BEIJING // Pak Hyon Suk won North Korea's first gold medal, taking the women's 63 kilogram weightlifting division on the last lift of the competition that equalled the Olympic record. Pak risked being eliminated after dropping two clean and jerks at 135kg (297.6 pounds), but nailed her final attempt to clinch the gold. She had lifted 106kg in the snatch and finished with a total of 241kg (531.3 pounds), just 1kg (2.2 pounds) ahead of silver medallist Irina Nekrassova of Kazakhstan. Lu Ying-chi of Taiwan took the bronze with 231kg (509.3 pounds).
World champion and world record-holder Liu Haixia of China was not competing because the Olympic host chose to prioritise other weight categories. Teams can compete with a maximum of four women in Olympic weightlifting. Svetlana Tsarukaeva of Russia was the favourite to win the event, but crashed out with three failed attempts to lift 107kg (235.9 pounds) in the snatch. Visibly shaken, she accidentally bumped her head into the wall as she left the platform in tears. That left Nekrassova in the lead after clearing 110kg (242.5 pounds) in the snatch and Pak under pressure to catch up in the clean and jerk.
The North Korean boldly started the clean and jerk at the Olympic-record level of 135kg (297.6 pounds), but the gamble almost resulted in her elimination. She failed her first two attempts, struggling to lock her arms with the bar overhead. Weightlifters need to have at least one good attempt in each of the two lifts - the snatch and the clean and jerk - to stay in the competition. Pak coped with the pressure in her final attempt, wobbling slightly but firming up to lock her arms as the judges approved the lift.
*AP