The big Russian is likely to be on the team for Russia at the 2010 World Weightlifting Championships, according to Iron Mind.
Here he was this year at the Europeans:
My friend, and fellow Portland Oly lifter, Mighty Kat blogs about her time at the Tommy Kono Open and includes the 10 things she learned while there. I particularly like the first:
1. Having tape at a meet is like having cigarettes around smokers. People will come out of the woodwork to bum some.
Very true!
Here’s a vid of her and some others lifting. Congratulations, Kat!
USA Weightlifting has announced the world team for 2010. Here’s the list of people representing the US in Antalya Turkey from September 17th till the 26th. This years worlds, and next years will determine the number of “slots” or people we get to have in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. So, it ain’t no small thang …
Kelly Rexroad (48 kg)
Amanda Hubbard (58 kg)
Natalie Burgener (63 kg)
Danica Rue (69 kg)
Erin Wallace (75 kg)
Rachel Crass (editor of Strength Plus Magazine!) (75 kg)
Sarah Robles (+75 kg)
Alex Lee (62 kg)
Chad Vaughn (77 kg)
Kendrick Farris (85 kg) b
Matt Bruce (85 kg)
Donny Shankle (105 kg)
Casey Burgener (105 kg)
Patrick Judge (+105 kg)
Collin Ito (+105 kg)
[Hat Tip: Bob Takano’s newsletter – which you can sign up for at his website www.takanoathletics.com. Still the best Olympic weightlifting specific newsletter on the web.]
One of my lifters, Beth, tipped me off to this new development at USA Weightlifting: A new hybrid USAW/CrossFit competition:
The event will join weightlifting – one of the oldest Olympic sports – with CrossFit – one of the most popular strength and conditioning programs in the nation that combines weightlifting, sprinting and gymnastics.
Yep, USA Weightlifting is finally thinking outside the box. Now … it’s true that a lot of weightlifting coaches behind closed doors have a lot of negative things to say about CrossFit. Some of these complaints are well founded, most are not. But …
Here are the facts. CrossFIt is THE most popular fitness system in the world that includes the Olympic lifts. Period.
Most people (the general public) don’t even know that Olympic weightlifting exists as a sport – at all. They think we oil ourselves up and pose in panties.
And the few who might not be that clueless, still think we’re Powerlifters who compete in the Bench. We’re an extremely underground sport. How is it that an obscure sport like Bobsledding has top of mind awareness (everyone knows what it is), but weightlifting – a sport anyone with a bar can do – doesn’t?
CrossFitters may be the only people on earth who actually know what it is that we do. More over, they have respect for us, and actively seek us out to help them with their technique on the lifts.
I’ve had LOADS of local CrossFitters here in Portland come to me to improve their technique. I currently have a few CrossFit practitioners on my competitive team.
USA Weightlifting embracing CrossFit is (in my opinion) a great move. It may ruffle some feathers. But, if USA Weightlifting doesn’t start making some changes – soon – there won’t be a USAW.
I admit, my first response to seeing this new hybrid competition was, “No weightlifter is going to do that.”
Weightlifters don’t do reps. And certainly not for time!
But, who cares? We don’t need to have a new contest for people who are ALREADY members of USAW and compete regularly – we’ve already converted them!
We need something (a lot of something’s) to inspire new blood to give weightlifting – as a sport – a go. This is a middle ground, opening a door, wetting an appetite.
CrossFit has a reach that USA Weightlifting can only dream about. It has a cult following (that admittedly turns off many non-CrossFitters) that is easy to move en masse. If you get loads of CrossFitters excited about lifting competitively, you have a whole new market of potential lifters who already know about the lifts and are excited about them.
We call those “highly qualified leads” in business. USA Weightlifting is a business. I’m glad to see a step in the direction of it being run like one.
These 105k (16 and a half stones, or 235ish pounds) lifters are some big boys. As is usually the case, 105′s look the most like bodybuilders of any of the male weight classes.
At my club we’ve yet to have a 105, but that’s about to change as Chris is moving up. He’s already known as the big guy, so lord knows how massive he’s gonna look when he packs on another 20 pounds.
We’re off to the Russ Knipp Weightlifting Championships tomorrow
morning bright and early (2 hour drive, lift, 2 hour drive back!). It’ll be Me, Roy, Chris, Celia, and Noel
competing this time.
Leslie is both driving us down and taking video, so she’s doing the hard part!
Wish us luck!
OH, and check out this great shot of Jessica Gee, one of Oregon’s top lifters, in a full clean at the American Open (that’s 92 kilos, MORE than 200 pounds!)
Here’s a video compilation of the 5 lifters of mine that competed at the Iron Works Olympic Weightlifting meet in Creswell, Oregon. 2 of them were brand spankin’ new. So that was fun. Every one of them either matched or broke personal records. And Leslie won her weight class again!
If you find yourself wanting to join in on the fun, click here to find out how.
BTW, in case you’re wondering, the music in the background is mine. Roy thinks I have a career writing music for the “adult” film industry. Maybe I should stick to coaching …
Leslie, Chris, and I just (well … Saturday) got back from the Iron Mind Weightlifting meet at Iron Works Gym in Creswell, OR.
It was hard going getting there. It was crazy icy between Salem and Eugene. I think we counted 6 semi trucks stalled, jack knifed, or otherwise out of order on the side of the road. Sadly, there were a few other accidents we saw that looked pretty bad. One guys pickup truck was demolished, with the passenger side roof crunched down completely.
We didn’t think it was going to be that nasty when we left home, but we were clearly wrong. At any rate, we got there safe (albeit in about nearly double the time it would normally take us).
To top it off, the pancake place we normally eat at was closed. No pancakes! Chris and I decided this would be our test case to see how dependent upon pancakes we are before a meet. Read on and find out.
Leslie needs no pancakes after weigh in (if this case study has any relevance). Not only did she win first place in the 63′s, but she broke personal bests in both lifts! To top it off, she wasn’t even “supposed” to be in the 63′s. She’d been wanting to diet down to them, but has been so busy with school that she was hanging out pretty comfortably in the 69′s. She was shocked when she got on the scale, and it read 63 on the nose.
Chris did well, too, hitting an 80k, and a 105k for a 185 total. He feels he could have done better, but I think he did good, considering the lack of pancakes!
He was head to head with Sam McLean in the 94′s all the way, and had to make his last clean and jerk to win it. I’ve never seen him jerk a 105 in the gym, yet. But, he stepped onto the platform, cleaned it like it was a sack of pillows, and blasted it over head for 3 white lights. Killed it, and won his weight class.
He’s continually getting stronger and more technically proficient, and I see him hitting 90 and 115 at the State meet in June. Maybe he doesn’t need pancakes either.
I missed everything but my openers. I need my pancakes. In fact, I was opening at 105 in the clean and jerk. But, in the warm up room I missed 100k not once, but twice! Somehow I made the 105k on the platform which gave me a 180 total (5k less than last contest). Am I a carb-o-holic? Without pancakes, I’m a half a man.
It was a fun meet. Too bad the weather didn’t allow more of the usual suspects of Oregon weightlifting to make it. But, we had a good time.
For all results, click here.
Sarah at the World Championships 2009
Fellow Oregonian, Sarah Bertram recently finished competing at the 2009 World Championships in Goyang City, Korea. She placed 16th, which makes her the 16 strongest woman on the planet in her weight class. Put that way, what a bad-ass! Great job, Sarah!
I think she’s in a good position to be competitive in 2 years when the Olympics comes around. I’ve competed “with” her many times, and she is very impressive to watch (as are her team mates). It’s been cool to see her improve over the years, first winning Nationals, and now representing the US at the Worlds.
She hit an 89k snatch, and a 107k clean and jerk, for a total of 196k. The snatch was a personal record and the clean was only 2k off of her best.
All the results of the championships can be seen on the IWF website.
EDIT: It turns out, Sarah is the first Oregonian (female or male) to go to the world championships–ever. Fantastic.
Usain Bolt vs Tyson Gay
Tyson Gay just ran a 9.71 100 meter dash at the World Championships in Berlin smashing the American record. This was the 3rd fastest time in history. But, he only got second place and a silver medal. Usain Bolt, the Jamaican 2008 Olympic sensation from Jamaica, got the gold with a 9.58!
Gay is still healing from a groin injury, but plans to compete on August 31 at the European Grand Prix. Expect good things. These guys are all so fast that all it takes is bad start off the blocks to change history. As great as Bolt is, and he is, so is Tyson Gay.
And don’t count out men like Asafa Powell, who until now, held the record at 9.74. He’s still a great sprinter. But both Gay and Bolt took that record down. And, Bolt ripped it down so hard it may need a paramedic.
The truth is, some are arguing that Bolt still has room to improve:
Yes, he sprinted through the finish line for a change, even if he did turn his head to look at the clock before he crossed it. Yes, his reaction time out of the starting blocks was better than in Beijing and yes he was in the lead after just 20 meters, which is good work for a man of his height who usually loses the start to more compact sprinters.
But according to former world-record holder Donovan Bailey, Bolt straightened up too early on Sunday, thereby losing early propulsion.
“In Beijing, of all the finalists, he was the worst technically,” Bailey said. “He’s improved a lot, but he can still go faster and improve his first 30 meters.”
Guy Ontanon, a French sprint coach, analyzed the final Sunday for the French sports daily L’Equipe and also remarked on Bolt’s premature rise out of the drive phase.
“He really gave it what he had, which explains the time game,” Ontanon wrote of the race. “But he can still pick up five or six hundredths of a second. It’s monstrous to do what he did in this race despite that error.”
Monstrous indeed, Check out the video:
