New Zealand weightlifter David Liti gave it his all and his personal best, but even he could not match the medal winners at the Paris Olympics.
Liti, 28, finished eighth in the 102+kg class on Saturday (Sunday NZ Time) and was happy to reach the weights he did despite not getting a medal.
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“That was the best lineup in Olympic history. The medallists are three of the greatest lifters of all-time. It was a privilege to line up against them,” Liti said.
Liti lifted a personal best total of 415kg. In the snatch, he got 178kg, 182kg and 184kg. In the clean and jerk, he achieved 224kg and 231kg and missed with 235kg.
The medallists were on another level.
Georgian Lasha Talakhadze won the gold with a total of 470kg, followed by Lalayan Varazdat of Armenia with 467kg and Gor Minasyan of Bahrain with 461kg.
"There were some crazy weights out there,” said Liti
.
The Aucklander competed at Tokyo three years ago, when he finished fifth.
Meanwhile, Nina Brown and Eva Morris could not match the competition in their artistic swimming competition.
Competing in the duet free routine, the Australia-based New Zealanders finished in 17th and bottom spot with a score of 354.6006 points, which was 211.877 behind the gold medallists China.
Brown and Morris scored 188.0901 for their technical routine and 166.5105 for the free routine.
They are the third New Zealand duet to take part in the Olympics, after Katie and Lynette Sadleir, who competed in both the duet and solo competitions in 1984, and Lisa and Nina Daniels in 2008.