Not that anyone ever doubted he'd hit the ground running, though. "The senior events are in a whole different place, it's so much higher" he says, taking immense pride in finishing first on his first attempt. India's only youth Olympic gold medalist in lifting, this was Jeremy's "first" proper senior competition. Jeremy Lalrinnunga, also with India's best CWG tattoo so far. Jeremy Lalrinnunga, winner of a CWG gold. In May, Jeremy had made his phone wallpaper a screenshot of a CWG gold medal. After the win, he said he was in dreamland, but this was the target all along. First.įrom the blonde-tipped hair (specially done ahead of the games) to the little golden studs in his ears, Jeremy is pure swag. Oh, and all this at just 19 years old, in his first Commonwealth Games. 140 kilograms, more than twice his bodyweight, lifted clean over his head in one smooth motion. If the clean and jerk was all about digging deep and finding strength where there was none, the snatch was just. That buffer is what kept him above Vaipava (who lifted 127 in the snatch). And then went on to equal his personal best of 140 kg, a clean 10 kg more than the next best. He started with a Games record-beating snatch lift of 136kg. Much like his hero Mirabai Chanu had on Saturday. Jeremy had started the snatch like this was a routine affair in his hometown gym. Now, you couldn't have predicted the finish would be so tight at the start. "It was my way of showing respect to the winner." Silver medalist Samoa's Vaipava Nevo Ioane puts his traditional garland on gold medalist Lalrinnunga Jeremy of India. "It's a mark of respect, of friendship," said Vaipava. It was a beautiful moment, as was the hug that followed.
Vaipava swallowed his disappointment and when he came on the podium, he garlanded Jeremy with a traditional Samoan pebble necklace. The respect between the top lifters was evident. "I suffered a lot today," he grins before adding that the gold made it all worth it. That's when he knew it had actually happened. After Vaipava's last lift failed, coach Vijay Sharma burst into tears and told Jeremy that the gold was his. Vaipava couldn't lift it, and the crowd erupted in cheers for Jeremy - led by fellow Indian athletes: Mirabai Chanu, Kidambi Srikanth and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Through tears and pain, Jeremy earns a golden spotlight.That 160kg he lifted? That was on auto-pilot. He didn't even know what weights he was lifting. Attacked by intense cramps in the inner thighs, he was in incredible pain and completely blanked out whatever was happening. He had already broken the Games record for the clean and jerk. If he could manage 174 kg, the gold would be his. Samoa's Ioane Vaipava was the last lifter of the night, and ahead of his last attempt, his total read 293 kg. His total at the time read 300 kg, an overall Commonwealth Games record. this time falling down, rolling once and holding his elbow, his face a picture of agony. He crawled off the stage, before coming back to try 165 in his third attempt. Jeremy Lalrinnunga Eddie Keogh/Getty ImagesĪ minute later, he came back and did the exact same thing for a second time, this time lifting 160 kg. The moment that happened he dropped it and fell to his knees, holding his side, pain evident. Elbows straight, he held it up there, waiting for the green signal to go up in front of him, for the judges to indicate that it was a good lift.
A momentary pause there, and straight above his head. On Sunday at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Jeremy lifted 150 kg - about two and a quarter his bodyweight - onto his chest first. Once at the bar, a brief pause, the lift, the big grin.
The chalk dusting, the walking up to the stage - all that is perfunctory, done absent-mindedly, a routine he has to finish before he gets to the thing he's being doing since he was six years old. It's enthralling, forcing you to focus all your attention on his being. The man's a coiled spring - when he walks on to the stage, you can sense the explosiveness right underneath the surface, just waiting to be unleashed. Watching Jeremy Lalrinnunga at his best is an act of suspense.
0 kommentar(er)
