Giant Welsh weightlifter Darius Jokarzadeh believes he still has an outside chance of making the GB squad for London 2012 and is hoping he can obtain the Olympic B Standard at the European Championships in Turkey.
The 18-year-old, who is 6ft 7ins tall and 24 stone in weight, has made a rapid rise in the sport in the past year to place himself among a long list of contenders to take one of the three men’s quota places for weightlifting at the Olympic Games.
Jokarzadeh, who has enormous size 17 feet, had tried his hand at rowing after being spotted during a talent identification programme, but it has been in weightlifting that he has shone most in the last two years.
In October 2011, the fluent Welsh speaker broke the British under-18 record on his way to gold at the Commonwealth Championships in South Africa in the under-20s section for the over 105 kilograms super heavyweight division.
“I really enjoyed South Africa. It was nice that all the training paid off,”
“I’d love to go to the Olympics in London. I’ll have to add another five kilograms to my total to make the B standard, and then who knows.
“I’ve added about 80kg to my total in the last six months so I think I can do it. I’ve got events coming up in the next few months so I’ve got time to get that extra weight to get me to London. Telling my own grandchildren I was a teenage Olympian would be a fantastic thing. The son of an Iranian father, Jokarzadeh needs to lift a combined total of 361kg for his snatch and his clean and jerk."
He will look to achieve this mark at the Europeans in Antayla from April 6, although if he misses it in Turkey he will then have another chance in Nottingham at the end of May at the British Championships.