BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS: DAY 3 : DAILY REPORT : WEIGHTLIFTING : South Korean Student Outlifts Chinese Rivals for Gold Medal

A Chinese lifter started a chase for records that wound up with a South Korean winning the gold medal. Chun Byung Kwan, a 22-year-old student from Seoul, won weightlifting’s Olympic bantamweight gold medal after a record-swapping sequence involving Liu Shoubin of China.

Liu broke his own Olympic snatch record. Then after Chun had improved it, Liu tried to regain it and break his world mark as well. He failed, settling for the silver medal. Teammate Luo Jianming earned the bronze.

Chun, a stronger lifter in the clean and jerk, had trouble making the 124-pound limit. “I have had many problems with body weight, especially recently because of things like jet lag,” he said, adding that he plans to move into the 132-pound category in future competition.

After the Olympic snatch record fell twice, Chun attempted to break an overall world record for clean and jerk. Going for 374 3/4 pounds, which would have improved the record by 5 1/2 pounds to 666 3/4, he got the bar to his shoulders but could not lift it farther.

MEDALISTS

WEIGHTLIFTING

(123 Pounds)

GOLD Chun Byung Kwan (South Korea)

SILVER Liu Shoubin (China)

BRONZE Luo Jianming (China)