Dimas pockets third gold

Add as a preferred source on Google

Sydney: Greece's Pyrros Dimas joined ''pocket hercules'' Naim Suleymanoglu in Saturday as one of only two weightlifters to have won three Olympic gold medals.

Dimas, the great showman of the sport, won a dramatic 85-kg contest in which all three medallists finished with the same total of 290 kgs.

In such cases the lightest athlete wins and Dimas, light-middleweight champion in Barcelona and Atlanta, had tipped the scales at 84.06 kg to Marc Huster's 84.22 and George Asanidze's 84.70.

Germany's Huster had to settle for his second consecutive silver and Asanadze Gave Georgia their first ever Olympic weightlifting medal by taking bronze.

The evening started disastrously for Dimas. Organisers struggled to silence around 1,000 flag-waving Greek fans as he took the platform and by the time the hall fell quiet the clock had been ticking for some time.

Dimas seemed unable to concentrate, hovered too long over the bar and failed to make his lift before the one-minute time limit expired.

He stood up in disbelief when the buzzer sounded, walked off the platform and thumped his fist against the wall.



(c) Reuters Limited.