Ilin edges Kolecki for 94kg gold

Ilya Ilin of Kazakhstan won gold in the men's 94kg weightlifting in Beijing.

Ilin, the 20-year-old 2006 world champion, finished with a total of 406kg sealing Olympic victory with the last of his lifts.

European champion Szymon Kolecki of Poland took second place and Russia's Khadzhimurat Akkaev won the bronze.

Kolecki and Ilin were in a tight race ahead of their last clean and jerk until Ilin finally upped the stakes at 226kg (498.2lbs) and succeeded.

Kolecki added two 2kg (4.4lbs) to the bar in a final attempt to gain the gold, but could not pull it off.

Georgian lifter Arsen Kasabiev, from the conflict-torn province of South Ossetia, failed a brave effort to jump from fourth to first place in the final lift of the competition.

He stumbled trying to clean and jerk 231kg and fell with the barbell crashing down on top of him.

Ilin is set to cash in on his success as Kazakhstan's athletes were on a promise of £125,000 for winning a gold medal.

China has won eight of the 15 weight classes but was not represented in the 84kg category, which was the most evenly contested so far.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
Beijing 2008 - weightlifting
British Weightlifting Association
International Weightlifting Federation
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites