Greek despair gifts bronze for Saudi Arabia’s Ali Yousef Al-Othman at Youth Olympics

BUENOS AIRES: The Olympians of Ancient Greece would likely not approve. Inside the Europe Pavilion and competing in the 85kg weightlifting category at the Youth Olympic Games, Greek athlete Gerasimos Galiatsatos showed a distinct lack of sporting spirit on Friday night as an angry meltdown left his training team ashamed, a volunteer being shoved in the chest, and the capacity crowd booing his very presence in the hall.
It also, however, helped Saudi Arabia’s Ali Yousef Al-Othman claim a medal, the Kingdom’s fortuitous first of the two-week Games.
Galiatsatos was the outstanding favorite for gold, but was deemed to have failed three times to correctly lift his chosen 150kg weight during the snatch and was disqualified. His reaction was to repeatedly thump the floor furiously before his coach tried to forcibly lead away. However, having wrestled free, the 17-year-old jumped the security barrier into the crowd, removed his shirt, and frogmarched a reluctant member of his team toward the judges, violently pushing a volunteer out of the way as he went and sparking castigation from the crowd.
After a brief delay, Al-Othman capitalized in clean and jerk, lifting 169kg for a total score of 299kg and securing bronze behind Italy’s Cristiano Ficco (325kg) and Tarmenkhan Babayev of Azerbaijan (316kg). Galiatsatos watched from the bleachers, his head in his hands.
“I can understand his anger because he felt the jury were wrong,” Al-Othman told Arab News. “That would be frustrating for anyone. I can only thank God for what happened. I expected to compete and hoped to get a medal, so I feel very proud to raise the flag of Saudi Arabia and achieve this for my country.”
Al-Othman’s coach Khaled Qur'any worked with Egypt at the past two Olympics, helping them win four medals. He said Galiatsatos “could have won easily,” but was “too arrogant,” adding, “in sport, you must be humble.” He insisted the Greek’s disqualification should take nothing away from Al-Othman’s performance.
“The result was no surprise,” said the Egyptian coach. “We predicted this medal one year ago. He has developed by 70kg in 12 months. When I first saw him he was 69kg and I said to his coach, take this boy to the camp because with good training and a clever diet we can make something of him and achieve good things here. And that’s what we have done. Now he is 84kg and a Youth Olympic medallist. We can be proud, but we cannot stop.”
The Khobar-based weightlifter only turned 16 in June, but has been involved in the sport from childhood, following in the footsteps of his father and uncle, who both lifted. He was also part of the Saudi delegation that traveled to Jakarta for the Asian Games in August. Having now won a medal at the Youth Olympics, his dream is to reach the Olympics proper.
“Inshallah. I will do everything I can do make that next dream come true,” he said, revealing he plans to keep his medal “somewhere in my house where I can see it everyday, as a memory of this moment.”
Qur'any though is keen to keep his athlete’s feet firmly on the ground, insisting that Tokyo 2020 will arrive too soon for him and warning that dreams do not come true without absolute commitment. Even then you can often be reliant on other people and federations.
“Ali is only 16 years old, but we took him to the Asian Games so he could gain the experience to allow him to come here unafraid,” said Qur'any. “He did well here. But to go to an Olympics and win you need to work too hard: train, train, train. Without that commitment from all parties, it is impossible.
“In Saudi Arabia, weightlifters are not professional, but maybe this medal can change things. It’s the first in the country’s history in weightlifting, so I hope it shows people — not only Ali but all people there — that hard work pays off.”

Greek despair gifts bronze for Saudi Arabia’s Ali Yousef Al-Othman at Youth Olympics