Talakhadze breaks records to conquer super heavyweight class

Published August 5, 2021
LASHA Talakhadze of Georgia competes in the men’s +109kg weightlifting event on Wednesday.—AP
LASHA Talakhadze of Georgia competes in the men’s +109kg weightlifting event on Wednesday.—AP

TOKYO: Lasha Talak­hadze pumped everyone up with three world records on the final day of Olympic competition in weightlifting.

The defending champion from Georgia lifted 223kg in the snatch and 265kg in the clean and jerk for a total 488kg on Wednesday. All three figures broke his own world records in the over-109kg men’s superheavyweight category.

Ali Davoudi of Iran was left in second place by the vast margin of 47kg. Syria’s Man Asaad took the bronze with 424 kg.

Even Talakhadze’s starting lifts were more than anyone else attempted, which meant he had to lift three times back-to-back in each half of the competition.

Talakhadze immediately pledged to return for a third Olympic gold in 2024, and his feat in Tokyo raised the question of whether he could become the first man to lift the once undreamed-of total of 500kg.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2021

Opinion

Editorial

Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...
Provincial share
Updated 17 Mar, 2024

Provincial share

PPP has aptly advised Centre to worry about improving its tax collection rather than eying provinces’ share of tax revenues.
X-communication
17 Mar, 2024

X-communication

IT has now been a month since Pakistani authorities decided that the country must be cut off from one of the...
Stateless humanity
17 Mar, 2024

Stateless humanity

THE endless hostility between India and Pakistan has reduced prisoners to mere statistics. Although the two ...