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Big disappointment for the French weightlifter who competed in the -54 kilo category final on Wednesday evening at La Chapelle Arena, and who saw his three attempts invalidated.
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Right from the start, things were looking bad for Axel Bourlon, between his personal best of 173 kilos, and his first attempt, at 163 kilos, which was invalidated. Because at the same time, the Kazakh David Degtyarev was pushing 185 kilos on his first attempt (he would end up winning gold); and two other competitors were succeeding at 173 and 178 kilos. For the weightlifter from Roanne, getting on the box was going to require quite a comeback. Which didn’t happen: the second and third attempts by the French paraweightlifter, at 169 kilos, were also invalidated by the jury – which judges the movement, balance, position of the hands, arms, etc. The Cuban Pablo Ramirez Barrientos and the Chinese Jinglang Yang completed the podium.
Usually, after their events, athletes come to the “mixed zone” to answer the journalists. There, Alex Bourlon asked for a five-minute break. And he took fifteen, quite understandable. He did not hide his “very big disappointment”nor the fact that he wondered why his second and third attempts had been invalidated, pointing out that questionable moves by his competitors had not been sanctioned. We know that he will take time to digest.
We met him twice before the Games, in Vichy (Allier) during the team’s preparatory training camp.
