The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games September 6-17, 2008
The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games September 6-17, 2008
What better birthday presents to give yourself than a gold medal and a world record?
Egyptian power lifter Sherif Othman Othman thought so, too.
On Monday, September 15, Othman celebrates his birthday here in China, only four days after winning the title in the Men's Powerlifting 56kg event of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. He broke the world record three times on the way to the podium.
His first attempt at 195kg tore down the previous world mark of 194kg, held by Chinese athlete Wang Jian. Othman kept up the momentum, successfully lifting 200kg next, and with his final lift of 202.5kg, ensured that his name would be remembered in the record books.
"It's not my maximum, I can lift more. My coach wanted me to keep the world record [at 202.5kg] today, so I am able to break it in the future," he said matter-of-factly after his win.
Here in Beijing, Wang, Athens gold medalist, was all praise for his chief challenger going into their face-off. "He is my main rival; he is very strong. We competed together in the 2006 World Championships but since then I haven't seen him. He lifted more than five or six kilograms (above the world record) in every training session. He is so outstanding. I think he is the best power lifter of all categories," said Wang.
Othman, in turn, is very happy to call Wang his friend. "It is my first birthday outside of my country, so the gold medal is the best birthday gift for me. I am going to celebrate it on the 15th and I have already invited the Chinese power lifter Wang Jian; we will celebrate it together. My visit here would be the best memory, which I will never forget," he said after winning his event last Thursday.
Othman is known as a prodigy in the Powerlifting world. The shot putter-turned-power lifter only began intensive training in his new sport three years ago. In 2006, he won the silver in the World Championships in the Republic of Korea, lifting 175kg, only 5kg short of Wang's 180kg gold medal lift. The successive weights he successfully attempted continued to increase. In the Arabian Games, Othman lifted 192.5kg and, 15 days later, heaved 2.5kg more in the African Games.
"That guy can win a gold medal even with eyes closed," said Mu Honghe, coach of China's Powerlifting team.
Othman was encouraged by his coach Said Abdelhafez, Egypt's first Paralympic medalist, from the very beginning. Othman gives the credit for his success to his coaching team. "I have a group of coaches that are very helpful to me. My coach is a good man, without him I would not have achieved this result today," he said modestly.
Egypt is a force in the Powerlifting circle, thanks to national support of the sport. "Egypt is famous for Powerlifting; that is why we have so many excellent power lifters. The International Powerlifting Committee gives us support and the Egyptian Powerlifting Committee also supports us. My previous coach was the best power lifter in the world on two occasions and that is why Egypt is so successful and famous for Powerlifting," Othman explained.
As he only turns 26-years-old today, Othman's road ahead looks very promising. "The 25 to 28 age group is the best time for an athlete and they can achieve the most. I decided to make the best of this time," he said.
With a world-record breaking, gold-medal achieving performance in his Paralympic debut, Othman has proven that he is set to take advantage of every opportunity he has to literally keep his cool while handling tremendous weight.
