Men's 69kg

Tuesday, August 12

China continued their dominance of men's lifting with a win by 20-y.o. Liao with 158-190-348. Teammate Shi was expected to medal as well, but he failed to appear from the warm-up room and the scoreboard reflected his withdrawl from competition. Word has it he had a lower back injury. He had been in 4th place after the Snatch competition.

Lee (KOR) looked strong and had my money for gold, but he failed to Total. His first Jerk resulted in a twisted foot/ankle which took him to the platform. He returned to make a partial attempt on his second, then pulled in, but dumped, 186kg on his final. At the press conference Lee stated that he'd had a cramp. Our crew first called it a cramp, but checking the playback it looked like the injury could have been more serious.

France's Dabaya-Tientcheu snatched well, ending with 151kg. He eventually placed second and seemed pleased. Although called out to 'go for the gold' with 197, his heart wasn't in it and neither second or third attempts were actually lifted.

Have you checked out the online coverage? Check out www.nbcolympics.com and follow the lift-by-lift details. It looks like Chris LeRoux (www.weightliftingexchange.com) is working as the moderator and fielding questions. USA's Woolfolk and Gump put in good performances in today's womens' competition.