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August 15th, 2008 — China, Weight Lifting
Chinese athletes do rule weightlifting, no? They grabbed eight of the 11 gold medals awarded so far. Here’s China’s Lu Yong celebrating after winning gold medal number 24 for China. Lu tied with Andrei Rybakou of Belarus as both lifted 394 kilos but he was awarded the gold because he registered a lighter body weight during the weigh-in.
Armenia’s Tigran Varban Martirosyan won the bronze medal for this event (weightlifting, 85 kg category).
August 15th, 2008 — China, Weight Lifting
China’s gold medal count remained stuck at 22 for much of Day 7 but this has now gone up to 23 following the victory of Cao Lei in women’s weightlifting (75 kg category). She bested Alla Vazhenina of Kazakhstan who got the silver and Russian Nadezda Evstyukhina who settled for the bronze.
For those of you interested in the China vs. US race for gold medals, it currently stands at: China (23 golds) vs. U.S. (14 golds).
August 15th, 2008 — South Korea, Weight Lifting
Here’s something I should have blogged about earlier but haven’t. Well, it’s better late than never. This dude, dear readers, is South Korean Sa Jae-hyouk who crashed China’s party in the weightlifting competitions when he won the gold medal in the 77 kilogram category. China’s Li Hongli and Armenia’s Gevorg Davtyan settled for the silver and bronze respectively.
Photo credit: gettyimages via beijing2008
August 14th, 2008 — North Korea, Weight Lifting
North Korean weightlifter Pak Hyon Suk proved to be the strongest in the women’s 63kg weightlifting competition and bagged the first gold medal for North Korea.
Photo credit: Paul Gilham via Beijing2008
August 11th, 2008 — Thailand, Weight Lifting
Here’s tip number one for those of you Olympic wannabes: if you want to win an Olympic gold medal, change your name to something like Supercalifragilistic Expialidocious. Will it work? The trick worked for Thai weightlifter Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon so it might work for you too.
Legend has it [actually it's a true story] that Prawadee, then named Chanpim Kantatian wasn’t sure whether she can make it to the Thai Olympic team so she consulted a fortune teller who advised her to change her name. So Chanpim Kantatian became Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon. And then she went on to win an Olympic gold medal, the first for Thailand in the Beijing Games. Congratulations to our Thai friends. Kaw sadeng kwam yin dee duay!!
August 10th, 2008 — China, Weight Lifting
At 5′1″, weightlifter Long Qingquan may be short but he is, no doubt about it, very strong. I’m sure he is stronger than you. Can you lift 162 kilograms? Can you? Can you? Nah. Just as I thought.
It is also likely that this kid is younger than you; he’s only 17 years old, in case you are wondering. That means he can still improve not only in the weightlifting department but in the height department as well.
August 9th, 2008 — China, Weight Lifting
If Czech shooter Katerina Emmons gained the distinction as the first gold medalist in Beijing, weightlifter Chen Xiexia will be remembered as the first Chinese athlete to win a gold medal for the host country. Eat your heart out, United States, the Chinese have a gold medal now.
Photo credit: chinadaily.com
May 19th, 2008 — Turkey, Weight Lifting
Turkish weightlifter Halil Mutlu is a three time Olympic gold medalist. He hopes to get another gold when he goes to Beijing in August. Who could stop him from getting his fourth gold medal? Chinese weightlifters who’ve been trying to out-lift him for years.
Here’s a quote from Halil Mutlu about his prospects in Beijing: “The Chinese have been trying to beat me for years without success. They will try to be successful this time. I need to be more careful not to let them do this.”
May 3rd, 2008 — Drugs, Greece, Weight Lifting
Argh. Drugs. Bad news for weightlifting and the Olympic movement in general. Bad news for the Greek Olympic team in particular.
A DPA Report: A second doping test on a group of 11 Greek weightlifters who initially tested positive for banned substances was also found to be positive, making the athletes unlikely competitors for the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics, reports said Friday.
May 2nd, 2008 — United States, Weight Lifting
Let’s include Melanie Roach in our Dara Mama Club. But what’s the Dara Mama Club? Uhm, its a special category we are creating here at The Olympian Blog referring to moms who have qualified or are trying to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. We are naming the club after the first Olympic mom we blogged about, U.S. swimmer Dara Torres.
Above photo shows Melanie Roach with her son Drew who was diagnosed with autism. You can read Melanie’s very touching story and her upcoming attempt to qualify for the Olympics here. We hope she makes it to Beijing. Go Melanie! Go Dara Mamas!
