Turkish weightlifters falter again at ongoing London Olympic Games

Binay had his total of 325 kilograms by lifting 150 kilograms in the snatch and 175 kilograms in the clean and jerk. The weightlifting competition took place at the London Excel Arena.

Eight Turkish weightlifters have competed in the London Olympics so far and none of them have been able to win a medal yet. The weightlifters in question are: Nurdan Karagöz, Aylin Daşdelen, Bediha Tunadağı and Sibel Şimşek in the women's competition and Erol Bilgin, Hurşit Atak, Bünyamin Sezer and Binay in the men's competition. Only one more Turkish weightlifter is to compete in the remaining divisions.

The gloom hanging over China's male weightlifting squad lightened on Tuesday when Lin Qingfeng eased to a gold medal in the 69 kilogram division, helping redress the poor defense so far of their stunning gold haul from Beijing.

Twenty-three-year-old Lin's best efforts in the explosive snatch lift and the two-stage clean and jerk totaled 344 kilograms -- 11 kilograms more than silver medalist Triyatno Triyatno of Indonesia. The bronze went to Romanian Razvan Constantin Martin with 332 kilograms.

Until Lin took to the platform, the London Excel Arena had not been a happy place for China's male weightlifters. After winning four titles at the Beijing Olympics and dominating the 2011 world championships, expectations of gold medals in the 56 and 62 kilogram weight classes were high, but a return of just one silver medal put Lin under the spotlight.

"The pressure was on, I definitely needed to get it [the gold] today," he said. "It was about revenge for the two golds we missed out on in the lower divisions." Lin sealed victory with two lifts to spare, and delighted the crowd with an audacious world record attempt 11 kilograms above his previous weight. Although unsuccessful, Lin drew a standing ovation from the ExCel arena.

"I've always dreamed of breaking a record to show my own capacity and I wanted to take this opportunity of the Olympic Games to show that China is very strong in weightlifting," Lin said. The victory takes China's overall medal haul in the weightlifting to three golds and one silver, after female lifters Li Xueying and Wang Mingjuan took women's titles.

Clearly stung by the team's weak start, Lin was in no doubt more gold was on the way. With three male and one female athletes yet to compete, he said he expected a top spot from every remaining category China will contest. Two Chinese lifters were set to compete in the men's 77 kilogram category on Wednesday.