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85 year-old weightlifter Maurice Crow honoured

1111 New Zealand Olympians will be awarded uniquely numbered Olympic pins this week as the project to name, number and order the men and women who have represented New Zealand at the world's greatest sporting event is completed. The Olympians also receive a commemorative certificate signed by IOC President Jacques Rogg. Marking the conclusion of the four-year long project and commemorating Olympic Week 2009 an Olympians Wall of Honour has been unveiled at the Olympic Museum in Wellington. In total, 580 of the 1111 New Zealand Olympians or members of their family will be present at one of the seventeen functions being held around New Zealand this week. Of the 1111 Olympians, only nine are yet to be located. 86 year-old Harold Nelson who represented New Zealand in athletics (5,000m and 10,000m) at the London Olympic Games is New Zealand's oldest living Olympian. He was a member of the seven-strong team that travelled by ship to the 1948 Games. Three members of the London team are still living. 84-year old Ngaire Galloway (nee Lane, swimming) and 85 year-old Maurice Crow (weightlifting). Their pins will be numbered 52(Crow), 56 (Galloway) and 57 (Nelson). Crow (born 26.05.1924) started in 56 kg in 1948 Olympics. He was ranked 8th by 272.5 kg (77.5 kg press, 85 kg snatch, 110 kg clean and jerk) Olympic Day today (23 June) marks 115 years since the founding of the modern Olympic Games by Pierre de Coubertin and is a day on which communities around the world celebrate the Olympic Movement in a spirit of excellence, friendship and respect. The full list of Olympians by number can be viewed at www.olympic.org.nz and are ordered alphabetically by

9th Senior and 8th Junior GCC Weightlifting Championships

The 9th Senior and 8th Junior GCC Weightlifting Championships is hosted by the Emirates Weightlifting Federation under the leadership of His Excellence Sheikh Sultan Bin Mejren who is also the incumbent President of the Asian Weightlifting Federation, slated on 1st- 6th of July 2009 in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. It will be legible only to all male athletes across the six countries in GCC; Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. We have 64 confirmed participants according to the final entries submitted by the delegates. The competition will be held at the Tennis Court of Fujairah while the accommodation will be at SIGI Hotel Resort. A high level of organization is expected to be set during the competition as the host country will be using the IWF information and Technology System which will be operated and managed by the IWF IT experts in cooperation with the Emirates Weightlifting Federation team and the Organizing Committee. The Championship will be held in accordance to the IWF rules while the International Referees from neighboring countries will be officiating the said championships. The competition will start on the 2nd of July wherein the Ruler of Fujairah Emirate will be present to honor the Opening and Awarding Ceremony together with AWF President Sheikh Sultan Bin

U.K. – 8 sports K.O

After the crisis hit, though, a £50 million shortfall forced U.K. Sport to cut back, employing what it calls its "no-compromise" principle: Only those sports viewed most likely to yield medals would get full funding. The policy means that while the overall budget for London 2012 is slightly larger than for Beijing 2008, eight sports -- fencing, handball, shooting, table tennis, volleyball, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling -- are having to make do with budgets as small as one-quarter of what they had for the last Olympics. "We have to prioritize," says John Steele, chief executive of U.K. Sport. "If you try to please everybody, you'll fail on all

Public Relations Officers seminar rated a success

The first ever seminar for practicing Public Relations Officers (PROs) of the various sporting organizations, organized by the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) in collaboration with the Reds Perreira Sports Foundation held at the Guyana Olympic House was rated a success owing to the fact that it attracted ninety five percent (95%) of the invited PROs.The seminar was deemed successful by the participants who indicated that they had benefited from the exercise and requested a follow-up. One participant, Maxine Parris-Aaron spoke for all when she said, "The seminar was long overdue. It was good to hear from resource persons who have worked within the system and were able to give examples relevant to Guyana."Participating organizations included the Guyana Squash Association, Guyana Karate Federation, Guyana Amateur Swimming Association, Athletics Association of Guyana, Guyana Cycling Federation, Guyana Bad-minton Association, Guyana Judo Association, Guyana Weightlifting Association, Guyana Taekwondo Associa-tion, Guyana Table Tennis Association, Guyana Lawn Tennis Association, Guyana Rugby Football Union, Guyana Football Federation, Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation and Guyana Netball Association.The main objective of the seminar was to improve the public relations skills and knowledge of the various participants. The presenters urged participants to disseminate the information within their respective

Bucharest junior WC, men 105 kg, one man show

Despite of the fact Russian Eduard Mezhgikhov missed one of his snatch attempts he was able to grab first place without any difficulty as his rivals were far behind him. 20 years old Russian was very convincing in clean and jerk as well. Tagirov (UKR) ranked 2nd in snatch was 19 kg behind him in clean and jerk however he had three succesful lifts. The real fight was between Plesnieks (LAT) and Armak (IRI) and finally the bodyweight decided. The younger was lighter as well and this way 17 years old courageous Plesniks was robbing the bronze medal from the pocket of Armak. Meanwhile Eduard Mezhgikhov was very fast and accurate during his attempts and at the end of the competition however he already was in position of a winner he pleased everyone with a substancial increase. He was jumping from 207 kg to 220 kg. The man of nerves focused all his strength and a left a memorable massage in

Bucharest junior WC, women +75 kg, A new Korean superstar on the scene

The group of 15 women (there were three 16 years old among them) had very interesting composition. First of all Niue (an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean) had it first appearence at world championship. Their representative Narita Wiliamu had a very good start with three good attempts in snatch (placed 5th) but finally she could not move up from her first weight in clean and jerk and she was ranked 7th worse than expected by the delegation members. Holley Mangold (20) was another sensation of the group as no heavier woman had ever entered the field (173.38 kg). (The heaviest in Beijing was Olha Korobka (UKR) 166.97 kg) A year after Cali junior world championships she increased her weight by 5 kg and progressed by 27 kg in total. This year she had the 9th position. There was a 16 year old Chinese girl, An Yunmo who just had her opener lift in snatch good to be No 4th. Finally she remained 4th in total (by bodyweight difference) however received her first ever bronze medal in clean and jerk. The title holder Russian Kachaeva (19) was not able to reach the top again as 20 years old Korean Lee was stronger in both disciplines. Both had nice progress wit 3-3 good attempts.Kachaeva was very motivated and she had a perfect evening performance with 6 good lifts out of 6. She improved 25 kg between Cali and Bucharest junior Worlds but she had a stronger rival. However Korean Lee missed her first attempt in clean and jerk. After a little correction she jerked 141 kg which made her to be the owner for the other two gold medals. But she wanted more and she was able to lift 150 kg! She might be the successor of the Olympic champion compatriot Jang Mi-ran. It would be a mistake to forget 17 years old Abdel Rahman Khalil Abir. The Egyptian girl was world champion a year ago in Cali in 69 kg. Here she had 75.33 kg (!) body weight and just with three good attempts won bronze in total (by lighter bodyweight) 243 kg. This result would have been worth for silver medal in category 75