Dmitry Berestov of Russia took full advantage of a mystifying performance by Qatar world champion Asaad Said Saif Asaad, who moved to the tiny state from Bulgaria in a football-style transfer, to win the heavyweight weightlifting gold yesterday.

The 24-year-old Berestov, who was runner-up in this year’s European Championships, lifted a total of 425kg to give the former powerhouses their first gold in the men’s Olympic competition.

Ferenc Gyurkovics of Hungary lifted a ‘life or death’ 225kg in the clean and jerk to grab silver on 420kg with Ukraine’s Igor Razoronov being relegated to bronze medal position on higher body weight after registering the same total.

As Berestov celebrated what he described as a ‘surprise win’, the Qatar delegation were piecing together a night of lost opportunity.

Asaad had been expected to deliver Qatar their first Olympic gold and repay a one million US dollar investment in him and seven Bulgarian teammates in the late 1990s.

But the grand plan disintegrated as Asaad, who as Angel Popov won the 1999 Junior World Championship for Bulgaria, passed on a vital lift, missed two more and then had a seemingly good attempt ruled out 2-1 by the judges.

Asaad, a bronze medalist in the Sydney Olympics and the 2002 Asian Games champion, looked well in command in the snatch with a lift of 192.5kg.

But he did not take his third attempt causing anguish among the Qatar camp led by Mohamed Yousef Al Mana, the president of the country’s weightlifting federation.

“I spoke to the coach and Asaad was not injured — it was a psychological thing,” he said. “He did not feel up to lifting heavier in that section.”

Asaad, trailing by 2.5kg going into the clean and jerk, made two half-hearted attempts at 225kg before having his 227.5kg lift ruled out by the judges. He finished unranked.

“I thought it was a good lift,” said Qatar weightlifting coach Salman Almass Ahmad. “But it would not have been good enough for a medal. I cannot explain what happened (tonight).”

Qatar sport was in the news earlier this year when the Football Association tried to bring in several Brazilians to play for the national team. FIFA scuppered the plan by clamping down on naturalization by players who do not have an obvious connection with their new country.

Big money has enticed the likes of Gabriel Batistuta, Stefan Effenberg and Franck Leboeuf to finish their playing careers in Qatar, a situation which critics say is stalling the careers of young Qatari players.

Gold medalist Berestov did not dwell on the Qatar lifter’s nightmare.

“It is true I did not expect to win but I have the gold,” he said. “There were times during the competition I did not think it was going to be my day.”

Silver medalist Gyurkovics said that he had decided to gamble on a higher weight in the clean and jerk.

“I had missed a lower weight and it was a life or death lift — thankfully I made it and it was life not death,” he said. “The coach probably was near to getting a heart attack. But all is well that ends well.”

Greek Judoka Dies in Hospital After Balcony Suicide Leap

• A member of Greece’s Olympic judo squad who leapt from a third-story apartment after an argument with her boyfriend just days before the Athens Games has died, a hospital source said yesterday.

Eleni Ioannou, 20, had been hospitalized for 17 days after sustaining multiple injuries when she plunged from the balcony of boyfriend Yiorgos Chryssostomidis’ apartment on Aug. 7.

Three days later Chryssostomidis attempted to commit suicide by jumping off the same balcony. The 24-year-old’s condition is improving, hospital sources said yesterday.

The tragic affair saw the couple portrayed as a modern-day Romeo and Juliet in media and transfixed Greece on the eve of the Olympics.

Ioannou’s coach Georges Mountakis told reporters that the young judo star had been suffering from “teenage psychological problems”.