Turkmenistan lauds its first Olympic medalist
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — Turkmenistan lauded its first Olympic medal winner at a lavish ceremony on Saturday where she was showered with gifts. Weightlifter Polina Guryeva, 21, lifted a total 217 kilograms in the 59-kilogram category at the Tokyo Games. It was the first Olympic medal for the gas-rich Central Asian country since it won […]
IOC gives itself more power to remove sports from Olympics
TOKYO (AP) — The IOC gave itself more power Sunday to remove sports from the Olympic program. The International Olympic Committee voted in the new powers amid prolonged issues with the leadership of weightlifting and boxing. Both sports already had their quota of athletes cut for the 2024 Paris Olympics and weightlifting could be dropped […]
Talakhadze breaks weightlifting records, Syria wins medal
TOKYO (AP) — Lasha Talakhadze pumped everyone up with three world records on the final day of Olympic competition in weightlifting. The defending champion from Georgia lifted 223 kilograms in the snatch and 265kg in the clean and jerk for a total 488kg on Wednesday. All three figures broke his own world records in the […]
Djuraev wins weightlifting gold in tense finish at Olympics
TOKYO (AP) — The world champion took a gamble, and lost. Simon Martirosyan had two lifts for the Olympic title but failed both, handing the gold medal in weightlifting to Akbar Djuraev of Uzbekistan in the men’s 109-kilogram class on Tuesday. Djuraev failed a clean and jerk at 234 kilograms but returned to lift 237kg […]
Kate Nye wins rare silver medal for US in weightlifting
TOKYO (AP) — The United States had its best weightlifting result at the Olympics for 21 years. Ecuador had its first ever female champion. Neisi Dajomes of Ecuador won the women’s 76-kilogram weightlifting event as Kate Nye took silver for the United States’ best result in the sport since 2000 on Sunday. “It feels surreal,” […]
Lyu Xiaojun becomes oldest Olympic weightlifting champ at 37
TOKYO (AP) — Age isn’t weighing Lyu Xiaojun down. The 37-year-old Chinese weightlifter became the oldest man to win an Olympic gold medal in the sport on Saturday after a tense finish in the men’s 81-kilogram category. Wearing his signature shiny gold shoes, Lyu lifted 170kg in the snatch and 204kg in the clean and […]
Euphoric Philippines, rewards greet Olympic gold winner home
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The rewards, the citations and the nationwide parties are going to have to wait, for a week or so anyway. Philippine weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, fresh from winning her country’s first Olympic gold medal in nearly a century at the Tokyo Games, arrived in Manila on Wednesday and was whisked off to […]
China’s Shi breaks own record to win weightlifting gold
TOKYO (AP) — Just an Olympic gold medal? Not enough for Shi Zhiyong. He set the first weightlifting world record of the Tokyo Olympics as he easily won the gold in the men’s 73-kilogram category Wednesday, and said victory alone wouldn’t have satisfied him. “What makes it exciting is not to get the gold medal, […]
Weightlifter Guryeva wins Turkmenistan’s 1st Olympic medal
TOKYO (AP) — Sparsely populated and isolated from most of the outside world, Turkmenistan has finally won its first Olympic medal since independence from the Soviet Union. Weightlifter Polina Guryeva won a silver medal for the Central Asian nation at the Tokyo Games on Tuesday, and then predicted she would go down in the country’s […]
Family reunion awaits Philippines’ 1st Olympic champion
TOKYO (AP) — From a bamboo pole to Olympic gold, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz’s arduous buildup to the Tokyo Games culminated on the top step of the podium. Diaz won the first gold medal for the Philippines on Monday, a triumphant result for a country that has competed at every Summer Olympics except one since 1924. […]