Iran wins gold, silver of +105kg weightlifting at Olympics
Iran’s super heavyweight Behdad Salimi has won the gold medal and his compatriot Sajjad Anoushiravani pocketed the silver in the +105-kilogram category of the weightlifting competition of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Press TV reports.
The 22-year-old athlete lifted a total of 455 kilograms to win the gold medal in the event, which was held at London's Excel arena on Tuesday.
Anoushirvani hoisted 449 kilograms to win the silver medal in the category.
Russia's European champion Ruslan Albegov won the bronze with a total of 448 kilograms.
Salimi, who lifted 208 kilograms in snatch and 247 kilograms in clean and jerk, secured the gold medal with his first clean and jerk lift of 247 kilograms.
The strongman attempted a clean and jerk world record of 264 kilograms, trying to beat the 263 kilograms mark set by Iran’s Hussein Rezazadeh, the twice Olympic and four-time world champion, at the Sydney Games in 2000.
However, Salimi failed in his second attempt and abandoned a third lift.
Iran's weightlifting prodigy Salimi won the world title at his first attempt in 2010 by lifting a total of 453 kilograms and retained his title in 2011 by lifting 464 kilograms.
The man-mountain set a new world record of 214 kilograms in the snatch, breaking the previous record of 213 kilograms.
Source: presstv.com
