Gold again for the Steiner weightlifting dynasty
Sydney – A magic moment from the Beijing Games was recreated Thursday at the World Masters Games in Sydney when Friedrich Steiner, father of Olympic weightlifting champion Matthias Steiner, paraded a gold medal won in the men’s 70-74 age category. The younger Steiner, a German citizen after falling out with the Austrian weightlifting federation, endeared himself to the world with a magnificent final lift in the Beijing competition.
The Austrian-born man-mountain dedicated his gold medal performance to the memory of his wife, Susann, who died in a car accident in 2007. He famously held up a photograph of Susann when he was on the podium.
The elder Steiner, still competing for Austria, said his triumph at the seventh World Masters Games was not in the same class as his son’s stupendous Beijing effort.
