Mexican lifter takes gold, Koreans complain

Sydney: Mexican weightlifter Soraya Jimenez produced a huge final lift to take the Olympic gold medal in the women's 58 kg category on Monday and deny North Korean favourite Ri Song Hui.

Ri took silver but the North Korean team appealed to the jury at the end of the competition, apparently claiming there had been an irregularity during Ri's penultimate lift.

It was unclear if the Koreans would lodge an official complaint. Khassaraporn Suta of Thailand took bronze.

Ri appeared to be cruising towards gold until her second lift of the clean-and-jerk section when she was penalised for exceeding the one-minute time limit.

She looked startled when the buzzer sounded to indicate she had wasted the attempt at 122.5 kg.

The Korean then attempted the same weight with her final lift. She succeeded to put herself back in the gold medal position.

She jumped off the platform and celebrated with her coach, seemingly convinced she had sealed victory.

But Jimenez asked for 127.5 kg to be put on the bar and lifted it agonisingly over her head to win gold by just 2.5 kgs and give Mexico its first gold medal in Olympic weightlifting history.

Her final score was 222.5 kg to Ri's 220. Suta was a further 10 kg back on 210 kg.

''I made lots of sacrifices to get here and I want to dedicate this victory to my grandfather,'' said Jimenez, who was roared on by a small but loud cluster of flag-waving Mexicans in the Sydney Convention Centre.

''Many thoughts are going through my mind...I am very, very happy. I've been working very, very hard.''

Ri was not immediately available to comment on her failure to win an event in which she was the clear favourite. The technical failure on her penultimate attempt effectively forced her to limit the weight on the final lift.

Suta said she was not totally satisfied with her performance but was pleased to win bronze.



(c) Reuters Limited.