China’s Yang Sets Record in Women’s Weightlifting

Yang Xia of China set a women’s weightlifting world record to take the gold medal in the 116-pound division.

Yang lifted a total of 496 pounds. Li Feng-Yeng of Taiwan won the silver and Winarni Binti Slamet of Indonesia the bronze.

Yang lifted 220 1/4 pounds in the snatch to break the record of 214 3/4 pounds set by Meng Xianjuan of China in May 1999. She then lifted 275 1/2 pounds in the clean and jerk to break the record of 267 3/4 pounds by Li set in November 1999.

The total lift of 496 pounds easily broke the world record of 479 1/2 pounds set by Meng in May 1999.

JUDO: Huseyin Ozkan of Turkey avenged his loss in last year’s world judo championships by beating Larbi Benboudaoud of France to win the Olympic gold medal in the men’s 145-pound division.

Legna Verdecia of Cuba won the gold medal in women’s 115-pound division, defeating Noriko Narazaki of Japan in the championship match. Britain’s Debbie Allan, the 1999 European champion and a leading contender in that division, did not make the weight, and was dismissed from the event.

CANOEING: Tony Estanguet of France won the gold medal in men’s C-1 canoe with 231.87 points. Michal Martikan of Slovakia took the silver and Juraj Mincik of Slovakia the bronze.

ROWING: The United States, world champions for the past three years in the men’s eights, and its main gold-medal rival, Britain, each suffered surprising defeats in heats at the Sydney Olympic rowing regatta, forcing them into the elimination repechage round. The U.S. women’s women flamed out too, dropping to third after leading a tight race for the first 1,000 meters.