Two Gold Medals for Hossein Rezazadeh at the World Weightlifting Championships, Vancouver - 2003-11-23

Hossein Rezazadeh, the Iranian heavyweight champion, claimed the world championship title once again on Saturday night at the 73rd World Weightlifting Championships in Vancouver, Canada, by lifting a total of 457.5 kilograms. According to the IRNA news agency, in this competition, Rezazadeh ranked third in the snatch with a lift of 207.5 kilograms and first in the clean and jerk with a lift of 250 kilograms. Thus, this Iranian weightlifter won two gold medals, one for the clean and jerk and the other for the total of the snatch and clean and jerk lifts. Based on this report, the gold and silver medals in the snatch category for heavyweights went to weightlifters from Qatar and Bulgaria, respectively, while the bronze medal was awarded to Hossein Rezazadeh from Iran. With Rezazadeh's victory at the World Weightlifting Championships, Iran secured six quotas for participation in the 2004 Athens Olympics. The Iranian weightlifting team, in this competition, achieved four gold medals in the 77 kg and over 105 kg categories, ranking second in the world in terms of medal quality after China. In the medal distribution table of this competition held in Vancouver, China ranked first with 6 gold, 5 silver, and 2 bronze medals, while Iran stood second with 4 gold and 1 bronze, and Turkey ranked third with 3 gold, 4 silver, and 5 bronze medals.