Huge Upset in Women's Weightlifting
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ China is supposed to win weightlifting gold medals. So is North Korea. But Mexico?
Yes, Mexico.
Soraya Jimenez, backed by frenzied fans seemingly transplanted from a soccer match, pulled off a huge upset Monday, winning the 127½-pound Olympic women's weightlifting gold medal for Mexico on her final lift.
Not without considerable drama _ and considerable controversy.
Ri Song Hui, the prohibitive favorite from North Korea, was leading when the clock inexplicably ran out before she could make the second of her three lifts in the clean and jerk.
The missed lift, which the North Koreans said resulted from a marshal improperly blocking her way to the podium, gave Jimenez the edge she needed to overtake Ri with her third and final lift.
North Korea's protest was disallowed by the International Weightlifting Federation, whose officials left the arena without commenting, as did Ri.
"We were robbed of a gold medal," said Chang Ung, who heads the North Korean Olympic delegation and was on hand to present Ri with the gold medal. "They said they cannot reverse it. This is a complete mistake. This is the Olympics."
Ri appeared devastated on the medals stand, although she congratulated Jimenez and held her hand in victory during the ceremony.
"I knew her time ran out, but I didn't know why," Jimenez said. "I was concentrating and doing my tactics for my next lift."
Ri led from her first lift of the night, and seemed confident of winning after lifting 270 pounds in the clean and jerk to take a 5½ pound lead.
But Jimenez, her face strained with concentration at the very moment her fans were at their loudest, stepped to the bar, steadied it as she carefully raised it and pumped 281 pounds above her head. It was just what she needed to overtake Ri.
It was just what she needed for a gold, with her total weight of 490½ pounds (222.5 kg) beating Ri's 485 pounds (220 kg).
Mexico not only had never won an Olympic gold medal in weightlifting before, it had never won a medal of any color in the sport before Monday.
Jimenez, who has spent the last year training in Bulgaria, was ranked fourth in the world before the Sydney Games.
"What happened today is important for Mexican women," Jimenez said. "All I can say is practice. You never know what you might do."
The bronze medal went to a competitor from another country not usually associated with Olympic weightlifting, Thailand's Khassarporn Suta.
Jimenez, a 23-year-old law student, was enthusiastically supported by a group of 20 fans who injected some soccer-style cheering and energetic flag-waving into an arena that was two-thirds empty and mostly quiet except when Jimenez lifted.
Jimenez trailed Ri by 5½ pounds following the snatch, then fell another 5½ pounds behind when Ri outlifted her on the first of the three lifts in the clean and jerk.
But when Ri, the world record holder in the clean and jerk, didn't attempt the second lift, it allowed Jimenez to tie her for the overall lead when she lifted 270 pounds.
Ri then matched that lift, giving her the lead and forcing Jimenez to lift 22 pounds more on her final attempt than she did on her first, an usually big jump in a sport where titles often are decided by a few pounds.
As they stepped on the medal stand, Jimenez pumped her fists and waved to the fans who cheered "Mex-i-co! Mex-i-co!"
There was no surprise earlier Monday when Yang Xia of China won at 116½ pounds. The Chinese are favored to four women's weightlifting golds.
Yang, who dropped a weight class to give herself a better chance at a medal, broke world records in the snatch, clean and jerk and total lift to easily with lifts totaling 496 pounds.
Yang either tied or set world records with four of her five lifts. She passed on a third lift in the clean and jerk after she was assured of the gold and the world records.
Li Feng-Ying, the previous world record-holder in the clean and jerk, simply didn't have the muscle to match the strong and confident Yang's succession of powerful lifts and took the silver for Taiwan at 468¼ pounds.
Winarni Binti Slamet of Indonesia took the bronze with a total lift of 446¼ pounds.
Li, who knew Yang growing up in China but emigrated to Taiwan after marrying national coach Chung Yung-Chi, finished 273/4 pounds behind Yang, a huge gap in this sport.
"I'm very happy," Yang said. "I wanted to win the Olympics, and now I want to win a world championship."
In the last 13 world championships, China has won 240 golds to 17 for runner-up Taiwan and, as might be expected, their rivalry is intense.
China has the potential to win each of the seven weight classes, but no country can enter more than four lifters in the Olympics.
It was partly for that reason that Yang _ second-ranked in the world at 127½ pounds _ made the drop in class for the Olympics.
(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
