Liu Haixia of China created the second world record in the world
weightlifting championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand on Sunday,
claiming the gold medal in women's 63kg class.
She was also the only weightlifter who had succeeded in all her
six attempts in the worlds up till now in Chiang Mai.
Later in the day, Roman Konstantinov of Russia took the gold
medal in the men's 94kg category as the 24-year-old combined lifts
of 177kg in the snatch with 220kg in the clean and jerk to finish
with 397kg.
The 27-year-old Liu, Asian champion in women's 69kg in April,
hoisted 142kg in the jerk to lift a world-record total of 257kg,
crashing the previous one by 1kg.
"My performance today was just very normal, but my coach really
did a lot in the competition. He changed the attempting weight
according to opponents' result." Liu told the press.
"His decision was fast and correct, and that's why I can win,"
she added.
Both Liu and Svetlana Tsarukaeva of Russia, silver medalist in
the women's 58kg in last year's worlds, lifted 115kg in the
snatch.
The real competition began in the jerk as each of them tried to
push the other to a heavier weight.
After Liu hoisted 140kg in her second in the jerk with 255kg in
total, the 19-year-old Tsarukaeva had to try to hoist 141kg to win
the gold due to the body weight disadvantage, but failed, finishing
her show with a total of 250kg.
"My jerk was as good as my snatch. Liu and I belong to the same
level, but I didn't lift well in the jerk," Tsarukaeva said.
"Maybe it is too hot here. The temperature influenced my
performance," she added.
Holding the gold medal already, Liu challenged the world record
and lifted 142kg to reach the new world record.
"The president of the Chinese Weightlifting Association ask me
to be tough, brave and crazy in the competition. That's also the
secret for my victory," Liu said.
"Maybe I was not crazy enough this time. I'll try to be crazier
next time and lift more," Liu joked.
The previous world record of the total was set by Pawina
Thongsuk of Thailand in the Doha worlds in 2005.
Tsarukaeva claimed the silver and Pak Hyon-suk of DPR Korea took
the bronze on 240kg.
In the men's 94kg category, Yoandris Hernandez of Cuba hoisted
the silver with 393kg and Szymon Kolecki of Poland the bronze on
392kg.
(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2007)