 |  I'm so happy I feel like I could lift Wales right now. Bring it on! |
Michaela Breeze won Wales' first gold of the Commonwealth Games when she put in a record-breaking sequence of lifts to win the women's 63kg weightlifting. The 26-year-old, a silver medallist in Manchester four years ago, pushed Canada's Christine Girard and Miel McGerrigle into silver and bronze.
She set three Games marks in the snatch and one in the clean-and-jerk for a 220kg total, eight ahead of Girard.
McGerrigle ended the competition well behind on a combined total of 190kg.
England's Annette Campbell finished in sixth place.
Breeze, who never lifted the record 100kg weight in the snatch before, even in training, said: "I feel absolutely brilliant.
"This has made all those years of training and all the pain I've been through worthwhile because it's the one I've been waiting for.
"I'm so happy to have broken the Commonwealth record for the snatch and the overall score.
"I had a knee operation just before Christmas so I'm just so grateful to all the people back home who have helped fix me up and get me to this point."
Breeze, who teaches PE and weightlifting at Ivybridge Community College in Devon, added: "It's not easy balancing a full-time teaching job with full-time training.
"But I'm so happy I feel like I could lift Wales right now. Bring it on!"
Breeze's coach Ray William said: "This win is a catalyst for a brighter tomorrow for Welsh weightlifting.
"Michaela's made a small nation very proud. The effort and dedication she's put in has paid off tonight."
MMIX
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