Olympics weightlifting: Podobedova wins 75kg gold for Kazakhstan
- Published
Kazakhstan's Svetlana Podobedova won gold with the final lift of the women's 75kg weightlifting at London 2012.
Podobedova lifted 130kg in the snatch and an Olympic record 161kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 291kg.
Russia's Natalya Zabolotnaya also lifted 291kg - claiming an overall Olympic record having reached that total first - but Podobedova won the gold because of her lower body weight.
Iryna Kulesha of Belarus won bronze with a combined score of 269kg.
Reigning world champion Nadezda Evstyukhina of Russia had earlier caused a huge upset by going out of the competition when she failed with all three snatch attempts.
Podobedova, 26, was born in Russia, but switched to Kazakhstan after a fall-out in 2006. Russia contested the switch and prevented her from competing at the Beijing Olympics four years ago.
In addition to claiming an overall Olympic record, silver medallist Zabolotnaya also set a new Games best in the snatch, lifting 131kg.
Zabolotnaya only received her Games call-up last week after Oksana Slivenko, who was due to compete in the women's 69kg, was forced to withdraw with an injury.
The gold medal is Kazakhstan's third of the Olympic weightlifting competition. There were no British athletes in the 75kg category.
- Published3 August 2012