Weightlifter Rizki Juniansyah wins Indonesia’s second gold at Paris Olympics – Sports

The 21-year-old jumped a total of 354 kilos, setting the Olympic record for the event without jerks. Reigning Chinese champion Shi Zhiyong failed to finish.

Rizki lifted 155kg in the snatch to put himself in a good position and then strained all his muscles in the second round of the clean and jerk with a lift of 199kg to secure gold.

The real battle was for second and third place, with Thailand’s Weeraphon Wichuma taking silver from Bulgaria’s Bozhidar Andreev.

The 19-year-old Wichuma lifted 198 kg in the clean and jerk and finished with 346 kg. That was 2 kg more than Andreev, but a whopping 8 kg more than Rizki.

“I am happy, proud and very emotional to have won this, my first gold medal and to have made history. Thank you to all Indonesians for their support, to those who are watching at home,” Rizki told reporters.

“There are no words that can describe how I feel. You saw me cry because it was such an emotional and beautiful experience and I’m already looking forward to the future,” he added.

Chinese weightlifter Shi missed all three of his clean and jerk attempts and left the podium without any chance of a podium finish in the shocked Paris Expo arena.

Shi had taken the lead after the snatch round with a Hercules lift of 165 kg, 10 kg more than his nearest rivals. He attempted to break his own Olympic record in the snatch, but failed to grab the bar and was unable to complete the lift.

Shi started with a comfortable lead in the clean and jerk, but then it all came crashing down for the two-time Olympic gold medalist, who won gold in the 69kg class at Rio 2016.

He failed to complete one of his attempts at the 191 kg throw, leaving him with a DNF (‘not finish’).

Earlier in the day, speed climber Veddriq Leonardo claimed Indonesia’s first gold medal at the Paris Olympics in men’s speed climbing. In addition to the two gold medals they won on Thursday, Indonesia also won bronze with shuttler Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the women’s badminton singles.

Weightlifter Nurul Akmal will compete in the women’s 81kg weightlifting competition on Sunday, the final day of the Summer Olympics.