In the snatch section Itte came 7th with 156kg, in the overall total he came 4th with 363kg and won the bronze medal in the clean & jerk with 207kg.
There were 16 athletes who reached the finals and it was a tremendous effort from this young Pacific Island lifter.
Only six days ago he won the gold medals at the Arafura Games & Oceania Junior Championships in Darwin with 157kg snatch, 201kg clean & jerk and 358kg in the overall total.
This makes Itte the first Pacific lifter ever to win a medal at a World Junior Championships and also the first Oceania male lifter to win a medal at a World Junior Championships in 18 years since Steven Kettner won a bronze in 1987. Steven Kettner incidently was also coached by Paul Coffa.
So the medals in the clean & jerk were as follows:
Gold - Greece - 215kg
Silver - Russia - 210kg
Bronze - Nauru - 207kg
4th - Bulgaria - 206kg
5th - Poland - 205kg then the rest of the countries.
With one more year left as a junior lifter, the Pacific and Nauru in particular may very well see their first World Junior Champion. His performance was simply superb.
Last Modified on 25/05/2005 08:33