RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – In a field depleted by doping bans, Deng Wei won Olympic gold and set a world record in women’s weightlifting.
The Chinese lifter won the 63-kilogram category Tuesday, hoisting 147 kilograms in the clean and jerk and 115 in the snatch for a world-record total of 262. Deng’s clean and jerk lift also broke her own world record by 1 kilo.
The previous world-record holder, Taiwan’s Lin Tzu-Chi was a mysterious late withdrawal Tuesday. The International Weightlifting Federation said it had not been given a reason why Lin pulled out.
“Because this is my first Olympic Games, I was quite nervous,” Deng told reporters. “But I set my goal to break the world record before coming to Rio, so this is actually within my expectations.”
Choe Hyo Sim of North Korea took silver and Karina Goricheva of Kazakhstan earned bronze. Goricheva said that “physically a silver medal was possible” for her but she had been affected by the pressure of the Olympics. Choe said: “I am going to try harder to win gold next time. I am not happy with the result. I could have tried much harder,” said Choe.