Weightlifting golds for Romania’s Baltag and Turkey’s Ozbek
Romania’s Sabina Baltag and Turkey’s Muhammed Furkan Ozbek were the day’s weightlifting gold medallists at the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 on Tuesday 9 October.
Weightlifting
The pair respectively prevailed in the women’s 53kg and men’s 69kg categories at the Youth Olympic Park’s Europe Pavilion. The Romanian lifted 77kg in the snatch and 100kg in the clean & jerk to win by a single kilo from Colombia’s Kely Junkar, with Indonesia’s Nur Vinatasari taking the bronze.
Junkar’s silver was Colombia’s sixth of Buenos Aires 2018, more than they managed at either Nanjing 2014 or Singapore 2010.
“I’m very excited. It’s a unique experience,” said the 16-year-old Colombian afterwards. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for five whole years.”
Her aim now is to improve her personal best and go for another medal at the 2019 Junior World Weightlifting Championships. Expressing her gratitude to the people who have supported her over the last few years, Junkar said: “I want to thank my coaches, who’ve been right by my side, my family, and all the people who’ve backed me right from the start. This is an amazing experience for me.”
Ozbek completed lifts of 135kg in the snatch and 170kg in the clean & jerk to win his gold by fully 17kg from Georgia’s Malakmadze Archil, with Mexico’s Mauricio Canul Facundo completing the podium.