Pocket Hercules fails to qualify

Sydney: Turkish weightlifting great Naim Suleymanoglu failed on Sunday in his bid to become only the fourth man in history to win four Olympic gold medals in an individual event in as many Games.

Suleymanoglu took a gamble by setting his entry weight for the snatch in the men's 62 kg category at 1.45 kg higher than the Olympic record. He failed in all three attempts and therefore failed to qualify for the clean and jerk stage of the competition.

Suleymanoglu, known as the "Pocket Hercules", won gold medals in the same category at Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta. He retired after the 1996 Games and made his comeback earlier this year.



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