China’s Chen wins gold with two records

Sydney: Chinese weightlifter Chen Xiaomin smashed two world records to take the gold medal comfortably in the Olympic women's 63-kg category on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old, who emerged only this year to claim victory at the Asian Championships in May, set a new world mark of 112.5 kgs in the snatch section of the competition, beating 110 kgs of compatriot Lei Li.

She then lifted 130 kg with her first attempt at the clean-and-jerk to set an overall record of 242.5 kgs, 2.5 kgs better than the old mark. That was enough to give Chen gold ahead of Russia's 1999 European champion Valentina Popova and Greece's Ioanna Chatziioannou, who claimed the bronze.

Popova snatched 107.5 kgs and added 127.5 kgs for a final score of 235 kgs, while Chatziioannou, who was born in Germany but now lives in Thessaloniki, lifted 97.5 kgs and 125.0 kgs for a combined 222.5 kg.

Chen failed in her first bid to take the overall record five kgs higher and surprisingly forfeited her third lift, which could have earned her a third world record in the clean-and-jerk section.

But her feat gave the dominant Chinese women's weightlifting team their third medal of the games, their second gold and their fifth world record in two days.



(c) Reuters Limited.