Zanni from Pordenone is fantastic and makes one of the Olympic feats of the day, improving the Italian record with 322 kg. The 177 kg failed, the 23-year-old found the strength to get on the podium behind the Chinese Cheem and the Colombian Lozano
PORDENONE. Mirko Zanni in history: the Pordenone weightlifter won the bronze medal in the 67 kg category at the Tokyo Olympics. He did it in his five-circle debut with heart, courage and pride, looking at the sky to find his grandfather, to whom he dedicated the medal, turning his gaze to Friuli where his family, friends and a land were pushing him. and its people.
To go and get a bronze that weighs a lot, a lot, Zanni pushed himself beyond his limits, setting the new Italian record with 322 kg. After the silver in the total classification won at the European Championships in Moscow last April – where he had won gold in the snatch -, the 23-year-old from Cordenons gives Italy an Olympic medal in weightlifting after 37 years: the last was the gold by Norberto Oberburger in Los Angeles 1984. The future is his, but the present is already wonderful.
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After Daniele Molmenti’s gold in kayaking in London 2012, Zanni’s bronze is the second Pordenone Olympic medal in history. The victory, at the Tokyo international forum, went to the big favorite of the eve, the Chinese Lijun Cheen, world champion in 2018 and 2019 and holder of the world record (339 kg), who totaled 332 kg, one more than the Colombian Luis Javier Mosquera Lozano, silver. The race was uncertain and spectacular until the end, with Cheen winning by lifting 187 kg in the second test of the momentum, thus nullifying the masterful performance of Mosquera Lozano, long in the lead.
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And Zanni? In the first snatch test Mirko successfully lifted 145 kg, then failed two attempts at 150 kg. Two mistakes that probably took away some of his concentration and unnerved him, but he didn’t lose heart and when everything seemed compromised, he went to take a place in the Olympus of weightlifting.
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And to say that things had gotten really bad in the momentum. The 172 kg raised at the first attempt had been canceled by the judges, so the error at 177 kg: Zanni, as he revealed at the end of the race, did not know he had also failed the first specialty test. He therefore appeared on the platform for the last time without knowing that he was at risk of elimination.
One would think that his heart was not light anyway, in those moments he played years of sacrifices and renunciations, a piece of his life, not only competitive. It should be emphasized for a moment. When the 177 kg failed, Zanni was heartened by the national team technicians: for a moment, just a few seconds, he covered his face with a towel. There he must have found something inside, the inspiration of the champion or some other peculiarity of the champion, thinking of his grandfather, Giuseppe Biasio, and who he was in Friuli, but it was as if he were next to him. Then the perfect lift: 177 kg to the sky, the medal that is approaching.
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An obstacle to the Olympic podium remained, the Uzbek Adkhamjon Ergashev: the Turkish Furkan Ozbek, who had beaten Zanni at the European Championships in Moscow, had left the race failing the three momentum lifts. The Uzbek remained, it was said, and when Ergashev missed the last test at 184 kg, the medal became a wonderful certainty. “Silvia”, the belt that accompanies him from the beginning of his competitive path, was at the last performance: after Tokyo, Mirko will put it back on the bulletin board. They gave themselves a final interpretation as protagonists, the Lion Sunday of the steel Friulian who is already in history.