WEIGHTLIFTING – Bahrain's Gor Minasyan captured the bronze medal last night in the men’s over-102kg weightlifting competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Minasyan secured the kingdom’s first-ever bronze at the Olympic Games after registering a 461kg total in his event.
The 29-year-old kicked off his medal bid with a staggering 216kg lift in the snatch portion of his campaign, which put him in first place. But then in the clean and jerk, his chief rivals were able to outlift him and thus leapfrog him on the rankings.
Minasyan’s best was 245kg, which came on his first clean and jerk attempt. The ex-Asian champion and Asian Games gold-medallist, who is also a former silver and bronze-medallist at the world championships, tried to stay in contention for gold with attempts of lifting 255kg in his last two tries, but could not complete his lifts.
Legendary weightlifter Lasha Talakhadze of Georgia claimed the gold medal in the third successive Olympics with a 470kg total. His clean was 215kg, one behind Minasyan, but then had a monster 255kg lift in the clean and jerk.
Varazdat Lalayan of Armenia bagged the silver with a 467kg total. He matched Talakhadze in the snatch at 215kg, and then had a 252kg lift in his best clean and jerk attempt.
Minasyan’s bronze medal is part of the guaranteed best-ever finish for Team Bahrain on the medal tally at the Olympics. It is also Bahrain’s first-ever medal in weightlifting, where the kingdom has made its Games debut in Paris.
Meanwhile, Team Bahrain’s other lifter in the French capital, Lesman Paredes, missed out on a medal in the men’s 102kg division.
The former world champion finished sixth overall after posting a total weight of 392kg. He had a best attempt of 181kg in the snatch portion of the competition and then a 211kg lift in the clean and jerk.
His snatch lift came on his first attempt, and then he tried to go for a new Olympic record in his second and third, with tries of 186kg and 188kg, respectively. He came close both times, but could not complete the lifts and was in fifth place at the end of the session.
In the clean and jerk, Paredes started well, successfully lifting 211kg on his opening try. In the second and third attempts, however, the 28-year-old was looking to cement his place on the podium with back-to-back attempts of 218kg. He lifted over his head on the second but was never in full control and almost went off the platform, and then in the third battled with the clean and did not jerk, ending his medal bid.
Huanhua Lin of China won the gold medal with a total of 406kg – 186kg on the snatch and 220kg on the clean and jerk. Akbar Djuraev of Uzbekistan took the silver with a 404kg total (185kg, 219kg), and Yauheni Tsikhantsou, who is an individual neutral athlete, claimed bronze with a 402kg total lift (183kg, 219kg).
Finishing ahead of Paredes were Garik Karapetyan of Armenia (398kg total from 186kg and 212kg) and Irakli Chkheidze of Georgia (393kg total from 179kg and 214kg).
Paredes made history yesterday by becoming the first-ever lifter from Bahrain to compete at the Olympics, as his event was held earlier in the day before Minasyan’s participation.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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