Weightlifting powerhouse Bulgaria finally made an appearance on the Olympic podium yesterday, when Milen Dobrev lifted their first medal taking the 94 kg gold.
Their squad ravaged by doping scandals and suspensions, Bulgarian lifters had been unusually quiet in Athens until Dobrev combined a lift of 187.5 kg in the snatch with 220 kg in the clean and jerk for a winning total of 407.5 kg.
Russians occupied the other two places on the podium, Khadjimourad Akkaev taking silver with 405 kg and Eduard Tjukin bronze on 397.5 kg.
“I don’t want to comment on doping,” said Dobrev, after adding Olympic gold to his world championship title. “It’s true during the last year things have been very quiet. But in Sydney we had a very big team competing and it doesn’t mean that at every Games you get the same number of medals.”
Only the former-Soviet Union, United States and Germany-GDR have won more Olympic weightlifting medals than Bulgaria.
But for all its success Bulgaria has also come to represent the dark side of the sport. Four years ago in Sydney, three Bulgarian lifters tested positive for banned substances, stripped of their medals and the team sent home in disgrace.
Galabin Boevski, managed to hold onto the Olympic title he won in Sydney but was not able defend his gold medal in Athens after being issued an eight-year ban in March for tampering with his urine sample at last year’s world championships.
Once again the Nikaia hall filled with Greek supporters coming to see Olympic history and once again they left disappointed as Akakios Kakiasvili’s bid to become the first weightlifter to claim four gold medals ended in miserable failure making just one of six lifts and finishing without a total.
Two days earlier, compatriot Pyrros Dimas had also attempted to lift a fourth gold but settled for a bronze and a hero’s farewell.
Kakiasvili’s sendoff was considerably more muted, the capacity crowd offering a heart felt but brief tribute, which the three-time gold medalist acknowledged with a quick wave before disappearing behind the stage.
The 35-year-old had said the Athens Olympics would be his last but before the hall had emptied announced to the media he wanted to continue on.
“I know it will be difficult but this failure has made me stronger, it has made me want to go on,” said Kakiasvili. “I want to go on to Beijing to thank all the people who have supported me.”
Salzgeber’s Lead Melts Away
Ulla Salzgeber’s big lead in the equestrian dressage melted away in the Athens sun yesterday as defending Olympic champion Anky van Grunsven leapt into second place after the second of the three stages.
Van Grunsven recovered from a sub par first round in Saturday’s Grand Prix, where she was a distant third in the leg that doubled as the team contest, with a dazzling ride in yesterday’s Grand Prix Special that lifted her ahead of Spain’s Beatriz Ferrer-Salat.
