With an aggregate of 380kg in the men’s 85kg category, Kermanshahi weightlifter Kianoush Rostami won the bronze medal in the weightlifting competitions in the London 2012 Olympic Games
Rostami, 21, lifted 171kg in snatch and 209kg in clean and jerk Friday night to bag the first medal for Iran in this year’s Olympic Games. He missed his 214kg clean and jerk to win the gold.
He told reporters that the stressful atmosphere of the games stopped him short of lifting 220kg weight; something he said had repeatedly succeeded lifting it.
Regretting his teammate’s failure, Rostami said Iran would have made the gold and silver of the 85kg category home if they (he and his teammate) had repeated their records during exercises.
Before him, his team-mate Sohrab Moradi, in the same category, attempted three times and failed every time to lift 166kg and was eliminated, Press TV reported.
The 2010 world champion Adrian Zielinski from Poland claimed the category’s gold with a solid display, lifting a combined weight of 385kg. Although silver medalist Russian Apti Aukhadov lifted the same total, the Pole won because of his lower bodyweight.
Another Iranian weightlifter Saeed Mohammad-Pour, competing in the 94kg category, is scheduled to face his rivals on Saturday night.
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