Denys Gotfrid Gets the Gold in the 105's
by Randall J. Strossen, IronMind Enterprises, Inc. © 2002
Warsaw, Poland – Russia's Vladimir Smortchkov threatened to repeat what he did last year when he lifted in the B-session, but produced the total that won the World Championships.
Lifting in the B-session again, Smortchkov opened with an easy 190-kg snatch, smoked 197.5 kg on his second attempt and then narrowly missed 200 kg on his third attempt. In the clean and jerk, he opened with a good 220 and then got two red lights on his second attempt, with 227.5 kg. Even though he missed the 227.5 when he took it again on his third attempt, he posted a very impressive 417.5-kg total.
When A-session lifter Marcin Dolega (POL) missed his 192.5-kg opener in the snatch, the possibility of Smortchkov getting the gold medal in the snatch became a very real possibility and that's just what happened: Dolega got the silver (192.5 kg) and Denys Gotfrid (UKR) got the bronze (190 kg). Alan Tsagaev won the clean and jerk with his opener (232.5 kg), but when everyone else was done, he had two lifts left, and he took 237.5 for a shot at the gold medal in the total. Twice he cleaned the weight, only to miss the jerk. Sudas Bunyami (TUR) got the silver in the jerk (230 kg), beating Gotfrid on body weight. Gotfrid's 420-kg total, hit after his second jerk (230 kg), proved to hold up, and he won the gold medal in the total. Tsagaev got the silver (417.5 kg), beating Smortchkov on body weight.