Weightlifter Guryeva Wins Turkmenistan's 1st Olympic medal

TOKYO - Sparsely populated and isolated from most of the outside world, Turkmenistan has finally won its first Olympic medal since independence from the Soviet Union.

Weightlifter Polina Guryeva won a silver medal for the Central Asian nation at the Tokyo Games on Tuesday, and then predicted she would go down in the country's history. "I was in shock because it's the first Olympic medal in the history of the Turkmen people. It's the first medal, which I won. No sport in Turkmenistan has had a medal, not one medal," the 21-year-old Guryeva said. "I think I've entered the history of Turkmenistan by winning a medal. I'm so in shock." Guryeva lifted a total 217 kilograms in the 59-kilogram category, edging Mikiko Andoh of Japan for second place. Kuo Hsing-Chun of Taiwan won gold by lifting 236kg.