(21 July 1996; Day 02)
This is the day Chinese weightlifting has long waited for. It has been 12 long and arduous years for the Chinese since their last weightlifting gold medal. At the 1984 Games in Los Angeles the first four Chinese weightlifting gold medals in history were awarded, since prior to 1984 the Chinese had not competed in the Olympic Games.
Although they were the highest ranked team after the 1995 World Championships (held in China), the Chinese have only captured 15 total Olympic weightlifting medals: four gold, five silver and six bronze--all since 1984.
That all changed on Sunday in Atlanta. On his final attempt in the clean and jerk, TANG Ningsheng snapped the overall world record, previously held by bronze medalist Nikolay PECHALOV of Bulgaria, with a record-tying heave of 170.0kg to steal the gold medal away from the upstart Greek, Leonidas SABANIS.
On his final attempt, SABANIS lifted 167.5kg and had to sit by and watch as three lifters tried to take the gold from his grasp. Only TANG was successful.
"I feel very happy," said a beaming TANG after the competition. "But, I still have aspirations to go higher."
As the competition unfolded, the drama of the event heightened as no less than nine athletes were still in the running for a medal late in the day. As one-by-one each dropped by the wayside, it looked as if the gold was in the hands of SABANIS. That was until TANG stepped up and captured his moment in history.
Wobbling under the pressure exerted on him from the bar that was nearly three times his own bodyweight, TANG staggered around the platform until he had control of the 170.0kg preciously teetering overhead. Then he let out a yell, barely audible because of the screams of the crowd, and out from behind the curtain came his coach, YANG Han Shiao, running to congratulate his pupil while he was still standing, refusing to let go of the bar.
YANG yelled, "Drop it. Drop it." As ordered, TANG lowered the bar and acknowledged his accomplishment.
"The light with the "down" did not come on, so I waited for my coach to come out onto the stage and tell me I'd made a successful lift," said the exultant TANG.
And with that lift, a day for all ages was etched into the memory of the Chinese people who waited 12 long years to capture Olympic glory so that now the entire nation can build upon the success of TANG.
"We have dreamed of this gold medal for 10 years," said his personal coach, WANG Guoxin. "I am very proud of TANG's performance today. This gold medal is the hope of all Chinese generations for years to come in the sport of weightlifting."
This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Brad Laux.
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| More tickets were sold to the competitions of the 1996 Games than to any other Olympic Games or sports event in history. The 8.6 million ticket sales figures topped sales to the Los Angeles and Barcelona Games combined. |