KEY POINTS:
BEIJING- Auckland weightlifter Mark Spooner bounced back from a disappointing start in group C of the men's 69kg division at the Beijing Olympics, but had to be content with fifth place and a below-par total of 281kg.
Spooner didn't look entirely comfortable in clearing his opening 123kg attempt in the snatch, and struggled to control his next two attempts at 127kg, finishing fifth out the eight starters going into the clean and jerk.
Brazilian Welisson Silva led the competition at the end of the snatch, with his second lift of 135kg.
Spooner showed real grit to regather and finish third in the clean and jerk, upping his starting total from 150kg to 153kg and earning the white light comfortably.
His second attempt, at 158kg, was also successful but a personal best 161kg proved elusive.
The group was won by Chinthana Vidanage of Sri Lanka, who was third equal after the snatch but lifted 165kg in the clean and jerk to secure the victory with a total of 293kg.
The top two groups, including favourite Liao Hui - who totalled 355kg to win the Chinese trial - and Athens 62kg gold medalist Shi Zhiyong (also China), compete tomorrow to decide the final placings in the 30-strong field.
A disappointed Spooner said afterwards that he'd felt capable of clearing 127kg, but couldn't quite clear his mind of his less-than-ideal first attempt.
"The first snatch was a little bit more rushed than I'd prefer, it came off the floor quite well, but just over the head. I had to go forward a bit to recover it. I guess it didn't really come right from that for the second and third attempts."
Spooner was happier with his clean and jerk effort and with his mental focus in putting his disappointment from the snatch behind him.
"When it goes bad in the snatch like that, you've just got to put it behind you, carry on and know that you'll be strong enough for a good performance leading into the clean and jerk," he said afterwards.
Possibly the most disappointing aspect for Spooner from his first Olympics came from the fact that his preparation going into the event had been spot on.
"The preparation had been so good leading up to the Olympics and the warm-ups had been perfect. It was just out on the platform."
Heading into today's competition, Spooner had a personal best of 289kg, and had hoped to top that along the way to a top 16 finish.
Spooner, 23, and fellow Aucklander Richard Patterson are the first weightlifters to represent New Zealand at an Olympics since Nigel Avery and Olivia Baker competed at Sydney in 2000.
The Auckland boat builder has come a long way since he first took up weightlifting seven years ago, and today's competition was always looked on as a step in his development towards the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games and - hopefully - the London Olympics in 2012.
Spooner finished sixth at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, and earlier this year totalled 284kg to win the Oceania championship.
- NZPA
