Viktor Mitrou
Silver medal, September 22, 2000, Viktor Mitrou cat. 77kg. Sydney 2000
in 1996 in Atlanta, Viktor Mitrou had finished fourth in the rankings with exactly the same performance as the Olympic bronze medalist. At that time he was 200 grams heavier. This time he kept a strict diet and managed to be lighter than all his opponents except one, the 1996 Olympic champion Xugang Zhan of China. Both Zhan and Mitrou lifted a total of 367.5 kg, but the Chinese was 280 g lighter. In the snatch, Mitrou had a difference of five kilos to Zhan with 165 kg, but was 2.5 kg behind Melikyan (Armenia) and Filimonov (Kazakhstan). In the snatch Mitrou started with 195kg and continued with 200kg and 202.5kg, all his attempts were successful. Melikyan and Filomonov were eliminated in the battle for the gold medal and Zhan, if he wanted to win, even in a tie, had to lift 207.5kg in the last attempt of the competition. He did it and was once again was crowned the Olympic gold medalist.
The final ranking: Zhan (China) 367.5k Mitrou (Greece) 367.5 Melikyan (Armenia) 365 Filimonov (Kazakhstan) 362.5 Suli (Albania) 355 Chon (North Korea) 352.5 Steinhoefel (Germany) 350 Hnidenko (Ukraine) 350
They said..
“I came to Sydney to win the gold medal, and I fought for that until the end. I could have lifted more weight, but my tactics were right, as the conditions of the race were. Second place is always under the winner, first place is first. I did everything for this medal, I owe it mainly to myself. I did not even go out on the balcony of my room before the competition so as not to catch a cold. Fortunately, everything still went well and Greece has another medal in its collection and Greek weightlifting.”
September 22, 2000
