Olympic newcomer Li Fabin tip-toed his way to weightlifting glory as he struck 61kg gold while his teammate Lijun Chen ruled the 67kg field as both men won gold for China after record-breaking performances.
China maintained their perfect record at the weightlifting as their men followed the success of Hou Zhihui who starred in the women’s 49kg event on Saturday. The medal table-topping hosts of the Winter 2022 Olympics have won all three gold medals contested so far in weightlifting at Tokyo 2020.
IOC President Thomas Bach was among the audience at the Tokyo International Forum where China were in dominant form on Sunday. Bach attended the weightlifting event during the 61kg Group A session.
Asian Championships winner Li, 28, who comes from Quanzhou, produced a herculean effort to lift a total of 313kg to win gold by a gap of 11kg to his closest rival. China’s teak-tough champion lifted 141kg in the snatch and 172kg in the clean and jerk.
The record breaker became an instant social media sensation when he turned to unorthodox tactics in order to clear his 166kg clean and jerk effort. To save his lift Li adjusted his stance to lift 166kg on just one leg.
“This is the first time I tried this move,” said the current world champion before adding: “I know this move appeases the audience but I don’t suggest someone to learn or make the same move.
“To me the record is not the Olympic record, it is my own record. I just wanted to break my own record. I wanted to make sure my body could be in good condition for the next competition in China.”
Li continued: “I always set a higher place to push myself to be better. It was little easier than I thought. On the first snatch (137kg) I could not make it. So I kept calm and just did it. I am really excited.”
Indonesia’s Eko Yuli Irawan took silver with an impressive total of 302kg which saw him lift 137kg in the snatch and 165kg in the clean and jerk. Irawan earned his fourth Olympic medal in a row as he repeated his Rio 2016 silver medal having earned bronze medals in 2008 and 2012.
Kazakhstan’s Igor Son edged past Japan’s Yoichi Itokazu to clinch bronze. Son recorded a total of 294kg with a 131kg effort in the snatch and a 163kg score in the clean and jerk. Itokazu finished just two kilograms behind the Kazakh as he narrowly missed the podium with a total of 292kg which featured a credible 133kg snatch which was better than Son’s but his lower clean and jerk score of 159kg sealed his fate.
The 67kg men’s Olympic title was won by Lijun Chen who was inspired by the victory of his compatriot Li earlier in the day. Chen was not to be outdone as he also pitched a brace of Olympic records.
The four-time world champion was forced to withdraw from the Rio 2016 Olympics during the event due to injury but delivered this time around in Tokyo with a total of 332kg for a new Olympic record. Weightlifting’s latest Olympic champion registered 145kg in the snatch and 187kg in the clean and jerk with the latter also being an Olympic record.
Chen moved up from the 62kg category to the 67kg division in 2018 after the sport’s world governing body, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), restructured the weight categories in 2018 and that change paid off today with the finest result of his illustrious career.
Chen said: “I feel that it is very hard to be in Tokyo 2020, I have many feelings, for a long time I have been struggling but I have always been working hard. The goal of Tokyo 2020 has been there for several years now and it’s been an unpredictable time.
“Many of my competitors are very strong so I knew I had to be stronger than them. That’s what I managed to show today.”
Silver went to an emotional Colombia’s Luis Javier Mosquera Lozano who finished just one kilogram behind the gold medallist.
The Rio 2016 bronze medallist produced a 151kg effort in the snatch, which was the highest recorded in the competition, and 180kg in the clean and jerk which was only surpassed by the gold medallist. Mosquera Lozano earned Colombia’s first medal at Tokyo 2020.
Bronze was won by Italy’s Mirko Zanni who posted a 145kg snatch and a 177kg clean and jerk to continue his country’s strong overall start to the Olympics.