Turning point helps Vietnamese weightlifters set hat-trick of SEA Games records

Moving from the 81kg to 89kg category, after only one year, Nguyen Quoc Toan successfully changed the color of his SEA Games medal, and at the same time set three records of the games.

At the 31st SEA Games at home last year, in his first participation in the Games, Quoc Toan competed in the 81kg category and was still considered successful, winning a bronze medal with a total lift of 340kg. But after only one year, this weightlifter from Bac Lieu successfully changed the color of his medal and created an unprecedented miracle.

At the gym, Quoc Toan dominated his opponents from the start when he registered the highest weight for both competitions - 150 kg in snatch and 190 kg in clean and jerk. In the first snatch, this athlete born in 2022 caught up with the SEA Games record with 150 kg. In the second round, this weightlifter raised it to 155 kg to break the snatch record of the games. Despite failing in the third round with a weight of 157 kg, Quoc Toan still led in the snatch with 155 kg, leaving behind his Indonesian opponent Muhammad Zul Ilmi by 10 kg.

Nguyen Quoc Toan broke the SEA Games record in the men's 98kg category with a lift of 155kg on the morning of May 16, in Phnom Penh. Photo: Lam Thoa

In the clean and jerk, Quoc Toan comfortably completed the first round with 185 kg to equal the SEA Games total lift record of 340 kg. In the next round, he continued to succeed with 190 kg to simultaneously set two new records - clean and jerk and total lift (345 kg) - of the Games. The weightlifter's failure in the final lift with a weight of 193 kg did not affect the final result.

Zul Ilmi was the champion of this weight class at the 31st SEA Games with a total lift of 337 kg. But from the start, the 27-year-old Indonesian weightlifter was nervous before Quoc Toan's impressive performance.

After the Vietnamese weightlifter successfully lifted 190 kg in the second round, the pressure of competing to defend the gold medal made Zul Ilmi and the Indonesian coaching staff decide to change, raising the registered weight in the final round from 196 kg to 201 kg. If successful, Zul Ilmi will be in first place with a total lift of 346 kg, because Quoc Toan failed his final round at 193 kg and had a total lift of 345 kg.

However, the psychological pressure was too great and the weight lifting up to 18 kg caused Zul Ilmi to fail. This weightlifter could only lift the weight a little above his knees before letting both hands drop. In the end, Zul Ilmi came in second and received a silver medal with a total lift of 328 kg, 17 kg less than Quoc Toan.

Before the competition at Chroy Changvar this morning, the SEA Games records in this weight class were 150 kg snatch - 187 kg clean and jerk - 337 kg total. Therefore, Quoc Toan has broken these records with the following parameters: 155 kg - 190 kg - 345 kg.

Quoc Toan failed in the third clean and jerk with a weight of 193kg, but still succeeded with a gold medal and 3 SEA Games records. Photo: Lam Thoa

Vietnamese weightlifting has recorded excellent male athletes who have won many gold medals and SEA Games records. But no one has achieved a feat like Quoc Toan. At the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia, weightlifter Trinh Van Vinh won a gold medal in the men's 62kg category with a total lift of 307kg, breaking two records including total lift and 172kg clean and jerk. Similarly, at the 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar, Thanh Kim Tuan also won a gold medal in the 56kg category with a total lift of 285kg, breaking two records including total lift and 129kg snatch.

Besides Quoc Toan's own efforts in both training and competition, the success that the weightlifter from Bac Lieu has achieved today also comes from a reasonable decision by the coaching staff.

According to Coach Luong Thi Bich Tuyen - who directly coached Quoc Toan, when hearing the news that Indonesia would promote Rahmat Erwin Abdullah - a two-time world champion, who won a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 73kg category - to compete in the 81st category at the 32nd SEA Games, the coaching staff calculated and realized that Quoc Toan would have a hard time competing for a bronze medal with him. Therefore, after the Games at home last year, Quoc Toan was convinced and agreed to gain weight and move up to practice in the 89kg category.

"Quoc Toan has been very determined to train for over a year with the belief that he will win a gold medal. In training, Quoc Toan also achieved better results than Bui Tuan Anh - silver medalist in the 89 kg category last year, so we also believe in Quoc Toan's ability," coach Bich Tuyen told VnExpress .

This coach also said that in the past year, Quoc Toan and the group of elite athletes preparing for the 32nd SEA Games only trained and competed domestically. The only external factor the team had was the training plans of expert Daniela Samuilova Kerkelova - former coach of the Bulgarian weightlifting team invited by the General Department of Information and Sports to work at the National Sports Training Center IV in Can Tho.

Coach Bich Tuyen (right) shares joy with Quoc Toan after his student received a gold medal in the men's 89kg category. Photo: Lam Thoa

Despite not being able to compete in foreign training courses, Quoc Toan still made rapid progress in his performance. Both coach Bich Tuyen and expert Kerkelova were somewhat regretful when their student was not successful in the final rounds of each competition today, because in training, Quoc Toan was successful with the weights of 157 kg in snatch and 193 kg in clean and jerk.

Lam Thoa - Nhat Tao ( from Phnom Penh )

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