China’s Deng Wei lifts gold with a world record as main rival is withdrawn for doping

Chinese weightlifter Deng Wei lifted Olympic gold with a world record in the women’s 63kg category on Tuesday, after favourite Lin Tzu-chi from Taiwan was banned after reportedly failing a doping test.

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Weightlifting gold medallist Deng Wei of China competes in the final of the women’s 63kg category in Rio on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:45am, 10 Aug 2016Updated: 3:37pm, 10 Aug 2016

Chinese weightlifter Deng Wei lifted Olympic gold with a world record in the women’s 63kg category on Tuesday, after favourite Lin Tzu-chi from Taiwan was banned after reportedly failing a doping test.

Deng lifted 147kg in the clean-and-jerk and 115kg in the snatch for a combined 262kg which broke the record held by Lin.

North Korea’s Choe Hyo-sim (248kg) took silver while Kazakhstan’s Karina Goricheva (243kg) won bronze.

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“I am very excited and very thrilled to win this medal,” 23-year-old Deng said.

“At first, I was very nervous, because it was my first Olympic Games, but afterwards I won, so I am just super excited. I am very satisfied with my performance. I have been targeting a gold medal for a long time, so I am very happy with this.”

China’s Chen Ruolin (left) and Liu Huixia embrace after their final dive in the women’s synchronised 10-metre platform competition on Tuesday. Photo: AP

It was China’s second weightlifting world record in Rio after Long Qingquan broke the 56kg men’s mark with a combined 307kg.

Taiwan’s Lin was widely regarded the favourite ahead of the Olympics after her world-record combined lift of 261kg at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.