Georgian strongman Lasha Talakhadze has won his third consecutive Olympic title in the heaviest weightlifting division.
A seven-time world champion, Talakhadze's gold medal triumph in the men's +102 kilograms division in Paris on Saturday night followed gold medals at +109 kg in Tokyo three years ago and +105kg in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro.
The 30-year-old lifted 215kg in the snatch and 255kg in the clean and jerk for a combined total of 470kg while Varazdat Lalayan of Armenia got silver with 467 and Gor Minasyan of Bahrain took bronze with 461.
Norway’s Solfrid Koanda won the women’s 82kg and China’s Liu Huanhua won the men’s 102kg.
The weight divisions were reclassified and reduced for the Paris Games.
China have won four weightlifting gold medals and have a chance at a fifth Sunday when Li Wenwen competes in the women’s 81-plus kg.
Liu beat Tokyo champion Akbar Djuraev of Uzbekistan in a reclassified division, as weightlifting was reduced from 14 to 10 events. Djuraev won gold three years ago at 109kg and had to cut down from 109kg to 102kg for the Paris Games.
“It was a little difficult to lose the weight,” Djuraev said. "That’s why I (only got) the silver medal. For the next Olympics, maybe there will be another change to the weight (categories), so maybe I can get a better result.”
China won seven gold medals in weightlifting at the Games three years ago. But the country had never won at a level above 100kg.
“I believe the gold medal is a great proof, and it is also a breakthrough for the Chinese weightlifting team," said Liu, who was making his Olympic debut at age 22. “It will give more confidence to the heavyweight weightlifters from China that we can win gold and achieve great results on the world stage.”
Liu won with a total of 406kg. Djuraev got silver at 404 and Belarusian Yauheni Tsikhantsou, who is competing as a neutral athlete, took bronze at 402.
