Ilyn retains 94kg weightlifting title

London: Ilya Ilyin became the first weightlifter at London 2012 to retain his Olympic title having seen off a world class field to clinch a deserved gold in the men`s 94kg.

In keeping with the weightlifting competition at ExCeL, world and Olympic records were sent tumbling as Ilyin lifted superbly to repeat his success in Beijing 2008 and claim Kazakhstan`s fourth lifting gold of the Games.

The 24-year-old punched a world beating clean and jerk of 233kg to record a huge total of 409kg - surpassing the tally he finished with four years ago but narrowly short of the world record.

Russia`s Alexandr Ivanov, who could have really piled the pressure on Ilyin only to fail the penultimate lift of 229kg, took silver with a total of 409kg.

Bronze went to Moldova`s Anatoli Ciricu after he was marginally lighter in bodyweight than Russia`s Andrey Demanov following a tie on 407kg.

BDST: 1730 HRS, August 5, 2012
Edited by
Chanchal Ghosh, Newsroom Editor