal in clean and jerk and silver medal in total, Wu Chao said he did not have confidence in 186, and that's why he asked for 185 to make sure he would be among the medallists. Russia's silver medalist Oleg Chen said he was born in Kazakhstan and has started weightlifting since he was eight years old and had his first major competition at 18. Adding he now lives in Moscow and studies law, and has always had wanted to come to Disney land, and now not only his dream came true but also he won medals at Disneyland. Audience expressed their congratulation after Oleg said he will marry on November 25, and that he decided to bring his future children to enjoy the beauty of Disneyland. When asked why he left Kazakhstan for Russia, Oleg described that his father came from Korea and his mother from Russia, but they married in Kazakhstan as they were working there, and moved to Russia when he was a child as they had found jobs in Moscow. Vencelas Dabaya Tientcheu, France's 2006 world champion, also attended the press conference vowed to return to his past years of great performances. Dabaya who came in thirteenth at Paris 2011 world championships, added it was true that he got aged but he would not stop this sport. "In fact my sport got affected by some bad events such as injuries, but I would do better in European Championships".  

Tsarukaeva stopped Maneza winning her third gold without break

The field was so dense Olympic Champion Pak (PRK) had no voice in the distribution of medals. World title holder Maneza (KAZ) has not impressed in the snatch as she was forced to repeat her opening exercise on 106 kg. Her 109 kg was enough to catch the third place on the medal podium. She already finished the snatch when Ouyang Xiaofang started the competition by lifting 110 kg. She was potentially explosive while Russian Tsarukaeva looked very strong at her opening 110 kg. The battle for the two first places started. By repeating 113 kg Chinese Ouyang lost her chance for the gold. Their battle was not too intense anymore. Tsarukaeva worked well her way through the snatch trying to gain a most appreciated lead. The oldest world record on women record list lived almost exactly six years. Thai Pawina Thongsuk set up her world record (116 kg) in Doha at World Championships by snatching 116 kg. Tsarukaeva killed this result lifting 117 kg. She did all in her power. Two previous times Russian lifter lost just by bodyweight but the Paris case was totally different when she was reaching an advantage of four kilos over the runner-up Ouyang. The Chinese girl's clean and jerk was not convincing at all and she hardly stayed in competition (133 kg). On the contrary the other two favorites were very competitive. The battle was practically over in the clean and jerk when Tsakuraeva took advantage of the mistake by Maneza and won the gold with 255 kg, with seven kg advantage. No one meant a real threat to the Russian athlete who had six good attempts. Maneza should have been consoled by clean and jerk world record mark 147 kg. As there was a mistake loading the barbell another chance was given to her. She thought her own world record was broken but she failed as the referees sanctioned her for a press out. Women's 63kg Press Conference Women's 63kg category ended with Russia's Svetlana Tsarukaeva winning two golds and a silver medal, while the competitors had very close competitions. Kazakhstan silver medalist, Maiya Maneza, wanted to change the world record of clean and jerk from 143kg to 147kg but faced a bad fortune as the barbells were misloaded. She stressed that although she got another chance to try 147kg weight, the misloaded barbell had affected her second chance. Adding she could definitely set new record if the barbell was not misloaded. The Russian world champion Svetlana, who had six correct attempts, expressed her delight over the results. Saying: "I'm very glad about my victory." Chinese bronze medalist Xiaofang Ouyang congratulated her opponents who won gold and silver medals, declaring that it was a fierce competition but she did her best to be among the

Pan American champion of Canada wishing a medal due to peak form

With 238 kilograms, 26 old years old Christine Girard (63 kg) achieved the gold medal for Canada in Guadalajara, surpassing the previous Pan American record of Leidy Solis from Colombia. Q: What are your life's other peaks this year? A: Besides this remarkable success 2011 brought lot of other changes in my life. This summer Walter Bailey my coach and I decided to marry and I moved to British Colombia where my husband is the president of British Colombia Weightlifting Federation. So this is really the year of memorable changes. Q: Is anyone in your family not touched by weightlifting? A: My family's everyday life is indelibly impregnated by weightlifting. My father used to be the president of Héraclés weightlifting Club. All his four daughters became lifters, I followed Caroline in training. It was already ten years ago, in 2001 when I travelled to my first international competition to Greece. Sport has changed my life radically as weightlifting became not just my passion but my way of living. All family members subordinate their time to sports. One of my sisters Sylvie from Quebec came here to support me in the hall and our dad has a day off to follow the contest live on IWF web site. Q: What are your expectations for tonight competition? A: I feel good, so far, hopefully I full good in a few hours too. Everybody knows how important this year is for the qualification for the Olympics. Tonight it will be a really big fight, let me put it this way, a nice competition to watch. I just hope my performance will be high enough to be a medallist. We had the last one five years ago in 69 kg category. Chinese, Kazakh and Russian are extremely strong. The real big question mark is whether anyone can stop Maneza two times World Champion in 2009, 2010 or she will be crowned for the third time. The other question is whether Thai Thongshuk's world record as the oldest record among women (set 2005) will still

Novikava came up with gold zone

Asia showcased six lifters to beat Novikava (BLR) who had just one goal for Paris to change her silver medals of the last two World Championships for her first ever gold. Novikava could stop Asian dominance in a dramatic endgame. The Beijing Olympic Games medallist Novikava opened with a 101 kg attempt but later could not improve her result and change her position. Li Xueying took advantage of her rival's failure as she Snatched 103 kg. The Chinese lifter had a strong wish to get rid of Novikava by lifitng 108 kg. She was disappointed by her mistake did not allow her to lead by 7 kg before Clean and Jerk. Interestingly enough almost 50 percent of Snatch exercises were wrong and this unusual situation made way for Romela Begaj (ALB) of Group B to grab bronze medal that made her extremely happy. One of the North Korean lifters Jo Pok Hyang ran into trouble when she was not able to handle 127 kg in any of her Clean and Jerk attempts. Only her very first Snatch was on record, all the five following lifts were unsuccesful. Thai Sirikaew's powerful Clean and Jerk was characterized by full of go combined with her three flawless movements. World Champion in 2009, Asian Champion in 2011 Li wished for another gold. 133 kg was not an obstacle and this way Novikava had to ask 136 kg, 7 kg more than she Clean and Jerked by her second appearance on the platform. Gold or bronze? She was not interested in another silver, just the first place magnetized her. Novikava's benefit performance amazed the audience. It was easy to understand there was no reason to fear of her Clean and Jerk. Finally she reached her aim to receive gold medal. Novikava is the winner of European Championships and World Championships this year. Women's 58kg Press Conference Women's 58kg category faced a close competition with Belarus's Nastassia Novikava winning two gold medals in Clean and Jerk and Total. Despite the fact that her last two attempts coincided with Disneyland's noisy fire arts, the Belarusian Champion could deeply concentrate on her attempts.While speaking at Press Conference, Nastassia said the noise outside did not disturb her and she did her best. Adding when she started her first attempt she was very much determined to get the gold medals. Stressing she will train harder for the Olympic Games, the gold medallist said Paris 2011 World Championships was a preparation for the London 2012 Games. Nastassia, who is going to celebrate her birthday in 2 weeks, said the result of Paris 2011 Championships has brought her a great birthday gift. Adding she will celebrate her birthday with her family and cheerful friends.The Chinese silver medallist Xueying Li explained she was not sure if she could compete at the London Olympics, since she has not performed well at World Championships. She said she will soon begin her trainings even harder than before to be able to take part in the 2012 Olympics.Thailand's bronze medallist Pimsiri Sirikaew, expressed delighted to select two very important medals. She said her results at the Paris 2011 Championships were her best results ever. Pimsiri added she started weightlifting when she was 15 years old (6 years ago), and was later get interested in this sport as she believed she has good physical abilities for this sport. Being asked whether she would be among London Olympics' medallist, Thai lifter said she was not quite sure, but would try her best to keep ready for the 2012 Games.