AFP/London


GOLD AND RECORD: China’s Xueying Li lifts 108 Kg on snatch setting new Olympic record in the women’s 58Kg Group A weightlifting competition. (AFP
China’s Li Xueying won her country’s second weightlifting gold, blowing away the rest of the field and breaking two Olympic records to take the women’s 58 kilogram weight division.  Li lifted an Olympic record total of 246 kg, comprising an Olympic record 108kg in the snatch lift and a 138 kg clean and jerk.
Thailand’s Pimsiri Sirikaew took the silver with a total of 236kg and the bronze medal went to Ukrainian Yuliya Kalina. 
Eighteen-year-old Briton Zoe Smith came 12th, having lifted a total of 211kg in the earlier B group session, setting a new British record of 121 kg in the clean and jerk to the delight of a raucous crowd in the 6,000 seat ExCel arena. Sunday too was one of records as North Korean Om Yun-Chol produced a stunning upset and Kazakh teenager Zulfiya Chinshanlo turned on the style in front of Sebastian Coe.
 Om was left thanking his country’s late “Great Leader” Kim Jong-Il and “Great Comrade” Kim Jong-Un after claiming gold in the men’s -56kg class with a world record-equalling clean and jerk, although the competition went down to the wire.
And Chinshanlo powered to gold in the women’s -53kg category after setting a new world record of 131kg in the clean and jerk. In a tactical move to put pressure on two-time world champion Wu Jingbiao of China, the eventual silver medallist, Om controversially opted to lift in the morning’s ‘B’ group for those lifters normally hoisting lesser weights than those in the afternoon’s ‘A’ group.
Om recorded a combined total of 293kg thanks to 125kg in the snatch and an Olympic record of 168kg in the clean and jerk.
That lift equalled Mutlu Halil of Turkey’s world record and also saw Om become only the fifth man in history to lift three times his bodyweight. Wu claimed silver with 289kg (133, 156), with Azerbaijan teenager Valentin Hristov taking bronze on 286kg.
“I wanted to lift a big weight and make the other athletes nervous. I wanted to put more pressure on the other athletes,” said Om, who became the first lifter in Olympic history to win gold from the ‘B’ group. “I think my tactic worked 100 percent. But I watched the evening session with a lot of nervousness.”
He added: “There are no secrets. The reason for my improvement and how I won the gold medal is down to the warm love of the Great Leader Kim Jong-Il and the Great Comrade Kim Jong-Un.” 
The women’s competition was watched close up by Coe, the chief organiser of the London Games, and he was treated to a fine show by Chinshanlo, whose agression at the barbell belied her baby-face looks. Asian champion Hsu Shu-Ching of Taiwan took silver with a total of 219kg (96, 123), on countback from Moldova’s Cristina Iovu, who took bronze with 219kg (99, 120).
“I want to celebrate the gold medal by drinking a glass of beer. Actually, I am only able to drink half a glass,” said Chinshanlo, who was not too upset at just missing out on breaking the world record in the total with a narrow miss at 135kg in the clean and jerk. “On the last lift I had a plan to break the record but I failed. I am a bit disappointed.”
Chinshanlo said that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev had been in the stadium to watch her claim the central Asian country’s second gold medal in as many days following Alexandre Vinokourov’s win in the men’s cycling road race.