Weightlifter Polina Guryeva won the first Olympic silver medal in the history of independent Turkmenistan on Tuesday at the Tokyo Games. The student of the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports achieved this success in the -59 kg category, competing against representatives of 14 countries, the official media of Turkmenistan reports.
Guryeva lifted a total 217 kilograms (snatch - 96 kg, clean and jerk - 121 kg), a 3 kg more than Mikiko Andoh of Japan (snatch - 94 kg, clean and jerk - 120 kg). The four-time world champion and holder of 12 world records Kuo Hsing-Chun (Taiwan) won gold, setting Olympic records in the snatch (103kg) and the clean and jerk (133kg), as well as with her total (236kg).
Polina Guryeva has been actively involved in sports since 2011. At first she attended the gymnastics section, after which she joined weightlifting. Her first coach was Ahmed Sariyev, under whose leadership she won a gold medal at the IV Solidarity Games of Islamic Countries held in 2017 in Baku. Polina Guryeva currently trains at the School of Higher Sports Excellence in Turkmenistan with the head coach of the national team Artur Emiryan.
