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Sunday, September 24
Kakiasvilis clinches third gold
Reuters
SYDNEY, Australia -- Greece's Akakios Kakiasvilis
became only the third weightlifter in history to take three
Olympic gold medals when he won a tactical battle for the men's
94 kg contest on Sunday.
Kakiasvilis emulated the feat of his compatriot Pyrros
Dimas, who won the 85 kg category in front of around 1,000
flag-waving Greek fans on Saturday night to add to his titles
from Barcelona and Atlanta.
"Pocket Hercules" Naim Suleymanoglu is the only other
lifter to have won three Olympic gold medals. The Turk
triumphed in Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta but failed in his bid
to win an unprecedented fourth title in Sydney.
Polish teenager Szymon Kolecki took silver in Sunday's
battle of minds and Russia's defending champion Alexei Petrov
claimed bronze.
Kakiasvilis, who was born in Georgia but moved to Greece
after his first success in Barcelona in 1992, lay second at the
halfway stage of the contest behind Iranian snatch specialist
Kouroush Bagheri.
The Greek lifted 220 kg with his first effort at the
clean-and-jerk but then watched as European champion Kolecki
lifted 222.5 kg to leave both lifters level on a total of 405
kg with two lifts to go.
However, the Greek realized he was in the gold medal
position because his bodyweight was lower than Kolecki's. When
two lifters finish a contest with the same total the lighter
athlete wins.
Kakiasvilis then played weightlifting's equivalent of
call-my-bluff with his less experienced rival, asking for more
weight to be piled on the bar only to decline at the last
moment to put the ball back in the Pole's court.
Kolecki finally took up the challenge with the bar loaded
to 227.5 kg but failed the lift and appeared to injure his
ankle.
Perhaps realizing the task was beyond him, he declined his
final lift leaving Kakiasvilis as champion on a relatively
modest total of 405 kg. The Greek had the luxury of declining
his final two lifts.
Petrov totaled 402.5 kg, the same score as the slightly
heavier Bagheri, who finished fourth.
"Up until now there haven't been many weightlifters who
have achieved this (three gold medals)," said Kakiasvilis, who
has also won three world and four European overall titles.
"There is only Suleymanoglu and Pyrros last night."
Both Greeks will seek to succeed where Suleymanoglu failed
and win a fourth gold medal in what promises to be a
highly-charged weightlifting programme in Athens.
"Since I have reached this point and have climbed such a
high mountain I will continue to Athens in 2004," the
31-year-old Kakiasvilis confirmed.
Kolecki, the man who would have been best placed to
dethrone the Greek in four years time, said he planned to move
up a weight class to join the heavyweights.
"I wish Akakios luck," he said.
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