LONDON  - Twice world champion Behdad Salimi led an Iranian one-two in the men's over-105kg Olympic weightlifting competition at the ExCel Arena here on Tuesday. Compatriot Sajjad Anoushiravani took the silver medal ahead of Russia's European champion Ruslan Albegov. Salimi's winning total of 455kg was 6kg more than Anoushiravani managed with Albegov just 1kg below that. Both the silver and bronze medallists smashed their international competition personal bests. It completed a great day for Iran who also enjoyed success in Grec-Roman wrestling and the discus.
"I'm very happy, I worked very hard for this and had a very hard schedule," said Salimi, 22. "It's also been a good day for Iran because we got two gold and two silver medals." Salimi's total was well below his winning marker in last year's World Championships but he had secured the gold medal with his first clean and jerk lift of 247kg. "The moment I lifted 247kg I realised I'd won because the Russian then tried to lift 247kg and failed," he said. "I'm very happy because even though two world titles is good, the Olympics is completely different, it's the icing on the cake." After that he attempted a clean and jerk world record of 264kg, trying to beat the 263kg mark set by his legendary compatriot Hossein Rezazadeh, the twice Olympic and four-time world champion, at the Sydney Games in 2000.
However, Salimi didn't even get close and abandoned any thoughts of a third lift. "There was a lot of time between my two lifts and my body had got a bit cold so I decided not to try again," he added. Anoushiravani, 28, who was also second to his countryman at last year's worlds, said it would be difficult to go one better.