Canada's Girard wins record-breaking gold
Saturday, 9 October 2010
NEW DELHI, Oct 8 (AFP): Canada's Christine Girard won the Commonwealth Games women's 69kg weightlifting gold on Friday with a dominant record-breaking victory secured by a huge 19 kilos.
Girard, a bronze medallist in Manchester in 2002, and silver medal winner in Melbourne four years ago, lifted a Games record 105kg in the snatch before succeeding with 130kg in the clean and jerk.
That gave the 25-year-old a Games record total of 235kg.
Janet Georges, a Seychelles police officer, a bronze medallist in 2006, won silver with a 216kg total while Nigerian 20-year-old Itohan Ebireguesele claimed bronze with a 215kg total.
Canada now have two golds in Delhi weightlifting after Marilou Dozois-Prevost had won the 53kg class.
"When I won my first Commonwealth medal, I promised myself that I would win the gold one day," said Girard, who has stepped up from the 63kg in which she competed in 2002 and 2006.
"I went to Beijing for the Olympics and I decided after then to move up to the bigger category to work on my body and just see how it goes," she explained.
"That was my last competition in the 69. I'll be going back down to the 63, so there's a big diet coming up for me soon."
Georges said she could have done better.
CWG medals table
G S B Total
Australia 40 20 19 79
India 17 13 11 41
Canada 13 2 16 31
England 12 28 14 54
S Africa 6 5 6 17
Nigeria 5 4 6 15
Malaysia 3 5 6 14
Singapore 2 2 4 8
New Zealand 1 9 4 14
Scotland 1 2 4 7
Bangladesh 0 0 1 1
Sri Lanka 0 1 1 2
Pakistan 0 1 0 1
Girard, a bronze medallist in Manchester in 2002, and silver medal winner in Melbourne four years ago, lifted a Games record 105kg in the snatch before succeeding with 130kg in the clean and jerk.
That gave the 25-year-old a Games record total of 235kg.
Janet Georges, a Seychelles police officer, a bronze medallist in 2006, won silver with a 216kg total while Nigerian 20-year-old Itohan Ebireguesele claimed bronze with a 215kg total.
Canada now have two golds in Delhi weightlifting after Marilou Dozois-Prevost had won the 53kg class.
"When I won my first Commonwealth medal, I promised myself that I would win the gold one day," said Girard, who has stepped up from the 63kg in which she competed in 2002 and 2006.
"I went to Beijing for the Olympics and I decided after then to move up to the bigger category to work on my body and just see how it goes," she explained.
"That was my last competition in the 69. I'll be going back down to the 63, so there's a big diet coming up for me soon."
Georges said she could have done better.
CWG medals table
G S B Total
Australia 40 20 19 79
India 17 13 11 41
Canada 13 2 16 31
England 12 28 14 54
S Africa 6 5 6 17
Nigeria 5 4 6 15
Malaysia 3 5 6 14
Singapore 2 2 4 8
New Zealand 1 9 4 14
Scotland 1 2 4 7
Bangladesh 0 0 1 1
Sri Lanka 0 1 1 2
Pakistan 0 1 0 1