Here is the next Ironmind classic for your viewing pleasure.
“Challenge in China” from the 1995 World Weightlifting Championships.
Part 1 features: Stefan Botev’s final week of training before competing, Naim Suleymanoglu, Pablo Lara, Yoto Yotov, Valerios Leonidis, Marc Huster and Ivan Chakarov.
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Timestamps
From the Video Description
Chapter 1 0:00
Focus on Ivan Chakarov, light workout: working up to 130 kg in the snatch, 160 kg in the clean and jerk, and 240 kg in the back squat.
Chapter 2 12:13
Naim Suleymanoglu does a double-double as he snatches 130 kg x 2 @64 kg and then does an easy single with 140 kg; Suleymanoglu also cleans and jerks 170 kg and front squats 190 kg for a triple. As a bonus, there’s a also a little coverage of Naim’s arch rival, Valerios Leonidis.
Chapter 3 21:54
This is where the chronicling of Stefan Botev’s final week of training begins: after working up to a 240-kg clean and jerk, Botev doubles 215 kg and then 220 kg, followed by back squatting
290 x 2, and then 270-kg x 5. This is when you will start to feel the fire in your belly and think, “Hey, I can lift more, too!”
Chapter 4 32:43
It’s the next day and this is Botev’s lunchtime workout and he primes his system with a workout that includes back squatting 260-kg x 5 and 280 kg x4. Cut over to some rare footage of Cuban world champion, world record holder and Olympic champion, Pablo Lara, who rips through some light training.
Chapter 5 44:05
If you have an attitude problem or just want a refresher course in disciplined, focused lifting, look no further than Yoto Yotov, who is featured in this chapter. 76-kg Yotov (who will be facing off with Pablo Lara), trains snatches, going up to 145 kg, and you will also see Valerios Leonidis one day out from locking horns with Naim Suleymanoglu, power clean 2x his bodyweight. Yotov will also clean and jerk 170 kg (take note of his modified dive style and consider adopting it for yourself), as well as back squatting 215 kg for a triple.
Chapter 6 1:04:47
Marc Huster, the defending world champion at 83 kg, shows his stuff with casual 170-kg power clean. An injured Ivan Chakarov (there to score team points) snatches up to 160 kg, and Huster
shows the style of doing clean pulls often favored by the German lifters—bent arms and all.
Chapter 7 1:13:06
Ivan Chakarov works up to a 185 clean and power jerk, followed by back squatting 250 kg for 2 singles.
Part 2
Timestamps
Chapter 1 0:00
Stefan Botev (Bulgaria/Australia) in a morning workout that includes an 180-kg power clean for a double, and 240 kg x 2 in the back squat.
Chapter 2 8:13
Pick up Botev’s afternoon workout that same day, as he knocks off 14 sets with 180 kg or more the snatch (8 sets at 190 kg or higher).
Chapter 3 18:49
Continuing on, Botev’s workout has drawn the likes of Aleksey Medvedev to watch, and for good reason: Botev works up to a 250-kg clean and 320-kg back squat.
Chapter 4 26:37
Rare footage of Anatoly Khrapaty (Soviet Union/Kazakhstan) in a light snatch workout, and a little more Stefan Botev, too.
Chapter 5 31:39
Rare footage of Manfred Nerlinger (Germany), who snatches up to 170 kg and does some push presses and jerk complexes from the rack (working up to 220 kg for a triple)
Chapter 6 39:41
Also rare, watch Ronny Weller (Germany) blister snatches up to 180 kg, do some clean pulls and then do the same sort of push press-jerk complex as Nerlinger.
Chapter 7 51:03
Continuing with rare footage, watch Sergey Syrtsov (Soviet Union/Russia) and see another snatching machine in action, although Sergey’s one day out from competition so he’s only loosening up with some light snatches (120 kg) and clean and jerks (140 kg).
Chapter 8 59:22
Back with Ronny Weller now, the next afternoon after the snatch workout, and you can see some of the stretches he used, and then Ronny power snatches up to 160 kg and ends the workout with a very easy 250 kg x 2 in the front squat.
Chapter 9 1:06:26
Kakhi Kakhiashvili (Soviet Union/Greece) and Pavlos Salsidis (Greece) hit the training hall.
Chapter 10 1:25:05
Now we’re up to Friday and with his competition on Sunday, Stefan Botev snatches up to 170 kg, cleans and jerks 190 kg and back squats 230 kg for a triple.
Chapter 11 1:30:05
Extremely rare footage of the Chinese Provincial Team training: Watch young, light guys banging away on big weights, displaying the talent and discipline that produces champions in one highly motivating display after another . . . 50-kg 14-year olds doing things like 90-kg snatches, 115-clean and jerk and jerks and 170-kg back squats. A decade later, Chinese entrepreneurs would begin offering training camps aimed at Western lifters seeking to gain from the Chinese experience in the sport, but in 1995, a behind-the-scenes view like this was rarer than a 210-kg snatch and just as inspiring.
Update: Here is the competition video “Guangzhou Gold”.
I still use the dive bomber technique. Just never got used to sitting at the bottom.