Weightlifting: Kazakh wins record under-94kg gold

LONDON: Kazakhstan’s Ilya Ilyin set two new world records as he stormed to Olympic under-94kg men’s weightlifting gold at the ExCel Arena. The 24-year-old maintained his unbeaten record in international competition with a total of 418kg, beating the old mark of 412kg set by Akakios Kakhiashvili of Greece at the World Championships in Athens in 1999. Ilyin also broke the clean and jerk record with a lift of 233kg. Alexander Ivanov of Russia took silver with a lift of 409kg while Moldova’s Anatoli Ciricu’s total of 407kg was enough for bronze due to him being lighter than Andrey Demanov of Russia. But the day belonged to the incomparable Ilyin who also retained his Olympic title. “I gave it everything, I just love to compete and to beat strong competitors,” said the gold medal winner.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2012.