By Angelica Medina
PARIS (Reuters) -Indonesia’s Rizki Juniansyah won the men’s 73kg Olympic weightlifting title at the Paris Games on Thursday with a total of 354kg, setting the Olympic record in the clean and jerk as China’s reigning champion Shi Zhiyong failed to finish.
Juniansyah 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 and third, with Thailand’s Weeraphon Wichuma taking silver from Bulgarian Bozhidar Andreev.
The 19-year-old Wichuma lifted 198kg in the clean and jerk to finish with 346kg, two kilos ahead of Andreev, but a whopping eight kilos behind Juniansyah.
“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,” Juniansyah told reporters.
“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,” he added.
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 Paris Expo 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.
Shi went into the clean and jerk with a healthy lead, but then it all came crashing down for the twice Olympic gold medallist, who won the 69kg gold at Rio 2016.
He failed to complete any of his clean and jerk attempts at 191kg, sending him home with did not finish (DNF) by his name.
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Paris; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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