weightlifting record

Nauruan sets Commonwealth weightlifting record

Koror, Palau - The Pacific’s leading weightlifter broke three Commonwealth and Oceania records on his way to three gold medals at the Micronesian Games in Palau in early August. Nauru’s Marcus Stephen didn’t dis

appoint a crowd anticipating a record-setting

showing. He set new records in the snath, and in the clean and jerk weightlifting cate gories, as well as in total pounds hefted.

Stephen is ranked number five worldwide in his weight class. He won three gold medals at the last Commonwealth Games in Canada. The diminutive Stephen, who lifts in the 69 kg weight division, showed there’s nothing small about his muscles as he easily outlifted his nearest competitor from Kiribati. In the clean and jerk category, he warmed up with a 155 kg lift, which guaran teed him a gold medal over Kiribati’s Kamaraia Eken, whose best lift was 127.5 kg (for which he won a silver medal). Then, to the applause of an appreciative Micro Games audience, Stephen upped his total to a record-breaking 165.5 kg a breaking the Commonwealth record by .5 kg. He also snatched 125 kg to win gold, setting new Micro Games and Oceania records in the process. His combined total of 290 total kg lifted also smashed the previous record of 285 kg. ■