Difference between revisions of "Weightlifting"
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Countries who usually perform well in weightlifting include [[China]] and many [[Eastern Europe]]an and former [[Soviet]] states. | Countries who usually perform well in weightlifting include [[China]] and many [[Eastern Europe]]an and former [[Soviet]] states. | ||
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| + | When performed by women, it is a [[joke sport]]. | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{reflist|2}} | {{reflist|2}} | ||
[[Category:Sports]] | [[Category:Sports]] | ||
Revision as of 15:31, August 10, 2012
Weightlifting has been an Olympic sport since the first modern games in Athens in 1896[1]. Athletes compete to see who can lift the heaviest weights (in the form of a metal bar with heavy weights on each end). Both men and women compete, and there are several weight divisions for each gender.
Olympic weightlifting has two events:
- Snatch, where the bar must be lifted above the head in one continuous motion.
- Clean and jerk, where the bar is first lifted to just beneath the chin, and then lifted above the head after a short pause.
Participants compete in both disciplines (with the weights being increased in a similar way to the raising of the bar in a high jump competition), and add their best scores in each. The man or woman with the highest combined total is the winner[2].
The world record for weightlifting in the men's super-heavyweight division is 472kg (over 1000lb), set at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000[3]. This is about as heavy as two fully-grown male lions[4].
Countries who usually perform well in weightlifting include China and many Eastern European and former Soviet states.
When performed by women, it is a joke sport.
