Weightlifting: Peter Kirkbride ‘optimistic’ for Olympics

PETER Kirkbride admits weightlifting’s Olympic test event at the ExCeL Centre last weekend has only served to heighten his excitement ahead of the Games next summer.

The Scot, silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last year, achieved the Olympic qualifying B standard during the two-day “London Prepares” programme, which was designed as a scaled-down trial run for 2012.

Shrugging off ankle and wrist injuries to compete, Kirkbride lifted 135kg in the snatch and 185kg in the clean and jerk to finish with a combined total of 320kg, placing him ninth in the men’s 94kg category.

“It was a great experience, great to be part of the GB team having been plagued by injuries. Everybody in the team did amazing. It’s great to be here,” said the 23-year-old.

“It’s just a taste of what’s to come, hopefully. We went to the Olympic Village and just to see it, it’s awesome. It makes it that bit more real. I didn’t really want to miss out on the opportunity to be here at the test event. Everyone’s optimistic. It’s just a taste of the hype that’s yet to come.”