Weightlifting 2016 Rio Olympic Review

Men’s -56kg

Long Qingquan (China) started the competition strongly, lifting 132kg in the first snatch round and eventually lifting 137kg in the third round. Not far behind was Om Yun-Chol (North Korea), who completed all three lifts, topping off at 134kg. Just behind was Sinphet Kruaithong (Thailand) with 132kg. Thach Kim Tuan (Vietnam) started the snatch round attempting the second highest weight, but could only land his second attempt, meaning he finished on 130kg. In the first round of the clean and jerk phase, Yun-Chol took the lead with a 165kg lift. Qingquan rebounded with 166kg in round two, before lifting 170kg in round three which also helped him get the overall world record. Yun-Chol lifted 169 leaving him comfortably in silver and as Tuan couldn’t latch a lift in the clean and jerk, Kruaithong took bronze.

🥇Long Qingquan 🇨🇳

🥈Om Yun-Chul 🇰🇵

🥉Sinphet Kruaithong 🇹🇭

Men’s -62kg

Eko Yuli Irawan (Indonesia) was fast out of the blocks, with a 142kg snatch lift. Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to make another lift in the round which allowed Oscar Figueroa (Colombia) to equal him. Chen Lijun (China) came in at the highest weight of 143kg but didn’t manage to make a lift. Figueroa topped Irawan in the first clean and jerk round, and Irawan spent the rest of the competition, chasing to catch up but once again, failed to land a second lift.

🥇Oscar Figueroa 🇨🇴

🥈Eko Yuli Irawan 🇮🇩

🥉Farkhad Kharki 🇰🇿

Men’s -69kg

Kim Myong-Hyok (North Korea) went for the highest weight in the opening round, not managing to lift 157kg. Instead, Shi Zhiyong (China) and Daniyar Ismayilov (Turkey) led after lifting 156kg. Myong-Hyok managed it in the second round, but the lead was with Ismayilov at 163kg. Zhiyong and Myong-Hyok both tried lifts of 188kg, for the clean and jerk opening round, but only Zhiyong would land it. Myong-Hyok wouldn’t land a lift in the whole round. Zhiyong went on to lift 190kg, to not only win the round but the event, as he lifted 2kg more than Ismayilov. Also back on 188kg was Izzat Artykov (Kyrgyzstan), enough to win bronze. However, he was disqualified for testing positive for strychnine.

🥇Shi Zhiyong 🇨🇳

🥈Daniyar Ismayilov 🇹🇷

🥉Luis Javier Mosquera 🇨🇴

Men’s -77kg

Records were broken in the snatch discipline. Andranik Karapetyan (Armenia) set a Junior World Record with a lift of 174kg. In the third round though, it was Lu Xiaojun (China) who stole the show, by lifting a world record 177kg. Three lifters sat back on 165kg. One of those was Nijat Rahimov (Kazakhstan) who opened with a 202kg lift in the clean and jerk. Only one other man lifted over 200kg when Xiaojun managed a 202kg lift in the third round. It still was not enough to win though, as Rahimov lifted 214kg, to set the clean and jerk World Record. Karapetyan did not manage to get a lift in, costing himself a likely medal.

🥇Nijat Rahimov 🇰🇿

🥈Lu Xiaojun 🇨🇳

🥉Mohamed Mahmoud 🇪🇬

Men’s -85kg

Kianoush Rostami (Iran) started fast with a 174kg lift, followed by a 179kg lift, which led at the end of the snatch stage. Behind him was Tian Tao (China) on 178kg. The four leaders all failed on their first lifts in the clean and jerk phase. Rostami corrected that with a big lift of 215kg in the second round with Gabriel Sincraian (Romania) just behind. The two of them both lifted 217kg and were joined by Tian Tao, who landed it in a must-lift third round.  Rostami won with a World Record total of 396 kg, beating his own total. Just behind was Tao, whilst in third, Sincraian totalled the same weight as Denis Ulanov (Kazakhstan) but got the bronze due to his lower body weight. However, he was then disqualified for testing positive for exogenous testosterone.

🥇Kianoush Rostami 🇮🇷

🥈Tian Tao 🇨🇳

🥉Denis Ulanov 🇰🇿

Men’s -94kg

Five men went for opening lifts in the sntach competition above 170kg, but only Vadzim Straltsou (Belarus) landed his. However, it was his only successful lift of the snatch stage, leaving him in fourth. Sohrab Moradi (Iran) opened up a lead of 5kg, ahead of Aurimas Didzbalis (Lithuania) and Sarat Sumpradit (Thailand). Moradi landed his first lift in the clean and jerk stage of 221kg. He would not improve on it but did not need to, as no one else could improve on it.

🥇Sohrab Moradi 🇮🇷

🥈Vadzim Straltsou 🇧🇾

🥉Aurismas Didzbalis 🇱🇹

Men’s -105kg

Yang Zhe (China) and Ruslan Nurudinov (Uzbekistan) led after the first round, with big lifts of 190kg. Zhe wouldn’t improve on that, whereas Nurudinov got up to 194kg. That was matched by Ivan Efremov (Uzbekistan), a kilogram ahead of Aleksandr Zaychikov (Kazakhstan). Nurudinov came out with a massive 225kg, to consolidate his lead in the clean and jerk. He would nail all three of his rounds, lifting an Olympic Record of 237kg to seal gold and leave him a long way clear of second. Many men could have sealed silver by lifting their final weight but instead, it was Simon Martirosyan (Armenia) who got it with a lift of 227kg.

🥇Ruslan Nurudinov 🇺🇿

🥈Simon Martirosyan 🇦🇲

🥉Aleksandr Zaychikov 🇰🇿

Men’s 105kg+

A World Record was set in the snatch phase. Lasha Talakhadze (Georgia) managed to beat the old World Record with a lift of 215kg, but it was outdone by Behdad Salimi (Iran), beating his own World Record by lifting 216kg. Talakhadze came out and took the lead with a lift of 242kg in the clean and jerk phase, whilst Salimi failed to lift 245kg. The biggest lifts in that opening round came from Ruben Aleksanyan (Armenia) and Mart Seim (Estonia) with 245kg and 243kg respectively. Neither man would go on to lift higher and only Talakhadze managed to lift more than he lifted in the opening round. He lifted 247kg and finally a mammoth 258kg, which helped him set a brilliant World Record, whilst Salimi did not manage to get a lift off.

🥇Lasha Talakhadze 🇬🇪

🥈Gor Minasyan 🇦🇲

🥉Irakli Turmanidze 🇬🇪

Women’s -48kg

Sopita Tanasan (Thailand) came out the blocks quickly in the snatch and opened up a lead of 7kg to Sri Wahyuni Agustiani (Indonesia) and Beatriz Pirón (Dominican Republic), after lifting 92kg. Vuong Thi Huyen (Vietnam) couldn’t manage one lift so was eliminated, attempting 84kg. Tanasan, under no pressure, managed to lift the highest weight in the clean and jerk phase. It was Agustiani just behind her, whilst another contender in Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (India) failed to make a lift.

🥇Sopita Tanasan 🇹🇭

🥈Sri Wahyuni Agustiani 🇮🇩

🥉Hiromi Miyake 🇯🇵

Women’s -53kg

Li Yajun (China) landed a massive lift in the snatch competition, of 101kg to set an Olympic Record. Although, the best of the three lifts from Hsu Shu-Ching (Chinese Taipei) was 100kg, leaving the pair 10kg ahead of any other competitors. Shu-Ching opened with a clean and jerk lift of 112kg, whilst Yajun failed at 123kg. For the next lift, she would unnecessarily move up to 126kg but failed twice to leave herself out of the competition. Shu-Ching would win by over 10kg, despite not landing another lift.

🥇Hsu Shu-Ching 🇹🇼

🥈Hidilyn Diaz 🇵🇭

🥉Yoon Jin-Hee 🇰🇷

Women’s -58kg

Five lifters managed to go over 100kg in the snatch, but it was Sukanya Srisurat (Thailand) who dominated by lifting an Olympic Record of 110kg. The three leaders in the snatch categories also dominated the clean and jerk. Srisurat had a comfortable lead heading into the final round but Kuo Hsing-Chun (Chinese Taipei) tried a lift of 139kg, which would have been enough to win it. She did not manage it, leaving her with bronze and Srisurat as the gold medallist.

🥇Sukanya Srisurat 🇹🇭

🥈Pimsiri Srikaew 🇹🇭

🥉Kuo Hsing-Chun 🇹🇼

Women’s -63kg

Deng Wei (China) led after every round in the snatch section, finishing up with a lift of 115kg. Behind her was Karina Goricheva (Kazakhstan) on 111kg and Siripuch Gulnoi (Thailand) om 108kg. When Wei broke her own clean and jerk record of 147kg to set an overall record of 262kg, the gold medal race was clearly over. Almost as impressive behind her was Choe Hyo-Sim (North Korea) lifting 143kg to seal silver, whilst Gulnoi didn’t actually manage to make a lift in the clean and jerk phase.

🥇Deng Wei 🇨🇳

🥈Choe Hyo-Sim 🇰🇵

🥉Karina Goricheva 🇰🇿

Women’s -69kg

Four women lifted over 110kg in the snatch, with Xiang Yanmei (China) leading the way. The same four women were able to lift over 140kg in the clean and jerk phase. The most interesting battle came down to the bronze position, as Yanmei once again was the leader. Leydi Solis (Colombia) was in the bronze position heading into the final round, but couldn’t manage a lift of 146kg, which would have sealed bronze. Instead, Sara Ahmed (Egypt) lifted 143kg to go back into the second.

🥇Xiang Yanmei 🇨🇳

🥈Zhazira Zhapparkul 🇰🇿

🥉Sara Ahmed 🇪🇬

Women’s -75kg

Rim Jong-Sim (North Korea) started fast with a lift of 117kg, giving her an edge of 5kg over Lidia Valentin (Spain). Neither of those landed their second-round lift but both corrected that in round three. The failure of Valentín did allow Darya Naumuva (Belarus) to match her in second. The clean and jerk went similarly with Jong-Sim taking a big edge to seal the gold, with a total of 274kg, 16kg ahead of her closest contender.

🥇Rim Jong-Sim 🇰🇵

🥈Darya Naumuva 🇧🇾

🥉Lidia Valentín 🇪🇸

Women’s +75kg

The lead was held by Kim Kuk-Hyang (North Korea) after the snatch phase, as she managed to lift 131kg, whilst behind was Meng Suping (China). Four more lifters were in the 120s. It looked over when Suping lifted 175kg on her second attempt in the clean and jerk. Kuk-Hyang matched it though in her final lift only for Suping to once again go ahead, with a lift of 177kg.

🥇Meng Suping 🇨🇳

🥈Kim Kuk-Hyang 🇰🇵

🥉Sarah Robles 🇺🇸