Olympics-Weightlifting-Li’s ‘flamingo’ amuses audience

TOKYO (Reuters) - The flamboyant Li Fabin pulled off his signature one-legged “flamingo” on his opening clean and jerk lift on Sunday as he made it two out of two Olympic weightlifting gold medals for China.

Li made the audience laugh when he avoided a loss of balance by lifting his right leg in the air briefly as he made his lift, and he joined in the laughter himself after releasing the bar.

“It was a momentary mistake, I almost lost my balance, but I had been working on this scenario in training,” Li told a news conference.

Li had pulled off the same move during the 2017 Asian Championships.

“I am aware that it’s entertaining, but I advise against trying it because it bears serious risk of injury. I have a very strong core, and I have really worked hard on that move,” he said.

Li broke the Olympic record on Sunday in the clean & jerk and total categories, lifting 172kg and 313kg respectively.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay and Junko Fujita, editing by Ed Osmond)

Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Weightlifting - Men’s 61kg - Medal Ceremony - Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan - July 25, 2021. Gold medalist Li Fabin of China reacts. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Weightlifting - Men’s 61kg - Medal Ceremony - Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan - July 25, 2021. Gold medalist Li Fabin of China adjusts his mask. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido