South Korea's Sa Jaehyouk wins men's 77kg weightlifting gold

South Korea's Sa Jae-hyouk claimed the men's 77kg title with a total of 366kg on Wednesday, beating Chinese veteran Li Hongli with bodyweight advantage.

It's South Korea's first gold in weightlifting at the Beijing Olympics. Chinese weightlifters have won six golds out of the total seven events they took part in until now.

"I can't even believe that I have won the gold. I will train even harder after this success," Sa said.

Li said he tried to lose weight before the Games started, which might have affected his performance.

"I was full of strength at the beginning, but later I could not maintain it," said the home favorite.

Although he had no regrets over the result, the 27-year-old still burst into tears when answering questions in the mixed zone.

It's Li's first, and probably also the last Olympics as the veteran disclosed he may retire after next year's National Games.

"I'm too old to wait for the next Olympics," he said.

Chinese men's team coach Chen Wenbin said it was a pity that Li missed the last snatch of 170kg, however, he was still satisfied with Li's performance.

"He has tried his best," Chen said, adding that even if Li had succeeded in 170, it would make no difference to the final result.

"The South Korean is stronger," he said.

Sa, 23, snatched 163kg while Li hoisted 168kg in snatch session.

The rookie demonstrated a strong power in clean and jerk. After Li finished his third attempt and jerked 198kg, Sa was still waiting for a heavier weight.

Sa said he was under certain pressure as in the previous categories, two South Korean potential gold contenders (Lee Baeyoung in men's 69kg class and Ji Hunmin in men's 62kg category) failed in clean and jerk section.

"The image of their failure stayed in my mind and made me unable to sleep at night," he said.

However, he finally managed to get rid of the shadow.

"I'm simple-minded. It's easy for me to concentrate," he told the press conference.

He succeeded in first attempt of 201kg, securing the silver, and then jerked 203kg, grabbing the gold.

"The Chinese lifter was very strong but I didn't want to lose," he said.

He later challenged the world jerk record by trying to hoist 211kg in his third attempt, but failed.

Sa was a junior world champion of 69kg category in 2005 and only ranked fifth in 2007 world championships.

The bronze went to Armenian strongman Gevorg Davtyan, 2007 world championships silver medalist, who totaled 360kg. He said he has to be better prepared psychologically to beat the South Korean and Chinese lifters next time.

As predicted, the event was a scuffle among batches of top lifters, including the three medalists and Russian Oleg Perepechenov, bronze medalist in Athens, but none of them has an absolute advantage.

Turkish lifter Taner Sagir, defending champion and 2006 world champion, dropped off the competition after three failed attempts for 165kg in snatch, just like his compatriot Nurcan Taylan, another Athens Olympic gold medalist did in the women's 48kg class.

Sagir said he was injured in the first snatch attempt, which affected his next two attempts.

"I knew I couldn't succeed. For this I am sorry to the Turkish people," he said.

北京时间8月13日，2008年北京奥运会举重男子77公斤级决赛在北京航空航天大学体育馆开始角逐。韩国选手史载赫表现神勇，他以总成绩366公斤压倒中国大力士李宏利，夺取该级别冠军。

这是中国举重队在本届奥运会丢失的首枚金牌。李宏利的总成绩虽然也是366公斤，但由于他的体重比史载赫重，无奈屈居亚军。亚美尼亚选手达夫强以总成绩360公斤位列第三名。

赛后冠军史载赫说：“我说不出现在是什么感觉，我脑子很乱。我甚至不敢相信我已经夺得了金牌。以后我会更加努力的训练。”

谈及挺举最后一举为什么要从207公斤增加到211公斤，史载赫说：“我很有信心，训练的时候我曾经举起过210公斤。中国的那个选手（李宏利）很厉害，我不想输。四年前我的肩部受了伤，手术了四次，我以为我会退役，但是我坚持了下来。”

铜牌得主达夫强说：“我想获得金牌，但是得到铜牌我也很满意了。我为奥运会准备了很久，今天虽然没有获得冠军，但是我接受这个结果。下次遇到韩国和中国的选手我必须在心里上有更好的准备。”