08.15.2004:Tara Cunningham
Sunday, August 15, 2004 at 12:24 From Detroit News 
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By Lynn Henning / The Detroit News
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ATHENS, Greece -- This time, the gods from Greece's heavenly realm didn't smile on Tara Cunningham.
It was more as if they kicked her in the shin during Saturday's women's weightlifting competition at Nikala Olympic Weightlifting Hall.
Cunningham, a Mount Pleasant resident, finished 11th among 15 women who lifted weights almost twice their size.
She stumbled early, and dangerously, when, during her second lift in the snatch competition, her knees buckled, she toppled backward, and the 80-kilogram bar and weights (about 167 pounds) crashed against her left shin. She lay in pain for a few moments, hobbled off with assistance from an attendant -- then returned nine minutes later to neatly lift the same 80-kilogram combination that had knocked her on her back.
But she was never a factor, as had been anticipated. The night was dominated by a new world order: Turkey's Nurcan Taylan, who won the gold in an upset over China's Li Zhuo when Li failed in two final clean-and-jerk attempts to lift 120 kilograms.
Li took the silver, while Thailand's Aree Wiratthaworn nearly stole the show as she won the bronze with an Olympic record clean-and-jerk of 115 kilograms.
Cunningham couldn't buy a stitch of the magic she summoned four years ago at Sydney, when she won the gold. The U.S. hadn't won a weightlifting medal in 40 years until Cunningham -- then Tara Nott -- came from the pack like a longshot Kentucky Derby horse. She cashed in with a silver medal that turned to gold four days later when Bulgaria's Izabela Dragneva was disqualified for using a banned substance.
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