PARIS – Indonesia’s Rizki Juniansyah won an “emotional and beautiful” men’s 73kg weightlifting title at the Paris Games on Aug 8 with a total of 354kg, setting the Olympic record in the clean and jerk as China’s reigning champion Shi Zhiyong failed to finish.
Rizki lifted 155kg in the snatch to put himself in a good position and then strained every sinew in the second round of the clean and jerk with a 199kg lift that secured gold.
The real battle was for second, with Thailand’s Weeraphon Wichuma taking silver from Bulgarian Bozhidar Andreev.
The 19-year-old Weeraphon lifted 198kg in the clean and jerk to finish with 346kg, just 2kg ahead of Andreev, but a whopping 8kg behind Rizki.
“I am happy, proud and very emotional winning with this, my first gold medal and creating history. Thank you to all the Indonesians for their support, to those who are watching at home,” the 21-year-old Indonesian said.
“There are no words that can describe how I am feeling. You saw me crying because it’s been such an emotional and beautiful experience, and I am already looking towards the future.”
Chinese lifter Shi missed all three of his attempts in the clean and jerk and left the stage with no chance of a podium finish at a stunned South Paris Arena.
Shi had taken the lead after the snatch round with a Herculean lift of 165kg – 10kg more than his closest rivals. He attempted to break his own Olympic record in the snatch, but failed to secure the bar and could not complete the lift.
He went into the clean and jerk with a healthy lead, but then it all came crashing down for the two-time Olympic gold medallist, who won the 69kg title at Rio 2016.
Shi failed to complete any of his clean and jerk attempts at 191kg, sending him home with a “did not finish”.
There was better news for China elsewhere, when Chang Yuan became the first woman boxer to win Olympic gold for the country by beating Turkey’s Hatice Akbas by unanimous decision in the women’s bantamweight final.
Pang Chol-mi of North Korea and South Korea’s Im Ae-ji took bronze after their semi-final defeats.
Former Asian Games champion Chang was light on her feet as she peppered Akbas with jabs in a fight where few punches were thrown and both boxers took their time to test the waters.
Chang, 27, spent the first two rounds stalking her Turkish opponent around the ring and showcased great defence as Akbas struggled to find any openings.
With the points racking up against her, Akbas attempted to salvage the bout with a rapid start in the final round.
She let loose with a quick flurry, but quickly realised it was a bad idea after Chang sidestepped her shots and landed a jab straight down the middle, eventually taking a 5-0 win.
“I’ve given the team from China the best I could, the gold medal. Hopefully, others can do the same,” Chang said.
“It was so exciting to see the flag and hear the national anthem when I got my gold medal.”
She is the third Chinese boxer to win a gold medal at the Olympics, joining twice light-flyweight champion Zou Shiming and 2008 light-heavyweight winner Zhang Xiaoping.
Chang is also the first-ever women’s bantamweight champion at the Olympics, with the category making its debut at these Games.
In hockey, the Netherlands beat Germany 3-1 in a shoot-out after a 1-1 draw to win the gold medal in the men’s event with Duco Telgenkamp firing home the final penalty shot past goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg.
The win at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium gave the Dutch men their third gold medal and 10th medal overall in hockey since 1928. They last won gold at the Sydney Games in 2000, having lost in the 2004 and 2012 finals.
Eight-time champions India beat Spain 2-1 to take home the bronze medal. REUTERS, AFP
