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Li Fabin wins men's 61kg weightlifting gold at Tokyo Olympics

chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2021-07-27

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China's Li Fabin competes in the men's 61kg weightlifting event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on July 25. [Photo/CFP]

Li Fabin, who was born in Quanzhou, Fujian province, won gold in the men's 61kg weightlifting event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan on July 25.

Li's lift of 172kg in the clean and jerk, and his combined 313kg in the snatch as well as clean and jerk were both new Olympic records.

Eko Yuli Irawan from Indonesia claimed silver with 302kg, and Igor Son of Kazakhstan won the bronze medal with 294kg.

"He was very active and liked climbing and jumping since he was a child," said Cai Yinhua, Li's mother.

Born in 1993, Li began training since he was nine years old. By then, he was a primary school student measuring 128 centimeters in height and 27 kilograms in weight. Despite his stature, he could reach 2.1 meters in the standing long jump.

"It's really extraordinary to be able to jump so far," said Wang Dexing, Li's first weightlifting coach.

In 2004, Li was enrolled into the provincial sports school weightlifting team for training. In 2006, he broke the record for the men's 40 kg which stood for 27 years. Li was selected into the national team in 2012.


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