The 2021 Asian weightlifting championships were held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan under reasonable pandemic protocols to ensure the safety of all. Even though a lot of world records were exceeded at this competition the world records have been ‘watered’ down so much starting in 2018 that calculations have to be made in terms of mass lifted to kg of bodyweight to actually see if progress has been made.
That being the case there were some outstanding results most notably by 17 year old Bekbolat Rakhat (KAZ) who established 20 world records youth and junior combined with six for six good lifts. His results (fingers crossed) should be the focal point of the current state of the sport and of course the direction it needs to go.
The focus needs to shift away from politics to recruitment: more athletes like Bekbolat, male and female inclusive.
Figure: Bekbolat Rakhat (KAZ)
/ There are too many ‘older’ lifters still dominating the sport. Some of these athletes are making a career and business all in one from being a professional weightlifter. A number of these veteran professionals had difficulty locking their elbows at this competition: Kuo, Nurdinov, Liu Xiajun, Moradi, Rostami both from (IRI), KAN Yue and others. This is not a good trend in an era lifts are turned down for micro elbow movements.
/ The rejuvenation of the athlete has been a longstanding trend in sports like swimming and gymnastics as well as weightlifting; the young body adapts to the training especially the acquisition of skills. Superstars such as DENG Wei were already senior world champion at 17.
/ Weightlifting sport is in dire need of modern methods of training and adoption of new ideas with regards to modern technique.
1. For instance, young men such as Bekbolat, Nader (BUL) and DENG Wei are good examples that training the elastic potential of the body at a very young age is highly effective for the so – called ‘quick lifts’. Most of the world; especially in the west, seem to be stuck in the era of squat, pull, press i.e., too much emphasis on strength.
2. Modern methods of training and weightlifting biomechanics means rejecting some of the crazy ideas one finds on the internet; a wild west of nonsense for sale.
For example, the so – called ‘functional training’ is a prime example of modern snake oil for sale. As snake is a delicacy in China it is understandable some coaches see nothing wrong with imbibing in snake oil.
At this 2021 Asian weightlifting championships; which was not that well attended; minus the powerhouse North Koreans; an inordinate number of the Chinese national team present were either injured and/or hobbling. Even though she was seen warming up for the snatch Deng Wei did not come out for the snatch or the clean and jerk. World record setter LI Daiyun hurt his back in the snatch; zeroed in the jerk. LUI Xiajun was obviously hobbling with wrapping under his knee sleeves missed his 1st snatch and made an unrealistic attempt at 208 in the jerk. ZHI Zhiyong limped off after his 1st two jerks and passed on his 3rd. KANG Yue injured or aggravated a right nee injury: collapsed with 155 and had to be helped from the platform after her 3rd with the same weight.
This is the same Chinese team doing the functional training nonsense; using new high tech machines for the back, hip thrusters and the like, in YouTube videos; which are thinly disguised advertisements for the purveyors of this type of training. That this kind of exercise could have a negative impact on one’s coordination for the snatch and the clean and jerk is evidently not a consideration.
However, the number of injured athletes on team China points to just that conclusion. Just look at the injury incidence in American football, Basketball and Baseball where the functional snake oil has crept into common usage (see “Achilles tendon ruptures and the NFL, “Why safe is unsafe” and others www.sportivnypress.com).
The fact of the matter is the ‘oily’ functional devotees need to step up and take credit for where credit is due – the injuries. See below some pictures of Chinese national team doing non – traditional exercises.
Figure 1. Getting ‘frisky’ in the training hall of the Chinese national team. Is this for the snatch or the clean and jerk?
Figures 2 – 5. ‘Functional oil’ depicted in figures 2 – 5 feature the Chinese national team engaging in irrational for weightlifting sport; static postures without consideration how the static tension of these postures would fit into the complex coordination structure of the snatch and clean and jerk. Likewise the prolonged tension of rowing to fatigue in figure 3 is out of sinc with the coordination requisite of dynamic complex movements like the snatch and the clean and jerk.
The main reason it is possible to connect exercises depicted in the figures with corrupting weightlifting technique is to realize an athlete’s muscles can ‘fight’ one another after doing enough of the wrong things. Irregardless hip muscles are important in weightlifting they don’t function as they do in the hip thruster exercise, i.e., outside the coordination structure of thigh, ankle and foot muscles working in unison.
On a positive note, the battle between Ruslan Nurodinov and Akbar Djuraev (UZB) in the clean and jerk was the highlight of the ‘fighting’: youth versus aging star. Their fight reinforces some of the points made earlier about the need to emphasize youth.
Figure 6. Nurodinov was turned down for press out with this 188.
Ruslan Nurodinov (UZB) is a good example of the effects of time on the aging weightlifter. He was turned down for press out on his 2nd attempt snatch with 188. He had to repeat with this weight while falling 6 kg behind Djuraev who made 194 and almost 197 with no issues of elbow lock. Consequently, Nurodinov was forced to make up 7 kg of ground due to a wasted attempt in the snatch because of cracking one elbow.
This circumstance highlights the problem with the technical rules regarding the so – called press out. On the one hand we want as many Djuraev’s in weightlifting as we can get but do not want older stars forced out of the sport as they gradually lose the ability to fix the barbell on fully extended elbows; without some modest flexion – extension.
One unanticipated consequence of the prolonged absence from top competition conditions were what seemed an inordinate number of Valsalva episodes at this particular event and the European championships (see figure 7). Fortunately, no one was injured; however, the current protocols where medical personnel and the loaders are situated off the stage is an accident waiting to happen.
Figure 7. Lifter loses consciousness in the clean and jerk.
The mean results of the top three medalists of the Asian and European championships are depicted in table 1. The results of the Asian championships were higher in 13 of the 20 weight classes with an overall smaller turnout than Europe and minus the North Korean team. Under normal conditions the gap between Asia and Europe would be even wider; so the Europeans have a lot of work to do to catch up.
Table 1. Mean Results of top three medalists of 2021 Asian and European chps
|
Female |
Asian |
EUR |
Male |
Asian |
EUR |
|
45 |
146 |
153 |
55 |
246.7 |
251 |
|
49 |
208.3 |
183.6 |
61 |
294 |
291 |
|
55 |
218.7 |
201.6 |
67 |
327 |
318.7 |
|
59 |
230 |
210 |
73 |
344.7 |
338.7 |
|
64 |
217.3 |
232 |
81 |
355.7 |
362 |
|
71 |
221.7 |
221 |
89 |
372.7 |
371 |
|
76 |
244 |
245.7 |
96 |
383 |
379.7 |
|
81 |
228.7 |
231 |
102 |
395 |
383 |
|
87 |
269 |
244 |
109 |
424 |
404.7 |
|
+87 |
294 |
257 |
+109 |
427.7 |
465 |