Turkish weightlifter wins three golds
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Three gold medals by Sibel Şimşek in women’s 63kg category help Turkey trail Azerbaijan in the European Championships. AA photo
Host nation Turkey continues to trail Azerbaijan at the European Weightlifting Championships despite Sibel Şimşek winning a trio of gold medals at the competition in Antalya.Competing in the women’s 63kg category, Şimşek won three gold medals for lifting in the snatch (100 kg), the clean and jerk (125 kg) and the total (225 kg) on April 12.
Hungary’s Nikoletta Nagy took the silver medal in all three categories while Turkish athlete, Neslihan Okumuş, won bronze in the categories of clean and jerk (115 kg) and total (208 kg). Liudmila Bril won the only other bronze medal of the category.
Şimşek aims to qualify for the summer’s Olympic Games in London, she said after the medal ceremony.
“I don’t want to end my career without competing at the Olympics,” the 27-year-old said. “I have a long-standing injury and my doctors tell me I need to have an operation, but I refused and will be treated after London.”
Şimşek’s three medals and the two gold medals won by Bünyamin Sezer in the men’s 62kg category earlier this week took Turkey’s gold medal tally to five. Azerbaijan currently leads the standings with seven gold, one silver and three bronze medals.
Turkey has also won six silver and four bronze medals in the competition.
