Chinese young gun Luo Shifang won the 59kg Olympic weightlifting title at the Paris Games on Thursday with a total of 241kg, setting Olympic records in the snatch and clean and jerk.
In a classic battle of youth against experience, 23-year-old Luo came out on top against Canada’s Maude Charron and Taiwan’s defending champion Kuo Hsing-Chun.
Charron, the 31-year-old who won the 64kg title in Tokyo three years ago but had to move down after the class was removed from the Olympic programme, took silver with a total of 236kg.
Kuo, 30, narrowly missed second place and had to settle for bronze with a total of 235kg.
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The standard in the class has risen considerably since Tokyo and the lifters knew that big numbers would be needed for a place on the podium in Paris.
Five lifters surpassed Kuo’s Olympic record of 103kg in the snatch after Ukraine’s Kamila Konotop raised the bar by lifting 104 on her first attempt.
With the stakes rising, Luo raised the bar to 105 on her second attempt, a weight later matched by Colombia’s Yenny Alvarez and Kuo.
Charron managed 106kg in her third attempt but Luo took the lead, and the record, on her final attempt with 107kg.
The world champion and world record holder repeated the feat in the clean and jerk with a lift of 134kg.
Luo took her time, paused in the squat, paused again with the bar on her chest, then raised it above her head and pumped her fists in celebration after the green light, indicating a clean lift.
Kuo failed at 137kg with her final lift when the bar slipped behind her head to allow Luo, already guaranteed gold, to pass on her final attempt at the same weight.
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