Tokyo Olympics: China’s Hou wins 49-kg weightlifting gold
Tokyo 2020 Olympics – Weightlifting – Women’s 49kg – Group A – Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan – July 24, 2021. Hou Zhihui of China in action. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
TOKYO—China’s Zhihui Hou won the gold medal in women’s 49-kg weightlifting at the Tokyo Olympics, bagging the second gold for China in as many competitions, with a comfortable win over Indian and Indonesian medalists.
Hou broke the Olympic records in all three categories of snatch, clean and jerk, and total with 210 kg, three kilos short of her own world record. She also holds the world record with 96 kg in snatch, which she didn’t attempt in Tokyo.
Mirabai Chanu, India’s only athlete in weightlifting, took home the silver medal. Chanu still holds the world record in clean and jerk of 119 kg.
In Rio 2016, Chanu was one of two athletes in her category who didn’t register a total, after failing all three of her clean and jerk attempts.
Tokyo 2020 Olympics – Weightlifting – Women’s 49kg – Group A – Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan – July 24, 2021. Windy Cantika Aisah of Indonesia reacts after a lift. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
Nineteen-year-old Indonesian lifter Windy Cantika Aisah clinched the bronze medal with 194 kg in total.
Making her Olympic debut, medal hopeful U.S. lifter Jourdan Delacruz failed all three attempts at clean and jerk. Japan’s veteran lifter Hiromi Miyake also failed similarly, and both failed to register a total.
There are two Olympic lifts: the clean and jerk, and the snatch. Each athlete is allowed three attempts at each lift. The best lift in each is combined to determine the overall total. Athletes must successfully attempt the snatch before proceeding to the clean and jerk.
Earlier on Saturday, China’s Yang Qian had claimed the first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics in the women’s 10-meter rifle competition.
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