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Men’s +105kg: Press conference quotes

Matthias Steiner /GER/, gold medallist: "I didn't do well in my first attempt of clean and jerk. But the Russian lifter did, so this was the motivation.Before the competition, I was a little bit nervous. But after missing my first attempt of clean and jerk, it helped me get into it [mentally]. "It means a lot to me to achieve this dream," What touched the spectators more than his fabulous performance was the photo of his wife who had recently passed away that he held during the medal ceremony. "Of course this Gold is for my wife, also my friends, my German coach and all of the people who have helped me. But first it's for her. During the competition I did not think so much about her, because I had to stay in the competition. But afterwards, of course, I missed her a lot."

Men’s +105kg : The last lift of the Games brought gold

Matthias Steiner of Germany won the gold medal with the last lift of the competition in a climactic finale of the Beijing Olympic Weightlifting tournament at the BUAA Gymnasium in Beijing. Russian strongman Evgeny Chigishev led at the halfway mark with a 210kg Snatch ahead of Artem Udachyn of Ukraine with 207kg, reigning world champion Viktors Scerbatihs of Latvia with 206kg, and Steiner in fourth place with 203kg. Udachyn was out of the race early in the Clean and Jerk, with just one success at 235kg and placed fourth. Scerbatihs was in a good position, as the Clean and Jerk is his stronger lift. After an opening 242kg, however, he inexplicably failed to come out for his second attempt and was left with just one try for Gold. Chigishev completed all his attempts. His final lift of 250kg gave him a total of 460kg and what seemed to be a tight grip on the gold medal. Steiner struggled on his first attempt and missed 246kg. To give himself time to recover, he increased to 248kg, which he made on his second attempt. Scerbatihs then called for 257kg on his final attempt in an effort to take the gold from Chigishev by 1kg. He came close but failed to hold the weight overhead and had to settle for the Bronze medal. Steiner then took an increase of 10kg over his second attempt and against all odds succeeded with 258kg to seal the gold medal. His personal best in clean and jerk was before the competition 250 kg. /BOCOG/

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+105 KG: WHO IS THE STRONGEST MAN ON EARTH?

After Hossein Rezazadeh, who has dominated this category since the late 1990s and pocketed two Olympic gold medals (2000, 2004), announced his withdrawal decision shortly before the start of Beijing 2008, the door was suddenly wide open, and every top lifter had a shot for the title of "world's strongest man." Viktors Scerbatihs (LAT) Most heavily favored is Latvia's Viktors Scerbatihs, a 33-year-old lawmaker who finished second at Athens. Freshly crowned in last year's World Championships, in-form Scerbatihs is considered the front-runner for gold. Germany's Matthias Steiner (Winner of the test event in Beijing), Russia's Evgeny Chigishev and Artem Udachyn (UKR) are also liable to give Scerbatihs a run for his money. Qatar's Jaber Saeed Salem announced his withdrawal decision shortly before the Games started. Also worth mentioning is Maama Lolohea of Tonga, because he is the oldest male weightlifter at the Beijing Olympic. the 40-year-old Tongan is competing in his first Games.

Men’s 105 kg press conference quotes:

Andrei Aramnau (BLR), gold medalist: "I have been preparing for a long time for this and there could not have been a different result, This medal comprises all 20 years of my life. My first coach told me that I would become an Olympic champion at the age of 20, and that's what happened." Dmitriy Klokov (RUS), silver medalist: "That was the emotion that came naturally because I spent a lot of time preparing for this moment and I just couldn't hold back my tears," Dmitry Lapikov (RUS), bronze medalist: " My coach said to do 230 kg, so that is what I did. I told my coach that in theclear and jerk I would lift as much as I need to in order to win a

Men’s 105 kg: Aramnau (BLR): One lift equals six new records

It was a perfect day for Andrei Aramnau (BLR) as he won the gold medal of this class. Aramnau, 20, did not miss a lift and he became the first lifter in this category to snatch 200kg, a junior and senior world record. Marcin Dolega (POL) who held the old record at 199kg, tried to reclaim it with his third attempt but failed with 201kg. Clean and jerk of 230kg won the gold medal for Aramnau. He then claimed all the world records with his last attempt, 236kg for the clean and jerk mark and 436kg for the total.By one attempt he set up 6 new records: World record, Olympic record and junior world record both in clean and jerk and in total. A tight battle developed for the silver and bronze medals. Dolega's 195kg snatch had him just ahead Dmitriy Klokov (RUS)on 193kg, Bakhyt Akhmetov (KAZ) on 190kg, Dmitry Lapikov (RUS) also on 190kg and last Olympic's silver medallist Igor Razoronov of (UKR) a further 3kg behind on 187kg.   Dolega only success with 225kg gave him a total of 420kg.   Lapikov edged him out for the bronze on lighter bodyweight when he jerked 230kg for the same total and then Klokov passed them both with 230kg for a 423kg total and silver.   Razoronov, a 38-year-old veteran tried for the bronze with 234kg. He cleaned this weight but the jerk proved to be beyond him.   Aramnau's victory was Belarus' first gold medal in Beijing, and its first ever in weightlifting as an independent nation.