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2014 World Weightlifting Championships

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official-2014-world-championships-LogoThis is  the 2014 World Weightlifting Championships Resource page.

As always, I will keep this page updated throughout the event as soon as new information is available.

Thank You!

Big thanks go to Anton from Sweden and Phil from Scotland, who on very short notice took over ATG and kept the site up to date. Without them it would have been really quiet here, while I was running around like a madman in Almaty, trying to get good footage of the event. The support you guys gave me took a huge burden off my chest! I owe you big time!

Also thanks to Nat (HookGrip) and Steve (@210weightlifting). What can I say… you guys are the best. So much fun and positive energy.

Thanks to the IWF and especially Lilla for making this trip possible in the first place and for providing us with such a great work environment.

Athletes: Thanks for letting me take your pictures and being so approachable (yes I am even looking at you team PRK).

Readers: Also thanks to you the readers who commented and submitted links and updates. Especially wlift84 should be mentioned here. It’s great to have a community like this around.

Contact Info: I’m @atginsta on Instagram and @allthingsgym on twitter. ATG Submit Page.

Also, subscribe to my new ATG YouTube channel where I’ll be posting clips!

Useful Links

Highlights

Recordings

News

Update 23.04.2015: RI Jong Hwa (see Update 04.12.2014 below) will receive no suspension, but she’ll still lose her medal! (via)

After a careful consideration the IWF Hearing Panel has decided that no suspension shall be applied in the case of Ms. Jong Hwa Ri. However in line with Article 9 of the Code and IWF Anti-Doping Policy the Panel had no choice but to the disqualify her results from the 2014 World Championships. The Athlete is eligible to compete and shall be treated accordingly.

All this sounds to me like she was able to somehow show that the positive test was not her fault. I bet it has nothing to do with the Dear Leader.

Update 04.04.2015: “Godelli and Begaj were suspended with 2 years of sports activities, while Pulaku was punished with 8 years of suspension.” (via)

Update 14.01.2014: Hysen Pulaku’s and Romela Begaj’s B Sample came back Positive too (via). Hysen still has the option to appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).

Update 29.12.2014: Ilya, Zulfiya and Zhassulan get new cars (via)

Update 23.12.2014: Prize money for some of the Kazakh lifters (via).

Zulfiya Chinshanlo 2,715,000 tenge ($14893 US), Vladimir Sedov 1,267,000 tenge ($6950 US), coaches – 1,810,000 tenge ($9929 US) and Sergei Sedov – 905 000 tenge ($4964 US).

Update 22.12.2014: Tseveleva Darya (Belarus) 15th at 63kg, Stanozolol (via)

Update 19.12.2014: Update: 11.12.2014: Romela Begaj’s B test came back positive (via).

Update 11.12.2014: More positive tests…

Update 04.12.2014: Next positive tests by *drum roll* North Korea, Albania, Uzbekistan! (via)

  • BEGAJ Romela, ALB (63kg Snatch Gold Medalist 113kg)
  • RI Jong Hwa, PRK (58kg C&J Gold, Total Silver)
  • SISOEVA Marina, UZB (53kg 4th place)
  • MAMASALIYEVA Manzurahon, UZB (69kg 9th place)

Ilya thinks he can increase the C&J WR by 12-16kg until Rio 2016 (via). Furthermore:

If all goes according to plan, I will try to Clean & Jerk 260 kg for a new World Record.

Update 28.11.2014: First positive doping test – Makhliyo Togoeva, UZB (48kg 5th place) (via)

Update 23.11.2014: Made an extra post to collect all Training Hall Videos

Update 13.11.2014: womens 69kg, 75kg A-group and mens 105kg added to the recordings section.

Update 13.11.2014: womens 63kg A and mens 85kg A-group, 58kg B group now available in the recordings section.

This is how champions share their platforms…

Update 12.11.2014: 77kg, 69kg A group, 48kg 53kg, 56kg, 69kg, 77kg B groups have been posted. On facebook I shared this video of Dmitry Klokov snatching 200kg. I’m still speechless. Update 11.11.2014: Ivan Makov (BUL, 85kg) Squats 240 for a double to keep his legs fresh.

 

Update 10.11.2014:

Update 09.11.2014:

  • Added 48kg, 56 kg, 62kg in the Recordings Section below
  • The North Korean secret to Weightlifting? It’s all about those abz!

A video posted by Gregor Winter (@atginsta) on

Update 08.11.2014: Sorry for not uploading more videos guys. Schedule is crazy here. Here is Kim Tuan Thach’s 135kg Junior Snatch World Record in the 56kg class. It’s his third time breaking the Jr record this year alone (Jr Worlds, Asian Games, now Worlds).

Update 08.11.2014: Added links for IWF streams (for non A Sessions).

A photo posted by Gregor Winter (@atginsta) on

 

Update 07.11.2014: Added final start lists.

Update 06.11.2014: I’m on my way to Almaty.

Update 05.11.2014:

  • Poland: Bartlomiej Bonk (105kg) will not go to Worlds. He tore his quad (via). Because he also missed Europeans (injury), his funding will be cut. He said this will have “serious financial consequences” for him.
  • China: Checking in with the Chinese Women’s Team

The women’s clip basically says that the team is in fine shape, but still smarting from getting only 2/7 golds in Incheon. The coach says the recent performances of North Korea and Chinese Taipei have sounded an alarm that the Chinese team must adapt and improve to regain its dominance. In general, both women’s and men’s teams are in good shape (with the exception of Liao cutting his hand).

Update 04.11.2014: Checking in with the Chinese Men’s Team.

Liao Hui has stitches on his thumb.

Update: Thanks to Victor for the translation.

Liao Hui broke a teacup while washing it, causing a deep wound that required 5 stitches. His stitches are supposed to come off only one day before the 69kg A group.

Although it hurts his training, he says the main problem is that he can’t go into the sauna for fear of infecting it and that causes it to be difficult on his pre-comp weight-loss. He says it’s really mind-over-matter this time but he says he’ll probably still perform fine.


Update 29.10.2014: Marcin Dolega was suspended by the Polish federation. He supposedly tested positive for elevated levels of norandrosterone (nandrolone or its derivatives).

Update 24.10.2014:

  • Ruslan Albegov says he’s not in the best shape (via). Due to an injury his prearation did not go to according to plan. … Is he just low balling?
  • Syrtsov said says that the final composition of the Russian team will be announced November 6th (via)

Update 22.10.2014: Tian Tao posted this teaser photo on his weibo. Says: “220 See You at World Championships”

tian_tao

Update 18.10.2014: First update to list already.

First Impressions:

I would not be surprised to see some changes to list though. The “Final” Final Start List usually appears one week out.

Update 15.10.2014:

  • Andrey Aramnau won’t be lifting. (via) He has a small injury and will prepare for next year’s worlds (thanks Robert).

About Gregor Winter

Hi, I run ATG.

Follow me on instagram @gregorwinter (and ATG @atginsta).

Comments

    • Leon says

      Are there any news about Nuridinov? I’d love to see him compete, but given the injury it seemed unlikely.

      • Jerker Karlsson says

        He’s on the Uzbekistan roster that Gregor posted, with a 400 kg entry total.

      • grobpote says

        He hasn’t been ready since 2008 and I don’t think he ever will be again 🙁

        • hoomdammer says

          It does seem like he has been really focused on training though. I hope we will get to see him!

          • Jerker Karlsson says

            One can always hope he shows up. An Aramnau in shape would be another great competitor added to an already great field in the 105 kg class.

            • wat says

              20 year old Aramnau from 2008 Beijing is probably stronger than Ilyin and Nurudinov now.

                • drarara says

                  snatch- no doubt but his CJ is mostly the bar whip then he throws it up up after stand up,judjes didnt vount it during europeans and he had problems.starts jerking off 1-st bounce. ilyin is not doing that so obsious-he starts his dip on 3-rd oscillation of the bar.

                    • Magneto says

                      Oscilliation helps a little bit but thats in the 1-3 kg range imo. Not that significant. The bar whip from the dip is a key factor though.
                      Aramnau couldn’t jerk without his usual whip because it messed up his rhythm and he had breath problems. You can’t change deeply engraved movements with maximum weights in the middle of competition. Look up Aramnaus 240×3 behind the neck jerk. He is a strong jerker even without the whip.

        • Leviathar says

          He Went 184/212 in Tel aviv this year, not top form but it shows that he picked up training agian

          • SRWG says

            Calling him on that oscillation was total bs
            I think we can see more out of him than 396 but I don’t think he’ll ever be back to hitting 200/236

            • wlift84 says

              It’s not bs if other people outside of the Beijing OG get turned down for it though.

      • jony kerbs says

        i was hoping too! aramnau, klokov and polonikov would give a great battle with ilyin!!

      • Jerker Karlsson says

        Really good to see him o the start list. I hope he competes and posts some good numbers. He has looked rather injury-ridden during the last couple of years.

    • Patrick says

      Would be very thankful if you keep an eye on Okulov in the 85kg class, I
      hope he’s recovered well from his surgery! Would be interesting if he
      ever do muscle snatches, never saw him doing it?
      Thanks so far! =)

    • Magneto says

      You going to Kazakhstan is great!! I’m really looking forward to your experiences and material 🙂

    • grobpote says

      I see three lifters who should rather be ‘R’ than Chingiz. I hope it will change later.

    • grobpote says

      I am really looking forward to see Podobedova after two years break. It made my evening seeing her on the list!

    • Erik Blekeberg says

      If the start lists hold true, 105s are going to be tight. Vasa and David of russia,; ruslan from uzbek; ilya…hell even pat Mendez is going to compete and he could snag a snatch medal.

      • SRWG says

        David 185/235 420. I don’t think he’ll make the WR as he’s never performed very well outside of Russia
        Vasily likely won’t compete as reserve, but he could do 190/225 415
        Ruslan won’t be in top shape from that knee injury, maybe 185-190/220-225 410-415 as well
        Ilya 185/239 424 for Gold and C&J WR

        • wat says

          I really really hope that results will be better in 105 kg. I wanna see competition at the level of Klokov-Akkaev 2011, where they lifted 428 and 430 respectively.

          • wlift84 says

            Those are top three international totals since 1998. It’s unlikely to repeat soon unless injury free and peaked Ilyin vs. Nurudinov happens.

            • SRWG says

              Yeah I think 415-420 is much more likely.
              That’s why I’m not that worried about Ilya, 426 is more than enough to win.

        • Kevin says

          See my post above. He is having back spasms, but a final decision should be made around the 24th. His instagram account has a video of him easily clean and jerking 200kg at the end of September. We will have to wait and see whether he will compete.

  3. Patrick says

    Would be very thankful if you keep an eye on Okulov in the 85kg class, I hope he’s recovered well from his surgery! Would be interesting if he ever do muscle snatches, never saw him doing it?
    Thanks so far! =)

    • Gregor says

      “In order to keep the comments a organized look for the top level comment that says “Preliminary Start List” and leave your thoughts there.” 🙂

  4. Leon says

    Are there any news about Nuridinov? I’d love to see him compete, but given the injury it seemed unlikely.

  7. Kat says

    Not really important, but does anyone else find it funny how the competition logo is clearly modeled after our favourite Kazakhstan lifter, down to the spiky hair.

    • Gregor says

      Glad you noticed 🙂 I thought I’d add a little personal touch to the “official” logo.

      This is now the official 2014 ATG Worlds logo (I hope we can get it to spread).

      • wat says

        kazakhstan?
        tbh, I was sure it was stylized after Liao Hui. I still think it looks more like Liao then Ilya.

  9. David Oliveira says

    Slightly disappointed with Ilya’s numbers in that test competition. He has a month to improve, but also 8kg to lose.

    • DylanJM says

      I am going to hold judgement for a bit longer. He is still in training and most likely didn’t taper for this test competition so it probably isn’t a full picture of his capabilities. He also didn’t loose a whole lot off his clean and jerk when he cut down from 103 to 94 for London so that’s another positive too. He still opened on 240 which is massive and attempted 247 and 250. His snatch is still comparatively week though and is unlikely to gain much more on that in the next 4 weeks IMO.

      Ilya is also a proven competitor on the world stage too and is likely to bring his A game once he steps on the platform especially with the world’s being in his backyard. I predict he is going to snatch around 188-190 and jerk around 235-240. Hopefully there will be some lifters also on form to push him a little a ndmake a good competition of it.

      With all that being said with all that being said I fully expect to see the internet weightlifting community implode if Iyla doesn’t lift some astronomical numbers in November 😀

      • Josh Pfau says

        Good points. We should also wait for video (please let there be video) because there has to be a reason he jumped all the way from 240 to 247 and then jumped up 3 more kilos despite the failure.

        • Leon says

          It is definately a statement to open at 240. Most super heavyweights don’t even do that. He has the confidence. I am really excited about the competition and hope to see Ilyn compete against Nuridinov in top shape.

    • fred emery says

      i think that 8 kgs to lose in a month it’s really too much !! but maybe i’m wrong, is it usual in the world of top weightlifters to lose so much weight in a so short time before big competitions ?

      • drarara says

        well he did loose like 9 kilos like a month before london so i think his team has no problem with that. still he has to improve cuz he was 103 kilos when he did 196+240 pre london. now hes 113 and his snatch didnt improve much. platform will show whats what.

  10. Sebastian says

    Imo if Nurudinov is in good shape he can beat Ilya. 195/197+240 is my prediction if he is in top shape. Ilya could get 190+240.

    • wat says

      I agree Nurudinov can beat Ilya, but I don’t think he can possibly lift that much in snatch

      • Jerker Karlsson says

        Nurudinov snatched 190 and missed 195 at the worlds last year. He should be able to do 195 kg or more this year if he has improved in training.

        If Nurudinov is healthy and in good shape I think he will win. But we will see.

  14. wlift84 says

    Unscientific CHN prediction from looking at past three AG+WWC years: 80% same guys, moderately lesser results. 50% same girls, slightly lesser results.

    • weeeeee says

      Poland is certainly winning the oldest team award. Got to get some young bucks in there. Surprised Kolecki hasn’t come out of retirement (joking of course). No way Bonk opens anywhere near 420, (190-230?, 195-225?, 200-220?) no way.

      • David Oliveira says

        Actually with that entry total he has to start with 400. 185+215 seem very accurate to me.

        And to be fair, I doubt that he will lift much more than that

    • Jerker Karlsson says

      It’s gonna be interesting to see Adrian Zielinsky in the 94 kg class. He was great as an 85 kg lifter in London, but seemed to struggle a bit at last year’s worlds. He goes up against Sedov and Sybay from Kazakhstan and Kireev and Maligov from Russia (among others).

      The 94 kg class looks promising. I think I’ll be rooting for Zielinsky. 🙂

    • Gregor says

      Aramnau and Rybakou just missed national championships.

      The original (what you linked is just a copycat site that btw also removes watermarks from videos and puts their’s on it) says ‘
      “His [Aramnau’s] appreance at the November World Championships in Kazakhstan is planned.” . Same goes for Rybakou. They just missed the Belarus nationals.

      http://sportpanorama.by/content/heavy_athletics/19757/

      • Robert1337 says

        Well, quote from your link: “Его выступление на ноябрьском чемпионате мира в Казахстане не планируется” – “His perfomance in November world championships in Kazakhstan is not planned.”
        So you are not right

        • Gregor says

          Ah okay, I was confused about that (Google translate said “planned” vs bing translate “not planned” :D). I first had it on the top in the news section a couple of days ago, but then removed it. Adding it back to the top now.

    • Victor says

      Don’t know who this Ian Wilson is (that I’ve already seen 3 posters ask about) but his name sure doesn’t sound like a world champion medal-winner’s, at least not in Olympic weightlifting…

        • Victor says

          Well, generally, people only ask about potential medalists so I was wondering why people were asking about him. Is there something special about this guy? For example, if someone asked about Kendrick Farris, I would understand. He’s not a potential medalist (unless the top 10 all come down with injuries and their back-ups didn’t wanna go either), but he’s special cus he’s the funny guy who trash-talked Lu Xiaojun, when Lu out-totalled him by 7kg from 2 weight-ranks down.

          • Evan says

            1. hes american
            2. the people asking are probably american
            3. you obviously do know about ian wilson considering you knew he “trash talked Lu Xiaojun”
            4. people are allowed to have favorites. If Clarence Kennedy was competing here, even though he probably wouldnt medal, Id be fucking pumped.

            • Victor says

              No, reading comprehension is needed here. I said Kendrick Farris did that, not Wilson. And yes, in my first post, I indicated I didn’t know about Ian Wilson, so was asking.

  20. Anton Mårtensson says

    Does anybody know about Marcin’s current form? I really like him but there is not much info on the interwebz.

  21. jony kerbs says

    ilyin will win the105, maybe not in the snatchbut his C&J will destroy the total!
    Why isn´t klokov in the russian list???????????
    And i hope to see Aramnau too!

      • Afferbeck says

        Probably just a scare tactic, you only need to total 15/20kg within your entry total and I think they’ll all capable of coming within 20kg of the world record.

      • Victor says

        LOL When I saw Rostami’s 401 opener, I thought he posted that cus he was mad at how he lost in Incheon.

      • David Oliveira says

        Some totals will be corrected. I remember that last year Nurudinov also appeared in the final startlist with a very low total (borderline between group A or B) and it was corrected to 420 2 or 3 days before the competition.

        Btw, the albanians are even more ridiculous. Godelli will probably bomb-out if he doesn’t correct his total, and I will run on the street naked if that 41 year-old actually wins a medal in the Women’s 48 😛

        • sporting says

          Godelli totalled 358 in competition about 4 weeks ago with a 166 snatch. He just recently moved to 77 so expect him to have potential to hit more. I’m hopefully Albania will get a medal with a weaker field. I can’t see more than maybe 2 names recently better than Godelli on the list. Qerimaj I predict 160 then 200 bomb out on CJ.

          • David Oliveira says

            Was that competition in Albania or International? I’m asking that, because I don’t give too much value to those internal competitions. Torokhtiy also totaled 434 (I think) in Ukraine in 2012, and that was transformed into 412 when he arrived on Olympic stage….the same with Rostami who totalled 399 in Iran.

            The true fact is that, with that entry total, Godelli will gave to open already higher than his final results at this year’s europeans.

      • Jerker Karlsson says

        Salimi with a 472 kg entry total at 105+ and Rostami with a 401 kg total at 85 kg. We’ll see how much they adjust it down, but it would be nice with a world record total in the 85 kg class, and given the start list in that class, it could happen. If one of all the great lifters listed gets a good performance in both the snatch and the clean and jerk, the total world record is hanging loose.

        I’m really excited to see Tian Tao, maybe he can surpass his performance at the Asian Games and do some really nice lifting. Maybe try a clean and jerk of 220 kg. Would be a nice thing to see.

        • grobpote says

          Salimi has the right to enter with that 472 kg because he’s done it before and capable of doing it again. But Rostami is ridiculous with the 401. He’s far away from it and I bet he will never reach that 400 mark. Honestly, He has an awkward technique I never liked it.

          • Jerker Karlsson says

            When did Salimi do a 472 total before? The highest he has done in international competition seems to be 465 at the Asian games just recently, according to his competition history at http://www.iwf.net. I still believe he will win at the worlds, but has he really done over 470 in international events before?

            I always liked Rostami and other lifters with what seems to be non-textbook technique. Maybe because I started lifting at 31 myself and my own lifts look like trainwrecks. 🙂 You probably have a different point of view as a seasoned, competitive lifter (according to your profile text), but I like seeing someone jump forward to catch the bar and still do world record weights in training. It makes the sport more interesting and fun to watch, for me.

            The 85 kg class will be really interesting to watch if the start list remains unchanged. I’m hoping Tian Tao will win, mostly because I like his lifting style and hope for a world record clean and jerk.

            • grobpote says

              You’ve got a point. I don’t like his technique, for me it’s a bit ugly but I understand if you enjoy it. Salimi did 472 at a home competition – which of course is not international but I didn’t say that. He lifted big weights in competition and about 470+. Rostami has never done 401 in the 85 kg as far as I know. Anyway, Salimi is a class act ,a real unique lifter which I can’t say about Rostami.

              • Jerker Karlsson says

                I like Salimi as well, seems like he has had some hard times with the management of the team and the politics of the sport in Iran. It’s impressive to keep performing under those circumstances (provided the info that is available online gives a fairly accurate view of events). Didn’t know what he had done nationally, except a 217 snatch, if I remember it correctly. We can always hope he can post those kind of numbers at the worlds. 🙂

                Rostami isn’t my favourite lifter in the 85 kg class, but he’s a potential competitor for the medals, even though he usually seems to miss a lot of the heavier attempts in international competition (London Olympics and the last Asian games for example). I do enjoy watching different styles though, and he’s one athlete in a very competitive field in the 85 kg class, and that competition can hopefully make the athletes go for really heavy weights across the board.

                • Tom Bennett says

                  I bet there will be a few 460+kg totals at this Worlds. There will definitely be several 210+ snatches assuming everything goes right. Lovchev did a 258 clean and jerk. Salimi did 260…Albegov has won all of his last few competitions. I’m excited to watch this one.

                • grobpote says

                  Well, it really depends on what do you call a class act. I call class act,great or unique a lifter if he or she is special. Yakharevich,Suleymanoglu,Vardanian,Kurlovich,Salimi for example. They stand out from the crowd and make history. In my standard Rostami is not and never will be one of them. He is an excellent lifter but that’s it. You know,if you call everybody a hero it’ll lose it’s weight 🙂

                  • Tom Bennett says

                    gotcha…didn’t know if he did anything outside of weightlifting that made him “not classy”

                    • Tom Bennett says

                      well, two world championships and a 391kg total at 85kg ain’t too bad:)
                      especially considering the total record is 394! I bet he breaks the total before he retires.

                    • grobpote says

                      Of course it’s not bad.It’s very-very good! He’s a world champion and it’s always special. Classy? No. Vardanyan and Zlatev were classy with the 405 kg total in the 82,5 kg category.

                    • Tom Bennett says

                      well with today’s testing he’s pretty amazing but I kind of agree: he needs to break the 394 record-then in my book he’s classy. Hey Salimi lost this year-to an injured Albegov ( I think he was hurt at least)

            • Tom Bennett says

              This competition is going to be awesome. Salimi is going to get pushed to the max here! I hope everyone is healthy going in. Albegov, Lovchev and Salimi…too cool.

    • Afferbeck says

      Is Shi Zhiyong at 69 a typo or is it a different Shi Zhiyong? I guess it’s the latter because the one on the start list is born 1993 and the old champion is born 1980.

      Also it looks like Mohamed Ehab is actually competing! Looks like it will be his first competition outside of Egypt in five years.

        • David Oliveira says

          China has 9 athletes listed, so they have to drop one of them. It’s going to be either Shi or one of the guys from the 56’s.

          • wlift84 says

            They say that the two 56s are “double insurance” so I’m pretty sure they will both lift. Liao Hui wins the 69s without breaking a sweat, but Long alone is only an equal to Om and Thach.

            • David Oliveira says

              Makes sense.

              Although to be fair I don’t think that any of them can beat Om in normal circumstances, and even Thach totalled more at the AG than Long ever did.

            • Victor says

              I don’t understand the double-insurance thing. You can put 10 lifters who can total 300 but if someone else puts 1 guy who can do 301, your goose is still cooked. Is Li Fabing even a real contender? To me, it looks like he’s just a young guy trying to get international lifting experience without much hope of making it to the podium. To me, it looks like Om will reign supreme due to his freakshow clean and jerk while Long fights Kim for the silver. For a while, I was hoping that the Chinese coaches decided to take Long out of competition for 2 years so he can go through uninterrupted training and see if that turns him into the monster that it would take to pry the gold from Om in Rio.

    • Afferbeck says

      Whoa I just got down to the 85s. Apti’s there! Hysen Pulaku is there?! There’s a lot of big guns in the 85s, that is going to be one crazy competition if no one drops out.

    • Magneto says

      The russian team is no surprise for me except that they chose Rinat Kireev over Adam Maligov but they will have good reasons I guess. I think Zhou Lulu and Lu Xiaojun are injured. Happy to see Apti Aukhadov and Hysen Pulaku on the list. Sad thing obviously is Bahador Moulaei and Andrei Aramnau not competing but overall it’s a good field of athletes. 85 and +105 will be one hell of a competition 🙂

      • Victor says

        Where do you get the info that they’re injured? Or are you guessing because they’re not on the list?

        • Magneto says

          Guessing .. I can’t imagine that Lu is deliberately skipping this WWC. China sends the best lifters they have.

          • wlift84 says

            No they’re not. The WWC is lower priority in China. They both peaked for the AG which gets prestige second only to the OG in Asia.
            They only need enough talent to score necessary qualifiying points. They don’t send their top ranked people in 6 or so classes, and it’s not because they’re all injured.

            • Magneto says

              That makes sense. But why was Lu competing in 2011 and 2013? And why are they sending Tian Tao (who has competed in AG) and Liao Hui?. They could have send hundreds of other 69s instead. Anyway thanks for your insight – after all I’m just furiously guessing because I wanted to see Lu lift world records 🙂

              • Victor says

                Asian games are high priority, not the Asian weightlifting championships (very low priority). Asian games last happened in 2010. Liao Hui probably went to worlds instead of AG because he just wanted more time to get ready and try to break that snatch record (hopefully) so they sent Lin and didn’t expect any North Korean to be such a challenge. Tian Tao is probably going to both maybe because he is very young and YuJie feels that the danger of him burning out is low enough such that the benefits of him getting more competition experience can outweigh the risks. I’m guessing on everything past the first 2 sentences.

          • Victor says

            Oh, well, Zhou never planned to be here. At the end of the April nationals, the announcer says the results decide that Zhou will go to Incheon and Deng will go to the Worlds. Quite frankly, I would have preferred it the other way since Deng could probably take the Asians and only Zhou has a chance to beat Kashirina, but alas, Zhou needed the Asian gold to complete her grand slam. As for Lu, I doubt he’s injured; he’s quite experienced. I think he either plans to come in last minute to ruin everyone’s hopes for getting gold or his age may be catching up to him since he only did 170, 200 in training before Incheon and he almost bombed the C&J. So he may have decided to take a long rest like Ilya Ilin did after London. Liao also decided to make only 1 showing this year. Yujie may have decided that neither of these superstars are spring chickens so it’s better to be safe than to risk a total burn-out, lose competition, possible injury, and ruin their chances in Rio. Anyway, if Lu doesn’t show, and Zhong Guoshun alone represents China in the 77, it could be a real competition as he’s good for about 365.

              • Victor says

                Yeah, YuJie says even though Zhong has little trouble totalling 375 in training, doing so on the competition stage of the World Championships is different and will be a test for him. Personally, that’s better than what I thought the old bloke could do but I’m not too excited cus 1. I don’t know what training numbers Zhong was putting up before when he was totalling 355-360 in competition and 2. Godelli was putting up that number in training too so technically, this isn’t really a lead.

                • Victor says

                  But that’s beside the point. I don’t think either Godelli or Qerimaj will pose as much of a challenge as Kim Kwangsong. Even though he’s is no Lu Xiaojun, I think Zhong Guoshun can handle the Albanians without too much trouble, especially if they get too ambitious and end up handling themselves LOL But Kim is no joke; his snatch is really up there at 168 and he even managed to clean 207. I’d say unless he’s still feeling it from the Asian Games (or if he ends up failing a drug test), Zhong will need a big stroke of luck to overcome the North Korean.

        • Kyle Roach says

          Is there any plans for the Ma Strength seminar to bring those guys to the west coast?? would love to attend a seminar that has both Lu Xiaojun and Liao Hui

      • dont be scared homie says

        adam said he had a leg injury on his insta. what is more confusing is why polovnikov was left out for sabanichev. will have to contact vasya and ask him. stay posted

        • dont be scared homie says

          So Vasily said something regarding unfair selection regarding himself. he wouldnt go into details. hopefully this will not put him into the doghouse

    • drarara says

      i thought russia has some sort of final meet on 24th of october to decide who is going to worlds, as was stated in previous comments

      • wlift84 says

        Hopefully the IWF got tired of their “we decide the team when the A final starts” nonsense of last year and told them to get a grip already.

      • David Oliveira says

        The reserves are in the startlist (p.e, Turkey has 3 lifters in the Wmn’s 48kg class, meaning that one of them will drop out).

        I didn’t count the russians, but if they did the same, they still have time to decide who they drop.

    • Scott P says

      does this list have the reserves included? I thought ferris and barnes were reserves? (for USA)

    • andreas says

      The verification of final entries (i.e. final start list with realistic entry totals) is due before the technical congress, which is November 7, so until then, entry totals are not reliable. As far as swapping names, it can be done until 14 days before the technical congress I think, which would leave another 4 days to make changes.

    • wlift84 says

      Regarding the 24oct news, once again why and how? Why is every other country seemingly capable of posting a final team on the official deadline yet the Russians NEED to be such special snowflakes to keep their lineup secret until two! days before the comp starts?
      And why are they still getting away with this crap? Does the IWF not care for their own regulations or is the RFWF simply to big a fish?

      It’s an annoying and simply embarrassing MO.

    • Kevin says

      I am told the final men’s list for Russia is Chen, Okulov, Aukhadov, Kireev, Sabancheev, Bedzhanyan, Lovchev and Albegov.

    • David Oliveira says

      The real (lol) final startlist is out now. Some of my findings (please someone correct me if I failed to notice something or gave wrong information):

      -56’s group B looks like the European Championship.
      -Entry totals generally went down, except for Om-Yun Chol that fixed his at 295.
      -Tan Yayun in the 48’s and Mengrong Deng in the 58’s. Shi Zhiyong is the excluded male athlete, as expected.
      -No Boyanka Kostova, no Ivan Stoitsov, no Daniyar Ismayilov
      -Tryiatno lifting in group C. Ouch!
      -Godelli keeps his entry total at 372. Nearly certain bomb-out, IMO.
      -Rasoul Taghian’s entry total fixed at 351. Group B for him in the 85’s, alongside Hysen Pulaku
      -Rostami at 391, Apti in (yes!).
      -Maya Maneza in the 69’s, with a very low entry total. Probably fears not losing enough weight (?)
      -No Alexandr Ivanov(!). Kireev takes his place.
      -Podobedova out 🙁
      -Ilya with a 430(!) entry total
      -Salimi at 460.

      • guest says

        most certain bomb out for me is pat mendes. 406 entry total. i do not see how he wants to get there based on his previous performances. i would be very surprised if he achieved that.

          • Guest says

            Isn’t it like his openers must already add up to 386? I don’t see it happen either way. More likely that we will bomb out…

            • David Oliveira says

              I think that the rule is that the openers can’t be 20kg under the entry total (406). If he does per example 180+206 he’ll be OK,

              But to be fair, I also have huge doubts about those numbers considering his past record. At least, I think that he’s being too overconfident.

      • David Oliveira says

        I should correct myself. Kostova is in the startlist, in the 53kg group B. I missed her because I was looking for her in the 58’s.

  23. TheTurk says

    Turkey Championship will end tomorrow and the final team will be formed. I will send squad list if I find .

  24. bruno says

    The announced beginning weight from the iranien in +105 is not true, isn’t it? 472kg?

    • Nikolai says

      Almost all the Iranians have entered ridiculous weights that they will never achieve – Salimi’s 472 is one of the more realistic. Rasoul Taghian in 85kg entered 391 – alot for a lifter that has never snatched above 170 in international competetion. Rostami – also 85kg – has entered 401. 7kg above the world record total.

      I don’t know if they are just having a laugh or actually think that this intimidates their opponents. If the latter, their coaches are a bit stupid; they should understand that when you exaggerate too much, it is very obvious that one is doing just that – exaggerating.

  25. GHM says

    Do you link you can set up live link?

    What is the time difference between Almaty and Eastern Daylight time in USA?

    • Afferbeck says

      Almaty is UTC+6, so you should be able to work out the difference with whatever + or – you are. The A sessions are on at 4pm and 7pm, and I’m +8 so they will be 6pm and 9pm for me, pretty convenient times actually! A google tells me American Eastern Daylight Time is -4, so 6am and 9am. Probably really inconvenient times.

  28. TheTurk says

    Daniyar Ismailov will represent Turkey in Almaty. He competes at 69 kg category and did 156+180 in Turkey National Championships a few days ago. He is a potential medalist.

    • Victor says

      Sound like pretty solid numbers and definitely strong medal contention at a usual competition but I’d say he’s kinda unlucky to face such a roster. China’s Shi Zhiyong and North Korea’s Kim Myonghyok are both good for over 340 when they’re in form (though Kim may be a little burned out from the Asian Games) and Oleg Chen is quite strong too when he’s not hindered by injury. And we won’t even need to discuss Liao Hui’s power. Sounds like one heck of a competition for silver int he men’s 69.

  30. vincent says

    chinese team got a new sponsor, Anta instead of Nike, right after incheon game. you can see half of them wearing new shoes at incheon games, not sure how this new shoes will affect their performance

    • victor says

      I believe that some have started using Anta shoes while others who aren’t fully adjusted yet just went with Nike shoes with a piece of tape covering the logo. Endorsements take a back seat to the gold medal for sure.

      • Victor says

        Liao Hui broke a teacup while washing it, causing a deep wound that required 5 stitches. His stitches are supposed to come off only one day before the 69kg A group. Although it hurts his training, he says the main problem is that he can’t go into the sauna for fear of infecting it and that causes it to be difficult on his pre-comp weight-loss. He says it’s really mind-over-matter this time but he says he’ll probably still perform fine.

  32. Victor says

    Really doesn’t look like Shi Zhiyong’s gonna be doing anything more than playing with his fingers at this world’s LOL. When they said Liao Hui cut his hand, they said, “Unfortunately, it’s too close to competition to swap Liao out cus not one else has been training to competition intensity.”

  33. Oscar says

    The Secret Chinese Superweapon Program has been revealed:
    -Heavy Pulls
    -Heavy Pulls
    -Heavy Pulls
    -Really Heavy Pulls
    -Heavy Pulls

  34. Tym says

    No chance this is being televised in the US, right? Will there be a live stream at least?

  35. Afferbeck says

    Hopefully that video with Liao Hui’s hand injury was from long enough ago that it won’t bother him. Looked like a pretty serious cut.

  36. Victor says

    The women’s clip basically says that the team is in fine shape, but still smarting from getting only 2/7 golds in Incheon. The coach says the recent performances of North Korea and Chinese Taipei have sounded an alarm that the Chinese team must adapt and improve to regain its dominance. In general, both women’s and men’s teams are in good shape (with the exception of Liao cutting his hand).

    • Victor says

      If only there were the times and channels of the livestreams posted next to the competitions arranged by weight-class and group on this very page 6 inches above the comments section…

  38. Melzen says

    Have a save trip, and much fun. I hope you get some selfies with some of the awesome lifters around there!

  39. GHM says

    Would you tell us later how much was the ticket prices? I know you get in for free but I want to copare it with next year championship in Houston, Texas.

    • Robert1337 says

      its means clean&jerk and snatch sum to determine who will lift in weaker or stronger group.

      • Some Referee says

        It also means that the lifter’s beginners must at least sum up to entry total minus 20 kg for men and 15 kg for women.
        For example Salimi’s entry is 460 which means he must at least start with 440 (200/240 or something like that.)

  44. John Drakfelt says

    Hmm.. I recently purchased Eurosport Player, to be able to watch the WC. Mens group A 56 kg is supposed to start in 20 minutes on Eurosport but instead they are showing it later tonight. Help anyone?

  46. TheTurk says

    Congrats to Om Yun-Chol. Fortunately Halil Mutlu’s records could not be broken 🙂

  47. Jonas says

    Any link to vods or highlights? I barely found weightlifting at eurosport.com lol. Here im thinking it’s the highlight of the year, but not for many.

  49. GHM says

    There is an Italian web site that shows slow motion video of all lifts. Does anyone have that link?

    I am impressed with KSA (Saudi) lifters improvement. It seems they are actually from KSA and not immigrants.

    Would you tell IWF web handlers that their site is not capable of handling heavy traffic? This happens twice a year during world championship season (Sr and Jr).

  50. David Oliveira says

    North Korean domination until now in the men’s. Although Thach pushed Om a little bit further than I thought he would’ve been capable of.

    China better perform very well in the women’s categories, or they will have a shocker, because the PRK lifters didn’t lose much form after Incheon.

    • Victor says

      Actually, to me, it looks like they have.

      So far, we have seen Om YunChol miss a 162kg clean and jerk. We’ve never seen this guy miss a clean and jerk before except that time he injured his arm on 170. He also missed his first snatch, when he usually makes his safe opener, then makes his target, but misses his third aggressive attempt. This is the first time we’ve seen him not earn the third aggressive attempt. His total is still right on the mark, but these subtleties point to a small, but noticeable decline in form.

      Kim UnGuk dropped from 332 to 325. His clean and jerk looked solid but he had to fight to save his 145 snatch opener and he missed 150 before making it. These are things that are highly unusual for him. Although it’s hard to tell because he’s just so dominant in the 62, he’s way worse than he was in Incheon.

      Kim MyongHyouk has lost it. He’s returned to 2013 Wroclaw form. His snatch deteriorated, going 1 for 3 totaling 152 instead of going 3 for 3 and matching the previous Asian record at 160. His clean and jerk is still at 182 but this is way different 182. In Incheon, he was very confident, going straight for 190 and smoothly cleaning it (although missing and then miscalculating Lin’s response). He probably was in such form that 184 would have been cake for him. This time, he went for 184, missed, went again, and didn’t even have the confidence to really attempt the jerk on his last lift. 334 total vs. 342, possibly with the potential to be closer to 350 in Incheon.

      It’s not too much, but I see some deterioration. Maybe we’ll see the same once we see the Chinese lifters that have to make 2 appearances as well like Kang Yue, Deng Wei, and Tian Tao.

      • guest says

        completely agreed. it was very obvious that om yun chol and kim un guk were extremely tired from the first moment. when om stepped on the stage i thought that he would never win that day. respect that they both won gold. however, the coaches should give them a break now. they need to be careful that their best lifters do not get burned out as they do not have such a deep pool as china.

      • David Oliveira says

        Yes, I agree about Kim Myong Hyouk, he was nowhere near that level(although my comment was made before the 69’s cometition). Om and Kim suffered a decrease, but I still think that it was not that big (I still don’t understand what happened in Om’s first two C&J’s, because the 168 looked flawless as ever).

        I think we will see various variations with various athletes. In the women’s 53’s Chinshanlo looked better than ever, but Hsu lost all her form. It’s a little bit hard to predict…lol

  54. Jerker Karlsson says

    Liao Hui completely destroyed the competition in the 69 kg class, what a dominant lifter. Too bad he didn’t go for 200 kg in a last clean and jerk. The total would have topped even the records of the 80´s I think. That 193 kg lift didn’t look like his absolute max either.

    • Victor says

      I think if he did 166+200, then Liao would have created a total record that even he himself may never be able to break. Instead, he’s left himself plenty of room for future WRs all the while making it nearly impossible for anyone else to take his records away. That’s his tact. Next time, he could do 161+199 or 163+197, etc… all numbers that are relatively comfortable or at least well within reach for him, leaving plenty of room left for him to perform and awe people with WRs without the need to really improve (as he may not be able to at his age).

      • Jerker Karlsson says

        Yea, that’s sound reasoning. Let’s hope he gets more chances to improve the records. As any lifter, he can get injured or sidelined for other reasons. Would be a shame if he never attempts 200 kg in the clean and jerk in international competition.

        I was just watching the competition and wanted to see that attempt at 200 kg. The 193 kg clean looked easy. 🙂

    • Afferbeck says

      Did you press play? I just clicked the link, clicked play, and it’s showing me the 58B.

          • Eric Xu says

            Surprise, last-minute entry from Lu Xiaojun who will descend from the heavens to do 180/215 before returning to the planet of ultra-advanced cyborgs from whence he came.

            • Wally Broccoli says

              My God, 77 beats 85 total record, haha XD. If we had 80s era PED dosages, Lu would be beast mode. Still one of the most dominant lifters in this and past Oly cycle (2009-2016) with Liao Hui, and Ilya Ilyin.

          • Victor says

            This just in! My personal sources tell me that that is not the case and Zhong will compete. LOLOL

  58. DrWiggles says

    Man, I wish the IWF had something other than hamsters to spin the wheels of the servers they rented/procured to stream these sessions. I have began to question if my eyes have a time gap installed.

    • Magneto says

      The whole website can’t bear the traffic .. when I tried, the scoreboard only loaded/refreshed properly 1 out of 20 times.

  59. Guest says

    Someone post the Godelli 211 Attempt. He is a beast. I hope Hysen backs up Godelli with a gold.

  61. David Oliveira says

    Godelli was awesome. Never thought that he’d be able to pull such numbers. Shoud have gone for 200 in the end (C&J gold), although his 211 try was not embarassing at all.

    If he continues improving like this, Lu better watch out 😛

  63. Victor says

    Wow, did not expect Godelli to improve 20kg in half a year with power to spare, thus attempting the WR clean and Jerk! Erkand Kerimaj looks like Bill Murray now LOL

  65. GHM says

    Lots of 2014 videos on this site. I really like B groups!

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCceHQnMoAi4adQEZKrKAfJQ
    ________________________________________________________________

    What have we learned about Iranian team up to this point?

    It looks the entire team is out of whack after Asian games and they were no so hot there. The new head coach Hossein Tavakoli (Sydney 105 champ) is a bust after taking over Koroush Bagheri (94kg champ, 2001).

    All four entries up to this point were way below Asian games lifts. Case in point Taghian Rasool lifted 343 in 85kg. He lifted 354 in 2013 championship as 77kg. He attempted 210kg Sept 20 at Asian games.

    I am going to predict that Rostami will not medal in total in 85 on Thursday and Salimi may (big may) get 3rd. We shall see.

  66. wat says

    I know it is not relevant to WWC, but Klokov snatching 200 is really impressive. Now I want him to compete.

  67. Afferbeck says

    If Godelli had broken that world record, Lu and Perepetchenov would have awoken with a start, feeling a disturbance in the force.

  68. Eric Xu says

    Tian Tao is really starting to hit his stride. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him snatch 170 before in a competition and he just made it look like peanuts. Feel like his 218 at the Asian Games really gave him the confidence to start performing well.

    • wat says

      I was sooo dissapointed when Okulov missed. Really, not a single gold for Russia so far. Bearmode Kashirina will probably win, Lovchev has a greatshot, but I doubt Bedzhanyan will do it.

      • Wally Broccoli says

        For some reason, I imagine bearmode Kashirina as someone who will cuddle you to death if you piss her off. And she probably can.

    • Victor says

      Kinda anti-climactic that Tian’s 219 would have been the WR but still would have only gotten him bronze. His improvement in the snatch is clear; but he still needed that 175 to really put him in gold medal contention since everyone else was so strong. I thought they might have went crazy and asked for 222 to overtake Rostami again since YuJie said in Incheon that he’d ask for whatever weight it took to take gold but I guess that was just post-victory euphoria. Zhang Yong’s 1998 record stands… Anyway, Markov must be in a pretty bad mood right now, losing last second to a guy who missed his first 2 lifts and had friction with the judges. I thought Rostami was gonna bomb for sure and I thought Markov might get 216 for a total WR.

    • Borislav says

      The snatch session was awesome, very few missed lifts and good competition. But the CnJ sucked, I don’t think Rostami should have won.

  71. Juan says

    I missed out on watching the live stream of the 85s…but looking at the results, did Tian Tao and Apti miss several lifts? It’s quite under par for them

    • Victor says

      Yup. Apti was badly sub-par, unable to even receive 213 twice. Tian Tao tried to pull another Incheon (except for bronze overall this time) but missed 219 by just a bit at the jerk bottom position. It looked almost like he didn’t even try to make his 211 second lift. His snatch was great, though, even giving 175 a good try. I’m really starting to see hope of Tian Tao going 175+220 in Rio now, which felt like a Hysen-Pulaku-Olympic-gold fantasy just last year.

      • Juan says

        I just saw their lifts. Tian Tao has some damn strong legs, the 219 clean looked like nothing. Such a shame he didn’t recover from the squat jerk. I think 175+220 would definitely be there in Rio (if he doesn’t get injured). I was also impressed with Artem’s 218 attempt, such a shame he missed it on the jerk

  72. grobpote says

    It’s really enjoyable when I see that a nation – now Kazakhstan and Albania – change gear and show something remarkable. Godelli and Begaj were great I am very happy for them. They deserved those medals after years of unsuccessful competitions. Rostami proved me wrong in the snatch ,he was spotless alongside Markov.At the end it hurt that Markov couldn’t win but never worse comp,huh? 🙂 The other thing is that I never liked Tagian but today he was competing like a man. Excellent technique – He proved me wrong too. Yes he went up to 85 kg and was lifting much smaller weights but at least he didn’t do it like a beginner.
    Tian Tao almost snatched 175 and did it beautifully! I am still not convinced that the squat jerk is good and today I saw that Tao could have done the 219 if he had room for correction. Which you don’t have with this kind of jerk so I still stick to my negative opinion about it. All in all the 85 kg was very high level and absolutely entertaining.

  73. Chris Theoharis says

    Are there any recordings of 85kg eurosport broadcast in English out yet? Can we expect any in the future?

  74. Magneto says

    Throwing my 2 cents into the discussion…

    Markov had this in the bag. Best shape of all lifters imo. Technical flaw after he did 5 very smooth and precise lifts, that’s tough for him. Of all the lifters he was the most convincing for me, fully focused on the competition and psychologically spot on.

    Rostami did a great job in the snatch but had some bad luck with his first c&j attempts. His technique wasn’t precise at all but he pulled a great 213 attempt out of the bag right as he needed to. Good mental strength from him after the hassle with the judges decision (which was right of course).

    Regarding Apti you could see he had to deal with injury. He wasn’t in top form and not really “in the zone” mentally. Good snatches from him though but he needs to rely on the c&j in ordner to win.

    Okulov seemed nervous and even a bit anxious to me until his successful 211 c&j. Then attacked the 218 with all the strength he got, great effort. Bronze medal is more than he could have asked for.

    Tian Tao was outstanding in the snatch compared to his previous performances. I really wanted him to succeed with 175 because his snatches were so technically smooth until then. I was puzzled that he seemingly needs world record weights to give it all he got. He totally did that with 219 though and could have power jerked it. But thats the risk of squat jerking. If he can sharpen his squat jerk and get some more determination for all of his attempts then he will be a real force in Rio.

    Sa seemed to be mentally unprepared for big weights. Looked a bit like he wasn’t really competing. Don’t know what was bothering him.

    Last words: Big respect to Alimov, whom I hadn’t on the list. Nice and aggressive attempt on his last c&j.

    • Jerker Karlsson says

      I really thought Rostami was going to bomb in the clean and jerk after the first two misses, especially since he has missed a lot of his heavier attempts on previous occasions (2012 Olympics, last Asian games for example). But he deserved the gold with that last effort. I feel a bit for Markov though. As you say, he really lifted well until the last clean and jerk. But didn’t he go one kg more than needed for the overall win? Wasn’t 213 kg enough?

      I was hoping for Tao, but the snatch miss on 175 kg put him out of the competition for the overall gold. Good effort though, he seems to be improving. I love his guts to go for world record weights on the clean and jerk, and his cleans always look easy, even on the heaviest attempt.

      • Magneto says

        Yes, 213 would have been enough but I think he stayed with the initial 214 because he was very confident that he can do it and maybe wanted to cover a bit more against Okulovs last attempt. I didn’t check the theoretical ordner of lifting but Alimov did 213 too and maybe Markov would have to lift before him?

        Another thought that came to mind: It may sound strange but going down from a weight for which you were mentally prepared can be a bad decision (if in the 1-2 kg range). The lifter might feel relief because suddenly “he doesn’t have to do THAT much weight so it will be easier”. Focus and determination can be compromised. Of course I don’t know how that applies to Markov.

        • Jerker Karlsson says

          Who knows, but as you say, Markov had been lifting with confidence and done everything right until the last lift. I think he felt confident that he would make the 214 kg lift.

  75. GHM says

    Good news for those who can not get live stream.
    http://www.iwrp.net/ showed the live Scoreboard which IMO was superior to IWF site because IWF site can not be reached during the competition 🙂

    I loved today’s competition. Men 85kg is the most competitive division. At any time six different lifters can win medals (make it seven for one more year as long as Rybakov wants to grab a snatch medal).

    WR in C&J and total could be gone as soon as next year European Championship. I can see one of the usual suspects to get hot and lift 178+217=395.

    It looks to me Rostami has hit his limit (I am so glad he won and made me look bad at my prediction). He can go 178+215 and I do not see him moving up to 94 kg. Markov can go another 5kg+5 kg in his lifts. Okulov has 5+5 potential as well. It seems Tao Tian will be 175+220 range soon.

    Apti should move to 94 right away.

  76. Victor says

    Apparently, Deng Wei was running a fever as she competed, and had a terrible time in the warm-up room, causing her opening clean and jerk to be dropped from 140 to 130kg!

    • wlift84 says

      Thanks, you’re an asset!

      CCTV didn’t broadcast the 69s, only news. Could you tell me what pissed off Chen is saying towards coach (I think) Wang Guoxin after her missed snatch (and any other insight)? Clip here: https://vid.me/tik1

      • Victor says

        She said, “Add! Add more weight!” and that is because the snatch is her specialty where she was very confident but also because she needed to open a gap for her weaker clean and jerk. She almost got 123, and if she did, she would have had 266, which was 1 above Ryo’s total 265, but who knows whether Ryo could have answered then.

  77. PJ says

    Interesting that people were (and still are) underestimating Rostami, even when he was a junior, they were “surprised” when he beat Apti in World Juniors. Rostami cleaned and jerked 220kg so many times in training. actually he was a little upset at the of the day to not get any chance to attack the world record. that 1st CJ attempt messed up his plan completely, he could not clear his mind from that, also the 1st attempt could be easier for him if it wasn’t for his coaches mistake, he came to the platform very late and touched the barbell with only 4 seconds left on the clock.

  78. Andrewk369 says

    I hate to be the one to say this but seriously after watching the women’s 63kg the PED use is so noticeable in the eastern European lifters…

          • Someguy says

            Indeed, I just realised the record stands at 188kg. I am not watching the stream so I don’t know how the attempt actually looked.

            • Bjoern says

              looked good, but on the edge. So the 1kg more might have been too much…. But still, why not go for it? Only explanation to me is, that they just wanted a few kgs more for the total.

        • Magneto says

          With Ivanov I often think his body is just not “durable” enough for weightlifting. He has the skills, strength and power but is hold back due to injury. He never seemed to enjoy competition that much and you could tell from his facial expressions that he was in pain most of the time.

      • Leviathar says

        Ilyin trains them both lol, and he said he knew Sedov would get silver because Kydyrbaev never go injured, and sedov had a few set backs

    • Jerker Karlsson says

      No, me neither, was hoping for him to take gold. But on the other hand there was a really good competition between the rest of the lifters. The Lithuanian was great to watch, and so was the Khazak who won. Sedov seems to be coming back, but the last snatch looked a bit dodgy to me, I wonder if he could have held it much longer if he hadn’t received the down signal. His right arm looked like it was caving.

  82. GHM says

    TO IWF: Change the WR attempt rule!

    Why doesn’t IWF want audience to enjoy watching attempting WRs?

    Bring back 4th try for the WR (would not count toward total).

    • Phil says

      It’s not the same but Khaki Kakiasvilis wanted to bring in 4 attempts per event (8 total lifts), he got denied.

  83. Victor says

    Damn, I’d hate to be Sedov right now. Just when he was sure it was his time to shine, he got Ilyin’d again and Ilyin wasn’t even there this time LOL

    • Wally Broccoli says

      We need to put the term Ilyin’d in the dictionary. Ilyin’d – When an opponent gets dominated in the latter half of a competition to the point of losing by the most miniscule of margins.

      • Victor says

        Ilyin’d – When a lifter who was leading by a wide margin in the snatch and who has already concluded his clean and jerk in gold medal position is pushed to silver by a final massive clean and jerk causing euphoria to turn to depression and disbelief.

        TianTao’d – When a lifter who had firmly held the gold medal is overtaken by a massive clean and jerk in the final lift of the competition from someone who was 10th in the snatch and missed a 10-kilo lighter second lift clean and jerk, giving the appearance of the dead rising.

        Seriously, though, these competitions and the Lu Yong vs. Andrei Rybakov Beijing Olympics bout all reinforce the importance of the clean and jerk and the disadvantage that snatch-specialists are at.

        • T Bone says

          I have a friend who is very involved in the US strength sports community and knows broz preaches the importance of strength over technical skill, or atleast to the point where it may detract from skill focus. This is a perfect example where I believe that philosophy backfires. You must be strong, of course, but without the technical proficiency when the pressure is on you make your lifts 1/10 times as opposed to someone like Ilya who makes them 9/10. Hitting a 190 snatch in training w/o pressure on means nothing as far as competition goes. Who knows how many attempts Mendes made before hitting 190? I’m not saying Mendes is not talented or strong, he clearly has both of those attributes. But to my untrained eye, he needs to work on technique and consistency. Side note: just forget about the squat jerk, there are few who can pull it off, and judging by this competition and videos online, Mendes is not one of them. Extra side note: as an American, I gotta say that it gets under my skin a bit that he trains all year round in the US and then represents Brazil…

          • Leon says

            Mendes should compete much more often. Whenever he did he underperformed given what he showed in video clips. Many coaches write about the importance of competing often, especially in the beginning of the career. It is an immense pressure and many athletes have trouble dealing with the stress. The only thing that helps is to compete and learn each time how to deal with certain situations. How to cope with missing the openers and so on. I really don’t get how one expects him to win anything in Rio. How would he deal with a situation Ilyin had? Missing the second attempt and needing this one to win? Without much more competition experience he won’t. Even if he should become much better in training he will simply get nervous with all the spectators and tv cameras.
            Now all the youtube clips and statements about world records backfire since he has nothing to show for.

            About the power jerk: As far as I know he switched to power jerks due to injury, but he should really focus on the technique. It goes back to the old saying, ‘Why cleaning the weight if you can’t jerk it?’.

  91. Locoman says

    What i F*CKING SAID!!! Nurudinov healty, ILYA ABOVE 240. F*CK F*CK F*CK.

    HE IS THE GREATEST EVER.
    DAVAI ILLYA

  95. Juan says

    That was the most amazing end of a competition I have ever seen – World record after World record after World record! And Ilya just showed why he has never lost an international competition….my goodness!

  96. jony kerbs says

    What an emotion in the 105 class my god!!!! incredible!!! world record c&j broken 3 times!! ilyin winning with his last breath!! this was historical moment!!!

  98. Matevos says

    The top 3 105 were in the order that was expected(Ilya>Ruslan>Bedzhanyan), but how it happened was not at all expected!

  99. TheTurk says

    Nurudinov did a tactical mistake. He could declare 230 kg to his first attempt. If he did that he would be world champion again.

    • wat says

      I actually think Nurudinov was in better shape. His 193 snatch was easier than Ilya’s 190, and CJ was way more stable. Ilya CJ’d 242 just barely and was unstable overall. He is still the champion though, and he gets more and more accomodated to his ne bodyweight it would be harder and harder for others to catch on.

  100. GHM says

    ILYA is greatest weightlifter of 21st century (2001-2014) and that include Mutlu (he got cut doping once in 21st century).

    He can not become greatest ever if he is so far from pre 1992 world records in weight categories below his.

    Best 100kg snatch belongs to Nicu Valad 200kg, Zakharevich has done 200kg snatch and 240 C&J in 1983. The WR is 242.5 in sub heavy (100 kg) max.

    Old 110kg category WR are Zakharovich 210 + 250.

    ILYA can do 245 kg and he would be legitimate all time WR in heavy. He is the best in 21st century as I mentioned IMO.

    I look forward to Sunday. Russia may get their gold here either in men or women catagory. Has North Korea entered someone in heavies 😉

    • grobpote says

      You are right however I would also add that numbers are not everything – but of course are very important. You can never exclude for example Vasiliy Aleksejev even though he lifted less than today’s champions. He did it in the ’70-s and he was a superstar! Or Jurik Vardanjan who could win “only” one olympic gold because of the cold war or Pisarenko who was simply unlucky. I could go on with names but my point is that greatness isn’t just numbers. Pirros Dimas was lucky but I don’t think he’s better than Kurlovich.

  101. Victor says

    LOL If the judges failed Ilyin’s 242 for oscillation, they wouldn’t have gotten out of that stadium alive LOLOL

    • Raest Thetyrant says

      It’s hard to distinguish what’s athlete-induced oscillation and what’s bar whip. With that much weight the bar will oscillate no matter what.

      • wat says

        I can understand that, but doesn’t the bar require to be stable before jerk? It does not look stable at all.

        • Bob's ur uncle says

          2.5.4.2 Any deliberate oscillation of the barbell to gain advantage. The athlete must become motionless before starting the Jerk.

          http://www.iwf.net/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/10/IWF-TCRR-September-2013.pdf

          He remains motionless before starting the jerk, he doesn’t whip his elbows or double dip his knees to get the bar going (deliberate); a fast transition, a pop while re-gripping or getting your feet into position (like the prk women’s team) doesn’t matter as long as you are still before jerking.

          It is however hilarious that the Eurosport’s commentators 1, don’t know the rules or background info on the lifters they are watching 2, stay quiet about oscillation during heavyweights but moan all the time with the super whippy womens bar or lighter weights.

        • Raest Thetyrant says

          the way i understand the rule it refers to the athlete being motionless, its impossible to stop a bar that oscillates under 200+ kilos and the heavier it gets the more it’s going to oscillate, imagine having a >200 kilo bar on your windpipe and having to wait for it to stop oscillating…

    • Victor says

      1. Judges don’t want to die in Kazakhstan.
      2. It was not very hard-core. Even though the bar was still bouncing substantially, he was not moving it with his knees to sync to bar rhythm to use the whip to throw it up. Ilyin’s body was not moving and in slo-mo, you can see that as he started the jerk, he actually broke the bar’s rhythm to power it up, thus, not borrowing power from any of the bar’s whipping rhythm.
      3. Stricter judges could have still failed him.

      • Victor says

        In general, the oscillation rule was made to stop people from bouncing 3-4 times with their knees and whipping the bar up, not to punish people who have a very fast transition from the clean to the jerk. If Ilyin were failed, he would be a victim of the side-effect of that rule. Just like the press-out rule was made to distinguish between the clean and jerk and clean and press (when that was an event), but its side effect is that it can sometimes penalize people who had a little elbow wobble.

    • Guest says

      If you wanna see “oscillation” look at Tian Tao’s 219 attempt. He does this very subtle knee dip, whipping the bar, and then the actual dip for the jerk.

    • Afferbeck says

      The rule only states the lifter must become motionless before the jerk and that the lifter cannot add any additional whip to the bar by way of knee or elbow pops or whatever. Guys like Ilya make the most of this rule by standing up hard with heavy weights where there is obviously going to be a lot of whip anyway, standing still for just enough time, then dipping down to jerk when the bar whip is in the perfect place. So it is 100% using the oscillation of the bar, but they are not adding any extra and it is within the rules.

      Guys like Tian Tao and Liao Hui use definite knee pops first which is not allowed. Rostami’s elbow setting added a lot of whip to the bar, whether that was deliberate or just a side effect of him setting himself is unknown. But the North Korean girls broke the rule to the fullest, doing a full knee drive then going straight down into the dip, literally a double bounced jerk. Watch this lift at 42:10 for an example

      http://youtu.be/wPvYKauS8t4?t=42m10s

      • bobs ur uncle says

        Nope, you’re wrong. Check her feet. She’s just resetting them from a duck stance to a close stance. A lot of PRK lifters do this.

  105. David Oliveira says

    Ilya is a beast. The 2016 Olympics are going to be something special!

    The last 3 days were amazing. The 85’s were very good, the 94’s even better, and the 105’s were the icing on the cake. This are the best Wch’s that I’ve ever seen!

  106. Magneto says

    Difficult to elude the Ilya Ilyin show but let’s not forget that in the shadow of the duel Ilya/Ruslan, David Bedzhanyan did a honorable performance and finally delivered on the international stage. By the way, his opener at 225 was one of the quickest c&j attempts I’ve ever seen.

  109. fred emery says

    Wow, kashirina 152, then 155 snatch, double world record !!! and without any smile…i saw a left arm mistake for 155 (i hope it’s the right term in english) is someone had seen it, or it’s only me ??

  110. Bjoern says

    Awesome performance by Kashirina! Not just her strength, but that superb technique!! It`s really nice to watch her lifting. I hope she will be cnj`ing 200kg at some point; if it was possible for someone, it has be her! With that kind of performance it’s a little sad to see almost abandoned stands in a SHW group A finale….

  113. David Oliveira says

    Lovchev screwed it badly in the snatch. Great performance by Albegov, solid as ever, but will have to stop missing always his 2nd C&J if he wants to beat a top-form Salimi.

  114. wlift84 says

    Where’s the Kashirina post, haha. Best female lifter of all time by Sinclair. As SHW.

    Also the comments (-system) become a mess with so many replies. 🙂

  115. Miguel Salazar says

    albegov is the world champ again and there is nothing about that on all things gym =S i guess you were on salimi or lovchev xD

  116. Dan says

    I saw some links on streams(eurosport in gearman) in this post. But now trere are no any links here. Could somebody send them to me?

  117. Michael Wu says

    I always thought the Godelli + the North Koreans rapid improvements were fishy…wouldn’t be surprised if more of them get busted.

  118. Ruslan says

    This is the second year in a row that Nadezda has won because the champ got popped. Luck? Albanian doctors prove once again they probably shouldn’t be team doctors. They really keep striking out.

  119. Victor says

    I KNEW Godelli was on the juice and way more than the safe level. I just didn’t wanna say it before it happened. Kim UnJu too, except I expected her to have been popped at the Asians, which didn’t happen so for a while I thought it might have actually been talent. Congrats to Zhong Guoshun; I knew he deserved the gold from the time I saw his 171 snatch. Peace out, Hysen, ya done messed up for the last time; I wonder if anyone still feels sorry for him now.

  120. David Oliveira says

    Since the 77’s I always had the feeling that Godelli was going to get popped. If there was a prize for the worst country at avoiding doping tests, Albania would win it for sure.

  121. T Bone says

    Is this surprising to anyone? Gregor, I know you try and moderate these forums and prevent comment sections from delving too heavily into the steroid discussion, but why bother? By not regularly addressing the doping issue we are doing the sport a disservice and are blinding ourselves to the elephant in the room. Steroids have been here for a long time and they are not going anywhere. I’m of the opinion that they should be legalized. Is there any doubt that virtually all the top lifters in the world right now are on? I know, I know it’s speculation without proof, but come on guys. Let’s not put the blinders on. Lu, Liao (who popped positive once before if I’m not mistaken), Ilya (did anyone else notice his skin complexion in some of those early comeback training videos). They’re all on gear. That’s just the way it is these days. I’m not passing judgement either way, just would like for this to be more out in the open than it is. Why is it so taboo of a subject? I don’t even think that steroids are all that bad when used under appropriate supervision.

    • Gregor says

      Why bother?

      Simple, for you making this comment is a one time thing. I on the other hand have to read comments like yours every day and they are all the same. It’s just super boring as there is never anything new brought to the table. That’s why I prefer steroid discussions to be tied to specific posts and not brought up on every post.

      • T Bone says

        I mean that’s somewhat of a fair point but opening a website and forum up that deals primarily with olympic weightlifting and not having a high tolerance for steroid discussions is a little bit counter intuitive. I’m in medical school and that’s like me saying I hate dealing with people with diabetes so I’m just going to go ahead and ignore them and let someone else deal with it. Well, unfortunately, whether I like it or not, Diabetes is currently a massive problem in medicine so you can’t willingly go into the field of medicine nowadays and not have a high threshold for discussions about diabetes. Although you may get tired of the steroid discussions, many people on this site enjoy the discussions and whether people like it or not steroids are very much intertwined with the sport as it exists today. It’s your site so obviously you are free to do as you please, but being upset about endless steroid discussions on a site about weightlifting doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

        • Minh Ngo says

          I think Greg’s point is that if he doesn’t limit drug talk, it will always appear in all posts. It gets tiresome for regulars, and all topics fall into a bunch of assumption, personal attacks.
          It gets boring for people who frequent ATG

          • T Bone says

            I understand his points (and I meant no disrespect with my comment) but I believe it’s a slippery slope moderating opinions. And although sometimes the conversation may devolve, that doesn’t mean all comments will and it also doesn’t mean someone won’t come away with a better understanding of the topic discussed. If 100 stupid people make dumb comments on a thread and the 101st person makes an intelligent comment, and because of that comment 1 person comes away with an enriched understanding/perspective, then I believe the 100 dumb comments before it are worth the sacrifice.

            And as for it getting boring, I’ve been reading this site religiously for the last 2 years and honestly never tire of steroid discussions. If only because it really is the most relevant topic as it relates to the sport of weightlifting today.

            Even by just having a conversation about having a conversation about steroids, I have now learned some new perspectives from you and others that have responded to my comment. My point is I think that’s something to be encouraged, the exchange of ideas.

    • GHM says

      We must do everything possible to keep weightlifting an Olympic sport. One of the reason for changing weight categories and rewriting records back in 90’s was this.

      • T Bone says

        but they aren’t going anywhere. So either we embrace it or everyone just pretends it isn’t happening. The olympics is something else altogether. They too should legalize steroids since a majority of high profile olympic athletes in a lot of fields are on gear.

        • mrtn says

          a general approval of steroids is absolutely not compatible with western ethical values or the corporate compliance values of sponsors.
          the main problem is not that there are 10 world class athletes on a championship stage who are using peds – rather what happens in the small clubs and gyms with kids, teenagers or athletes who dont have such a tolerance with using drugs like the athletes who appear at the top of the sport.
          because of this, doping is forbidden and will be forbidden, at least officially.

          though maybe it would be possible to implement a honest and more realistic perception of anti-doping efforts. due to the political situation of many countries it is simply impossible to install in-training controls everywhere – this should be admitted. but i think it is feasible to concentrate on deploying an organisation or a system, which is confidently incorruptible and can guarantee with state-of-the-art methods that athletes on international competition stages are clean or get caught.

          • T Bone says

            In regards to western ethical values:
            This may be true in regards to how people view them currently but you seem to be making the assumption that ethics are not fluid and evolving ie they are set in stone. In the US (using this as a reference point because this is where I live) 200 years ago woman’s suffrage was “incompatible” with the ethical views of the majority, 20 years ago gay marriage was “incompatible” with the ethical views of the majority. Ethics evolve as cultures evolve.

            In regards to an incorruptible testing system:
            Based on my extensive career/education in medicine and basic science I can only say that this is a statistical and conceptual improbability. First, diagnostic tests are incredibly complex and are far from perfect. Second, diagnostic testing has always been and always will be a step behind toxin detection. The logic for the second point is simple: synthetic drug manufacturers are developing new synthetic compounds faster than diagnostic tests can be produced.

            So basically to boil it down I believe our culture can always evolve to accept and incorporate new ethical standards, and the idea that a near flawless testing system can be developed is realistically impossible.

            • mrtn says

              you are right, ethical values are evolving – but do you really think, they will/should accept that coaches, doctors or other officials legally spread roids to male or female teenage athletes for who they are responsible? whose caring parents would let their children still go to athletic or weightlifting clubs to train?
              i’m from germany and maybe the situation here is a little bit different, because of the governmental organized doping in the former gdr, which victims and their tragic stories are on the spot in media and court proceedings. i’m sure our society (or ethical values) will not allow something like this again in foreseeable time. and i want to add, i’m pleased with it.

              regarding the testing system: i’m fully aware of the technical limitations of drug testing. thats what i want to say with “state-of-the-art methodology” – more than that is impossible and it will always be away from perfection.
              i rather referred to a non bribeable organization, which – for wada – has to be called into question, when you look at the newest findings about russian doping system and wada involvement.

              • T Bone says

                Interesting points. I want to clarify that I am not advocating unadulterated and uncontrolled use of steroids at all levels, but I do think there is a middle ground. Perhaps usage being acceptable only at a certain level, for athletes at a certain age, under the supervision of certified medical professionals who are licensed to dose and taper steroids properly. The problem is that steroids have been villainized, maybe rightfully so, because of abuse and extreme use in the past has been associated with adverse outcomes. Bodybuilders in the 70s were probably pumping themselves to the gills with steroids, but a lot of them were also taking amphetamines and other supplements. As a result, steroids have been stigmatized, never legalized, and never truly thoroughly studied for recreational training use in scientific studies. Basically, because of the stigma and legal issues, we really don’t have a whole lot of scientific information on the harms, if any, that properly dosed PEDs will have on the human body. Properly dosed being the key word in that statement. It mirrors the marijuana debate in the US for me, as abuse of marijuana clearly is detrimental to health, but moderate use within reasonable limits appears to have benefits. And instead of ignoring marijuana and keeping it illegal without regulation, by legalizing it and putting it through proper channels, we now can keep a closer eye on its distribution, use, and quality control. I think a similar system could be devised for steroids if people were willing to have an open mind.

                As for the testing system, I agree with you completely. I thought you were speaking towards the testing limitations themselves. Corruption appears widespread in many of the olympic sports. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how to correct that one. My expertise is more in the realm of medical science.

                And for others reading this post and my others above, this exchange with mrtn is exactly why I like free dialogue on these comment boards regardless of subject. A stimulating and interesting conversation.

      • Proletarian Contemplations says

        Everyone in the Olympics is on some sort of PED. Scratch that, the majority of top level athletes EVERYWHERE, not just at the Olympics, are using PEDs.

  124. grobpote says

    I am very sorry about every one of them who got caught because they are great athletes and they are the victims of the failure of their federations and officials who should have been more political and should have been more capable of defending them. Especially Romela Begaj who had the best competition of her life.

    • Victor says

      I’m thinking it’s the doctor’s fault for messing up their regiment so badly that they got busted in competition. What does being more political mean? That they should have had the power to bribe/intimidate/use connections with WADA? What kinda power could Albania have?

      • grobpote says

        Yes ,that’s what I meant. Being caught or not caught is not just about having a good doctor. I know personally an olympic medalist who got caught with a drug he never took because it was just for women. The best thing is that he gave a negative sample and got caught anyway 🙂 A very high ranked official told him that he needed to go so they cut him politically no matter what. I know that many of you will think that I am making up this but I wish I would 🙁 I trained with him for years in the national team and knew him from childhood.

        • Victor says

          Wow. Why didn’t they just bust him on a substance that he did use then? I mean, according to what you said, he had to have been on stuff anyway, right? I don’t see why these Albanians, who have never seen so much as a silver before at any World’s “had to go.” I kinda see it happening if it was North Korea cus WADA probably has plenty of Westerners who hate the idea of North Korea winning, but only 2 North Koreans were busted; the superstars Kim and Om were untouched. What sense does that make? It just doesn’t look too political to me.

          • grobpote says

            They didn’t know what he took because he gave a negative sample = not his urine. So they just made up something and named it. Of course I can’t know what happened with the Albanians. Maybe they really just screwed up their timing with the substances. I don’t say it’s always political but I’m pretty sure that there are lifters who have a sort of green card and they can take whatever they want as long as they like. They won’t get busted because they paid for not to or/and they have good political connections. WADA is an organisation which is not spotless put it mildly.. Many of you emphasize the testing during preparation. It’s just not the most important part. I think get away with the doping control at competition is the big deal. That’s the biggest shame isn’t it? I mean there is a big difference between getting caught before the olympics or AT the olympics after you won a medal. The North Koreans : maybe the federation could help just the bigger stars to get away. Having any positive case is a great problem anywhere so it could hurt North Korea badly even it wasn’t the champions who got caught.

            • Victor says

              LOL so North Korea said to its athletes, “Well, WADA wants $100K per person on the bribes and we’ve only got about $600K and 4 guys, 4 girls so you guys draw straws! Om Yunchol and Kim Unguk get a pass!” So they all drew straws and Kim Unju and Ri Jonghwa drew the 2 short ones, huh? In my opinion, they should have saved her cus she’s a WR holder and gold medalist. They should have dropped their fella in 69 cus nobody on any kinda drugs or mechanical leg jacks, etc… was gonna touch Liao Hui, hand cut or no hand cut.

      • Tom Bennett says

        it is interesting that three Albanians got popped…small country. Conspicuous. I feel really bad for Hysen Pulaku. Plus his competition totals never live up to his training hype—I can only assume because he pulled off the drugs to pass the test?

        • Victor says

          LOL If he’s gonna “pass” the test like that, he might as well take all the juice in the medicine cabinet, put up decent numbers, then get popped. I don’t feel bad for him; his numbers, technique, and physique all look like he doesn’t belong in weightlifting, at least not among those who can vie for podium. This could be a relief to him so he can move on from a sport he was never gonna win in.

          • Tom Bennett says

            hitting world records in training under coach Abigiev doesn’t really imply that he “doesn’t belong” in weightlifting. Even on drugs not many people can do that. Come on man-you’re being a little over the top. As far as how his lifts “look”? or his physique “look” who cares? Have you seen some of the old Bulgarian lifters? Skinny arms, skinny everything but hitting world records. Hell one guy looked like he couldn’t lift the bar and won Gold.

            However:

            You are 100% correct that on the platform he seems to go to shit.

            • Victor says

              No, I’ve not seen the old Bulgarians. Hysen never hit any WRs because he was way overweight when he made the 211. At 83kg body-weight, he was well into the 85s and that should have been counted against Zhang Yong’s 218, not Perepetchenov’s 210. They guy looks like he’s fighting constipation every time he pulls or recovers. I don’t understand the sympathy for a guy who lifts B-group numbers with ugly form and gets popped twice, the second time literally in his very first comp after his first ban was up.

              • Gregor says

                I think this conversation is just going in circles now. You made your point. You simply don’t like Hysen / his lifting. Moving on.

              • Tom Bennett says

                go look at the Olympics when Angel Guenchev did a 3xbodyweight clean and jerk (I forget the year) the lower class level lifter-seriously looked like he would break under 50kg. Boevski looked kind of like a tennis player and his records stood all the way up until Liao Hui just broke them. Pretty interesting case study in power versus strength I’d guess? (that’s something for the coaches to figure out)

                Well, obviously getting popped in his first competition after the ban was quite dumb and yes he never came close on the platform to hitting the big numbers his training showed. This is something I don’t really have much knowledge about other than some guys can handle the weight cut and/or have their drug taper/weight drop figured out (I’m guessing like an MMA fighter or boxer)

                either way Hysen was a USA hopeful for some people over here because he trained in California (At least that’s my guess)

              • Mesrob says

                Hysen Pulaku is extremely gifted. Look at his speed under the bar, it’s incredible. He was 19 years old when he hit 211 on the C&J, and being 7 kgs under the world record is not bad at all. Especially since he wasn’t “conditioned” for the 85 class, and could squeeze in more body weight for it

                • Victor says

                  Yeah, he could do this and he could do that, but he ends up not doing it and putting out terrible competition numbers. He’s extremely gifted, compared to you and me. But he’s not gifted at all compared to Rostami, Markov, Lu Yong, Rybakov, Lu Xiaojun, etc… I’m sure he’d beat the pants off of people at the crossfit gym but he’s not competing against them, is he? And you can’t use the American “argument” that he’s just as gifted, but lifting less due to all the others are on PEDs cus we just got his tests back for the second time, eh? Why are people defending this guy?

  125. grobpote says

    We just watch and criticize these lifters but we don’t know what they have to endure to actually get there. There are two competitions not just one.The first is the doping control and the second is the actual weightlifting championship. If you are a young athlete you would do almost anything to be successful. You grow up believing that you are the best and you will succeed. Then you meet with reality and everything can brake in a second. Many lifters don’t get to bloom because from a certain point it isn’t just talent and hard work but political back up.

    • GHM says

      The real victim/s are the athletes who did not use enhancing drugs and lost their chances (may be only chance) of winning medal/s in the competition and stand on podium to bring pride and glory to themselves, family, friends, and country. There is a big difference in standing on a podium and get a bronze in a snatch and several years later your name to appear as medalist on an archived web site.

      “they are the victims of the failure of their federations and officials
      who should have been more political and should have been more capable of
      defending them.”

      • grobpote says

        I am not sure that believing in fairy tales would help to see clearly in this situation but it’s your choice I guess. I wouldn’t refuse the clear option entirely if it had even a fraction of chance to become real. I understand those people who believe in the propaganda. It happens if you never experienced how these things work how far we are from clean sport. In my opinion it’s not a possibility but a dream never come true because even who are officially against it know it wouldn’t work.

        • mrtn says

          have you ever been (or do you personally know people who are) lifting in countries like germany as a member of the national weightlifting team, registered at ADAMS and beeing regulary tested by the NADA?
          if you don’t have this insights, you should be careful with using terms like “fairy tales” or “propaganda”. just because it isn’t common practice in some eastern european or asian countries, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible everywhere.

          • grobpote says

            Yes I have and I was registered too. I have these insights that’s why I know how things work. I meant fairy tale doubting that sport will ever be clean and that lots of people say things like “cheaters out” and so on. It’s either naivety or hypocrisy.That’s what I meant about propaganda. It’s wrong. I understand the longing for equal terms for everyone but it’s not gonna happen.

            • mrtn says

              if you are looking at the next few years and sports world wide, you are right, it’s naviety to believe in doping-free athletes. but concerning particular championships or countries, it’s possible to take the next steps towards a cleaner sport.
              because of this, there’s no reason to give up and accept everything. just imagine to be an athlet in eastern germany in the 1980ies and today and use your insights to perceive the fundamental changes with regard to (anti-)doping-efforts.

              • grobpote says

                You are right lots of changes happened. Now the german athletes are not taking the drugs under the supervision of the government. They take drugs individually like athletes do in most of the countries – except for example in Russia 🙂 . I guess it’s an improvement but if we talk about clean sport, basically nothing changed. Without some enhancement nobody can win world championship medals. I don’t say it’s okay I know it’s unhealthy and so on. I am just saying that I accept it and I don’t even think about it if I watch a competition. I should write here that I want clean sport but I don’t. I like watching lifters who are lean,explosive and strong. There is a BIG difference between a clean and a drug taking lifter. Maybe I am not a good person but I’d rather watch a beautiful and bombastic 185 kg snatch from a 94 kg lifter than a weak 150 kg which doesn’t look that impressive for me at all. HA! HAAA! Of course it’s just my narrow minded opinion and I don’t want to convince anybody about it. I hope I wasn’t offensive – if I was just ignore the last few lines.

                • mrtn says

                  you should never swear someone is absolutely clean – but i know some training numbers of german lifters, their progress over weeks and months and when i compare it to their competition performances, i would at least exclude the “classic” steroid training-cycles.

                  i don’t think of drugs and doping tests as well when watching a weightlifting competition or a great lift. and of course i am more excited to see a 180kg than a 150kg snatch.
                  though when there are too many negative aspects at the back of one’s mind (e.g. a crooked and unfair testing system) eventually you will reach the point where 5-10% less weight on the bar is the better alternative for the sake of the sport.

                  • grobpote says

                    I am just too spoiled by the years and afraid I couldn’t enjoy that. I know that your thinking is right – there are so many awful things behind it and so many great sportsmen were ruined by it. Let’s get back to it if it’s done and I am going to try to stay enthusiastic.

                  • Jerker Karlsson says

                    I agree that clean sports would be preferrable. But I don’t really see any way of making it happen without taking extreme measures, like testing lifters every other day or making all elite athletes train in a common location somewhere where strict control could be carried out all of the year.

                    The thing taking some enjoyment out of the sport for me, is the fact that some lifters seem to have a harder time getting away with doping, and some have a better protection from their respective governments and national sport organizations, maybe even the global organizations as well.

                    If all athletes are on some form of PEDs, as grobpote suggests – and he might have the credentials to back it up – then the real question is why are only some getting caught? Is it just mistakes from the medical teams or athletes, or is it a political game behind? Sports should be about performance, not about politics, and with or without PEDs, the saddest thing about all this is that it’s not a level playing field.

                    You have both good points (grobpote and mrtn), and I think what we all would welcome is a system where political connections and being good at hiding usage of something are factors of no importance. If that could happen without PEDs, I would be glad, but I think it’s not feasible, at least not as things seem to stand today.

            • Tom Bennett says

              that chicken has flown the coop-as we say in the USA. Drugs aren’t going anywhere. They’re just hiding it better.

              These guys do super human things. Literally impossible for all but .00000001% of humanity ever. Maybe 1 or 2 of the guys in competition (Rezazedah?) might still medal without drugs but win gold? even the super men would have a hard time.

      • Victor says

        Another groups of victims are those who trained since childhood, poured their lives into the sport, won their gold medals, put on the greatest show weightlifting fans have ever seen AND passed their WADA drug tests but still have to listen to jealous jeering of the losers who started age 17 as a hobby, can barely C&J the gold medalist’s snatch, but are so full of their own feel-good propaganda that they have to call the winners cheaters so they don’t feel like failures themselves.