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Lasha Talakhadze sweeps world weightlifting records

Posted at 9:08 AM, Aug 04, 2021
and last updated 2021-08-04 15:20:36-04

FULL RESULTS

The last weightlifting event of the Tokyo Olympics, the category for giant men over 109kg, had two bits of suspense.

First, who would take silver and bronze? The answers were Ali Davoudi, the junior world record holder, and Syria's Man Asaad.

Second, how much weight would Georgia's Lasha Talakhadze lift to defend his Olympic title? The answer: a lot.

Talakhadze closed out Tokyo's weightlifting competitions in style, setting a world record with a 223kg lift in the snatch, setting another world record with a 265kg lift in the clean and jerk, and, as math dictates, an overall world record of 488kg.

The big Georgian left little doubt with each lift. And by using his first attempt in each phase to lift a higher weight than anyone else attempted at all, he was simply in a class by himself.

The only question left after this: When will the 27-year-old break the 500kg mark?