First Colombian Gold Comes on Tiebreaker

Maria Isabel Urrutia of Colombia won the gold medal in 165-pound weightlifting today at Sydney by basis of lower body weight after all three medalists lifted the same weight.

It was the first gold medal in any sport for Colombia.

Urrutia, her eyes bulging as she hoisted nearly twice her body weight; silver medalist Ruth Ogbeifo of Nigeria; and bronze medalist Yi-Hang Kuo of Taiwan had identical totals of 540 pounds.

Urrutia got the gold because she weighed 161 1/2 pounds to Ogbeifo’s 163 1/2 and Kuo’s 164.

Colombia and Mexico, countries not previously associated with Olympic weightlifting, have come away from the inaugural women’s competition with gold medals. Soraya Jimenez of Mexico won at 127 3/4 pounds.

Cara Heads-Lane of Costa Mesa finished seventh after lifting 225 1/2 pounds in the snatch and 264 1/2 pounds in the clean and jerk for a total of 490 1/2 pounds.