Chinese lifter bags three golds at World Championships

WROCLAW, Poland - Chinese lifter Tan Yayun overcame psychological choking to sweep three gold medals at stake in the first-day competition of the World Weightlifting Championships here on Sunday.

The 21-year-old girl grabbed the overall gold in 199 kilograms after finishing first in the snatch (84kg) and clean and jerk (115kg) contentions.

Ryang Chun Hwa of DPRK won the silver with 186 kg, and Valencia Hernandez came in third in 181 kg.

The victories did not come smoothly for Tan as she had to break a psychological barrier in a win-or-lose attempt.

Tan said her best training result in snatch is 98 kg, but she was not surprised at all that this time she failed to hoist 84 kg in her first attempt.

"I never succeeded in my first snatch attempt," she said. "When I approach the barbell, it always put me in fear. So I could never clear it at the first attempt. And after that, I could experience an psychological release, then everything would be ok for me."

But she choked at her second attempt.

"I never imagined I could fail, it really frightened me. Maybe it is because I thought too much about the technical matters," said Tan.

She then drank a cup of water to calm herself down, and then went onto the stage to hold up the weight easily.

"At that time, my mind was empty with nothing there. The pressure was gone, and the weight was gone too," she said.

After winning the snatch gold, she then swept past the clean and jerk completion, succeeding in all three attempts.