Li powers way to gold, Deng climbs into history

China's Li Fabin defended his Olympic championship on Wednesday in the men's 61-kilogram weightlifting event at the Paris Olympics and won the nation's 23rd gold medal at the Games.

Li, 31, set an Olympic record of 143 kg in the snatch, and lifted 167 kg in the clean and jerk, in the first weightlifting event of the Paris Games.

Theerapong Silachai of Thailand won silver, and Hampton Morris of the United States won bronze.

There was also good news from the sport climbing field on Wednesday.

Chinese speed climber Deng Lijuan won the country's first Olympic medal in the sport in the thrilling women's final, losing by a mere 0.08-second margin to Poland's world record holder Aleksandra Miroslaw.

"I am really satisfied with my performance today," said Deng, who finished in 6.18 seconds, an Asian record time, in the final at Le Bourget Climbing Venue in a northern Paris suburb. "This event is all about challenging yourself constantly, and I am so happy to see that I've improved a lot at this Olympic stage."

The speed discipline involves two climbers ascending the same routes on a wall to finish first by touching the pad in a timed, one-on-one knockout format that leaves no room for even the slightest misstep.

The Chinese Mountaineering Association, the nation's governing body for sport climbing, hailed Deng's performance in the final as a shining example for Chinese youths.

"Nothing is too difficult as long as you dare to climb," the association said in a congratulatory letter. "Deng has lived up to the spirit of mountaineering and sport climbing by tenaciously fighting against challenges and always thriving to scale new heights."

As the undisputed favorite in the women's event, Miroslaw had twice broken her own world record, which stood on Monday at 6.06 seconds. Deng also improved her personal best twice en route to the final.

U.S. urged to honor promise

Meanwhile, Gao Zhidan, president of the Chinese Olympic Committee, called on Tuesday for his United States counterpart to honor the U.S. promise to comply with the World Anti-Doping Code and to urge U.S. federal authorities to stop interfering in cases and disputes that are beyond their jurisdiction.

"As two Olympic sports powerhouses, China and the U.S. share the responsibility to honor principles of the Olympic Charter, build and develop a unified world anti-doping system and defend clean athletes' rights together," Gao told Gene Sykes, chairman of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, during their meeting on Tuesday, according to China Sports Daily.

"We support the U.S. organizers' hosting of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer and 2034 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. Yet we hope the U.S. authorities will stop the 'long-arm' jurisdiction and guarantee the security of athletes from around the world, including China, when they visit the U.S. for training and competitions," Gao said.

A series of groundless accusations by U.S. media and U.S. anti-doping authorities targeting Chinese swimmers, who have been cleared of any wrongdoing in a proven food contamination incident in 2021, seriously affected the Chinese athletes' preparations for the Paris Games.

The U.S. anti-doping agency, despite having no evidence, has called the World Anti-Doping Agency's no-fault verdict in the contamination case a "cover-up "and lobbied for a U.S. investigation of the case.