PARIS — China’s Li Fabin retained the 61kg Olympic weightlifting title with a dominant performance and total lift of 310kg at the Paris Games on Wednesday, coming up just short in a bid to break his own world record.
The three-time world champion led off with an Olympic record lift of 143kg with his third attempt in the snatch and all but assured himself of gold when he hoisted 167kg in his second attempt at the clean and jerk.
Theerapong Silachai of Thailand took a surprise silver medal in a thrilling finish after lifting an impressive 171kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 303.
Hampton Morris, 20, gave the United States its first weightlifting medal in four decades. He finished third for bronze with a total of 298 after failing in his last attempt at 178kg in the clean and jerk, a lift that would have bettered the world record of 176kg he set in Phuket, Thailand in April.
Morris nailed his first attempt in the snatch at 122kg and converted on his third and final lift at 126kg.
Fabin’s third attempt in the clean was 172kg, which would have broken the total world mark of 318kg he set at the 2019 world championships in Pattaya, Thailand.
The 31-year-old got the bar onto his chest but, despite stretching every sinew, his right leg buckled when he tried to raise it over his head and he had to let it drop to the mat.
Guy Carlton won bronze in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, the last time the US medaled in the event. Morris is the youngest male weightlifting medalist since 1956.
Eko Irawan, a four-time Olympic medalist, was one of the five competitors who ended with DNFs.
The competition started after a half-hour delay at a packed Paris Expo divided evenly between noisy Chinese and American fans.
–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media
