Blast from the past …
One of the best saves ever, Zhang Xiangsen with 130kg at the 1996 Olympics 54kg.
He got 2nd overall, battling against the great Halil Mutlu.
Not less remarkable are his somewhat unorthodox training methods. I think we, once again, have discovered the secret behind the Chinese weightlifting school.
via Wikipedia:
Zhang’s famous ability to enter an intense trance-like state before attempting a lift was rumored to be due to heavy methamphetamine use.
Coaches say, in his intense training efforts leading up to the 1996 games, Zhang used an electric wheelchair to transport his body between the gymnasium and his apartment in an effort to conserve energy.
Xiangsen was known to sleep with three 25 kilogram discs on his chest to become intimately familiar with the sensation of being crushed by weights, and hence to remove any element of fear from his psyche.
Thanks to Nat for sending this in.
Great save of course, but that article needs one big [citation needed].
Anyway, Chinese Baidu says he was/is a women’s coach in Guangxi and I think I can spot him in attendance of e.g. Li Rongyan.
K, gonna get around in an electric wheelchair now and try meth. Forget about sleeping with plates on me. We’ll see how much the first 2 help my progress first LOL
Not the best video to eval, obv, but for the life of me I can’t see why Mutlu’s first Cl/J got red-lighted. Anyone have any ideas?
They assessed the adjustment of the bar before the actual jerk as an unsuccessful attempt to jerk, which is a violation of the rules. You can hear the down signal immediately after his adjustment.
However the rules do allow adjustments if the bar has slid down the shoulders for example (like it was the case here) or if it presses on the windpipe. It’s up to the judges to decide whether they see it as an adjustment or a jerk attempt.
Thanks. I knew that was part of the rules, but IMO that readjustment was pretty clear, not a jerk attempt. Clearly all three judges saw it differently.
You’re right. The judges had a very exclusive opinion on that day …
Could be the sliding of the bar down the shoulders = hitching the weight.
Won’t know unless you have a rule book from back then tbh.