(Sydney) Bulgaria's Galabin Boevski showed he's back from knee surgery as he won the gold medal today at the Olympics in very convincing style.

The men's 69-kg category proved to be a battle between the two Bulgarian weightlifters Georgi Markov and Galabin Boevski, with Markov leading 165 to 162.5 after the snatch. Markov opened first in the clean and jerk with a nice 182.5, and Boevski answered with a smooth 185. Markov went to 187.5 for another nice success, and Boevski responded with a crisp 190. Markov missed 192.5, giving Boevski the gold, but rather than passing on his third attempt at that point, Boevski came out for 196.5, made it nicely, breaking the world and Olympic records in the jerk, as well as the Olympic record in the total. Sergei Larenov (BLR) picked up the bronze medal with his 157.5/182.5.

Earlier today, in the women's 75-kg category Columbia's Maria Isabel Urrutia won the gold medal in a hotly contested class--all three medalists hit 245 totals, with only bodyweight making the difference in the final places. Ruth Ogbeifo (NGR) won the silver medal and Kuo Yi-Hang (TPE) won the bronze medal.