Clean lift for Dobrev
Greece's Kakiasvilis finishes out of medals
The Greek faithful came to see if their 35-year-old star of Olympics past could give them one last thrill. They left having witnessed the new breed of lifting.
Bulgaria's Milen Dobrev -- a sleek 24-year-old whose freshly shaved head, wide eyebrows, and thick neck give him a striking resemblance to the advertising icon Mr. Clean -- lived up to his top seeding and took the gold medal in the 207-pound division of the Olympic weightlifting tournament last night.
Dobrev, the reigning world champion, made clean lifts on each of his first five tries. He failed on his sixth and final attempt, but just laughed and kissed the weights, knowing his total of 898 pounds (407.5 kilograms) already had clinched first place.
Junior world champion Khadjimourad Akkaev, a 19-year-old from Russia, took silver with a total of 893 pounds. Fellow Russian Alexey Petrov got the bronze.
Missing from the medal stand was three-time Olympic champion Kakhi Kakiasvilis, a native of Russia who became a Greek citizen in 1994 after discovering that his mother and grandmother were from Greece.
Kakiasvilis didn't even finish with a legal total. After failing on his first lift, he loaded extra weights on the bar to try catching up quickly. The plan backfired as he was successful only once.
"This was the most important moment of my career, but also the most bitter," Kakiasvilis said. "It's the first time my legs didn't support me. This has made me more stubborn and I'm not giving up."
Already the oldest lifter in the field, Kakiasvilis proclaimed he wants to try again in Beijing in 2008, when he'll be 39.
"I'll try and see what happens," he said.
A sellout crowd of 5,000, many thinking they'd seen his last performance, began chanting "Ka-khi" as soon as the medal ceremony ended, eventually luring him out for a quick wave from the platform. They kept cheering until he went up again, even moving a little farther out, but he refused to approach the medal platform as they had hoped.
"I wanted to give something to my lovely crowd, but I didn't," he said. "I didn't have the power."
Kakiasvilis joins fellow Greek Pyrros Dimas and Naim Suleymanoglu, the Pocket
Fans chanted lustily even before the finals began and were never dismayed by Kakiasvilis's failures. They also were highly supportive of another Greek, Nikolaos Kourtidis, who at age 18 finished 11th.
Dobrev was very businesslike in his approach, especially compared to the pensive, waggle-filled lifts by Kakiasvilis.
The Bulgarian set a tone with his first lift, walking straight to the bar and wasting no time before snatching 397 pounds over his head. He then walked off quickly, as if he'd picked up something half as heavy.
He showed a little more effort on his next four turns, but the result was always the same. He began to realize it was his day after his third lift, when he kissed his hands and waved to the crowd, a gesture he repeated later.
Cycling
Australia easily defeated Britain for the gold medal in the 4,000-meter team pursuit, adding the Olympic title to its three consecutive world championships in the event. Australia finished in 3:58.233 seconds. Britain finished in 4:01.760.
Spain beat defending gold medalist Germany for the bronze.
For US track cyclist Jennie Reed, three quick races, about 40 seconds of hard pedaling time, and it was all over. She was eliminated from the opening rounds of the sprint competition. She finished second in the consolation race, placing her 10th in a 12-woman field.
Table tennis
Ryu Seung-min beat China's Wang Hao in six games, becoming the first South Korean to win the men's table tennis gold medal since the sport was added at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.
Ryu, ranked third in the world, won, 11-3, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 11-9, ending China's long run of men's singles titles. Wang Liqin of China won the bronze. 