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Wu rises to the occasion

 

Wu rises to the occasion

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AOC
Wu rises to the occasion

WEIGHTLIFTING: So what races through the mind of a 17-year-old, as he stands quivering on a platform, somehow keeping 117 kilograms hoisted above his head, knowing he’d just secured a bronze medal?

WEIGHTLIFTING: So what races through the mind of a 17-year-old, as he stands quivering on a platform, somehow keeping 117 kilograms hoisted above his head, knowing he’d just secured a bronze medal?

For 2013 Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) medallist Joshua Wu, it was a mixture of excitement and relief.

He’d been trying for months to lift 117kg in the clean and jerk. He already had the Australian record of 116kg, but he was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen.

Certainly there was no good reason why it should happen this week, at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Penang.

“I’ve had some problems with my knees and haven’t trained as well as I wanted to, so I just had to be confident and try and lift my best,” Wu said.

It was a strategy that paid off, rewarding Wu with not only the new Australian clean and jerk record in the men’s 62kg junior division, but also a seriously exciting bronze medal.

“I was a bit of an outside hope going into it, my goal was to try and win a medal at all cost, to do whatever I could to win,” he said.

“I wanted to get 6 out of 6 lifts, but I only got 5 out of 6 – I missed my last snatch on 90 kilos.

“But I was really happy. I wasn’t expecting it, I’ve missed 117 a couple of times in the last couple of months, so I just knew I had to give it everything I had to get it up there with good technique.”

News of Wu’s achievement quickly raced around the Australian weightlifting community, courtesy of a tweet from proud sister Melissa, herself a world-class diver.

Josh Wu tried out for diving, too. But he had a serious problem.

“I tried diving when I was little, but I was scared of heights, so it wasn’t for me,” he laughs.

“I then did karate before I started weightlifting, but I wasn’t that happy with karate. So mum suggested I try weightlifting. My other sister, Kirsten, had got into weightlifting about a year before I did.”

It was a good choice. Those in the weightlifting know are excited about Wu’s potential, and he certainly seems to be in the sport for the long haul.

“I just love the adrenalin rush you get when you lift well and win a medal,” he said.

“One of my main goals at the moment is to go to the Commonwealth Games in 2018 on the Gold Coast. My more immediate goal is the junior World Championships next year.

“I’ll be really training hard for that over the Christmas holidays because I have to qualify for that by March next year.”

Wu is also very level-headed for an athlete so young. Ask him about Rio 2016, and you get a very mature response.

“I have thought about Rio, but I don’t want to give myself any unrealistic hopes,” he admits.

“I’m just going to keep training my hardest and see where it takes me. This is my third International medal that I’ve won, so it’s nice. I won silver in 2011 at the Oceania and Arafura Games, and a bronze at this year’s Youth Festival.”

It’s already an impressive CV, but one suspects there’ll be plenty more entries before Joshua Wu is finished.

Australia's second medal at the championships was a bronze to 27-year-old Queenslander Tegan Napper in the women's 48kg division.

Napper lifted 144kg, eclipsing her previous personal best of 136kg to place herself in contention for a spot on Australia's team at next year's Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Napper took up the sport three years ago after watching the Delhi Commonwealth Games on television and has fought back from broken ribs she suffered earlier this year.

Ross Solly and AAP

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