PARIS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese weightlifter Liu Huanhua claimed the men's 102kg gold medal at the Paris Olympics on Saturday in the South Paris Arena.
The 22-year-old lifted 186kg in the snatch and 220kg in the clean and jerk, achieving a winning total of 406kg. His victory also represented China's first Olympic gold in men's heavyweight categories.
Liu, world record holder for both clean and jerk and the total, completed his first attempt of 220kg in clean and jerk but failed his next two attempts at 228kg and 233kg. However, it was enough to secure China's 34th gold medal at the Paris 2024.
This also marks the fourth gold medal for the Chinese weightlifting team, following victories by Li Fabin, Hou Zhihui and Luo Shifang.
"Honestly, I wasn't relaxed before the competition. I was under a lot of pressure. Although the performance wasn't perfect, winning the gold medal makes it perfect," said Liu.
"The crowd gave me a lot of encouragement, but now that the competition is over, it's time to start from scratch. This is just the beginning, and I hope to defend my Olympic title."
Akbar Djuraev of Uzbekistan took the silver medal with 404kg and the bronze medal went to individual neutral athlete Yauheni Tsikhantsou with 402kg.
Later on Saturday, the men's +102kg saw Georgian weightlifter Lasha Talakhadze took the gold medal with a total of 470kg.
The Tokyo Olympic champion lifted 215kg in the natch and a dominating 255kg in the clean and jerk.
Varazdat Lalayan bagged the silver medal with 467kg, ahead of the bronze medalist Gor Minasyan of Bahrain with 461kg.
On the women's side, Norway's Solfrid Koanda won the 81kg title with two new Olympic records set, followed by Egypt's Sara Ahmed and Neisi Dajomes of Ecuador.
Koanda lifted 121kg in the snatch and a new record of 154 in the clean and jerk, to go with a total of 275kg, also an Olympic record.
The gold medal for the women's +81kg division will be decided on Sunday, the final day of the Olympics.
