From Ian Gordon in Australia
Gareth Evans has bagged Wales’ first gold medal of the Commonwealth Games with a magnificent display in the weightlifting.
The 32-year-old won the 69kg category in his third Games at the Carrara Sports Centre on the Gold Coast in Australia.
The Holyhead lifter finished with a total of 299kg after a snatch of 136kg and clean and jerk of 163kg.
London 2012 Olympian Evans was fifth in the -62kg category in Glasgow four years ago, having made his Commonwealth Games debut in Delhi in 2010.
This time he reached the top of the podium and an emotional Evans said: “It was hard not to get a bit teary, if I’m being completely honest. Like every Welshman, I’m ridiculously proud.
“To stand up there with the gold medal is special. There’s too many people to thank.
“I dread to think what’s going on at my Mum and Dad’s house at the moment.
“I missed out on a medal in Glasgow (2014) and I vowed I would never miss a medal again. I have let that spur me on for the past four years.”
And asked how he was going to celebrate, Evans replied: “Beer”.
He added: “I don’t know what the future holds to be honest, I have done everything I set out to do as a weightlifter.”
Evans, who made his Games debut in Delhi and competed at the London Olympics, saw his win met with huge cheers from the Welsh fans in the stadium and many of the neutrals.
He said: It’s a show sport, so make it a show. Every single person went wild when I came out. It definitely pushed me on today.”
At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Evans finished 17th in the -69kg group with a total of 288kg.
This time, he won the title with a 2kg cushion over Sri Lanka’s Indika Mudiyanselage, the key to his success being his clean and jerk lift of 163kg in round two. He started with 160kg and just failed with 165kg on his third attempt.
Only Samoa’s Vaipava Ioane went above him in that section, clearing 167kg. Evans also posted a total of 136kg in the snatch as he moved up with each lift from 130kg to finish 1kg behind his Sri Lankan rival.
Although born in Dundee, the Holyhead lifter has always competed for Wales and now joins a long list of Commonwealth Games champions from Team Wales. His gold was the 12th weightlifting overall medal won by Wales at the Games, the 17th in all categories and the 50th all tolled – Gold 17, Silver 12, Bronze 21.
Evans’ talent was originally spotted by his PE teacher Simon Roach, who is now sports manager of Welsh Weightlifting. He is currently coached by the Wales National Coach, Ray Williams, who struck gold in Edinburgh in 1986.
As well as training and competing, Gareth works full time in Canolfan Brailsford, Bangor University’s sports facility. His lives and trains with girlfriend Hannah Powell, who competed the day before him at the Gold Coast, completing a remarkable comeback from injury to finish 10th in the -48kg class nine months after dislocating her elbow.
— Team Wales (@TeamWales) April 6, 2018
The 18-year-old Catrin Jones showed she is on course for a possible trip to Tokyo in the 2020 Olympic Games as she added 10kg to her Welsh record in the -53kg class to finish 11th with a total of 165kg. Seth Casidsid finished ninth in the -56kg class with a total of 186kg total.
Welsh Weightlifting Gold Medalists
1966: Chung Kum Weng (Featherweight)
1978: John Burns (Sub-Heavyweight)
1982: John Burns (Heavyweight)
1982: David Morgan (Lightweight)
1986: Ray Williams (Featherweight)
1986: David Morgan (Light Heavyweight)
1990: David Morgan (Light Heavyweight x 3 – Overall, Snatch, Clean and Jerk)
1990: Andrew Davies (Super Heavyweight x 3 – Overall, Snatch, Clean and Jerk)
2002: David Morgan (Middleweight x 2 – Overall, Clean and Jerk)
2002: Michaela Breeze (58kg – Snatch)
2006: Michaela Breeze (63kg)
2018: Gareth Evans (69Kg)
Wonder if Gareth Evans is descended from the miner John Evans who in 1819 survived a unbelievable mining disaster in Wrexham(Google it )I am and have got all the history if he was interested