Gamble doesn’t pay off

WEIGHTLIFTING

The world champion took a gamble and lost. Simon Martirosyan had two lifts for the Olympic title but failed both, handing the gold medal in weightlifting to Akbar Djuraev of Uzbekistan in the men’s 109-kilogram class Tuesday. Djuraev failed a clean and jerk at 234 kilograms but returned to lift 237kg and overtake Martirosyan for gold with a total of 430kg. After Djuraev’s failure at 234kg, Martirosyan increased the weight in an apparent attempt to put pressure on Djuraev by making him lift again immediately. That backfired as Djuraev responded with a successful final lift and Martirosyan was left to attempt a 238kg clean and jerk, 3 kilograms more than he would have needed to secure gold. Martirosyan had two attempts for the gold but didn’t lock his arms out on the first lift and stumbled on his second. He finished with a total 423kg, 12 less than his world record.