Welcome the guys most recently certified for closing a No. 3 or No. 4 Captains of Crush® gripper under official conditions. Congratulations to Jason Adamski for officially closing a No. 3, and to Tommy Heslep and Magnus Samuelsson for closing a No. 4. The official lists are available at IronMind's Who's New pages.

IronMind® will be sponsoring the Gillingham Grip Gauntlet at the IFSA Battle of Muscle Beach this Saturday. The format will be the same as was introduced by Wade Gillingham at the GNC booth at the Arnold Expo earlier this year: Anyone can try, and all you have to do to claim a $100 IronMind® gift certificate is close a No. 3 Captains of Crush® gripper, lift a Blob, and haul up a Rolling Thunder® loaded with approximately 212.5 pounds of plates. In 1991 IronMind® began fostering the idea that grip strength includes 1) crushing, 2) pinching and 3) supporting strength, and the Gillingham Grip Gauntlet gives you a way to prove you have it at the benchmark level in each of these primary facets of hand strength. Besides facing off against that challenge, hand strength afficionados can also take a shot at breaking the Rolling Thunder® world record (267 pounds), or win the IronMind® 300 Pound-$300 Challenge by becoming the first person to lift 300 pounds (total weight) on the Rolling Thunder® this year (earning you a $300 IronMind® gift certificate). The grip events will run alongside the strongman contest throughout the day, so you can catch all the action on Muscle Beach, demonstrate your vise-like grip, and take home a fat gift certificate at the same time. There are no guarantees, but Odd Haugen and Phil Pfister, both of whom are among the world's best on the Rolling Thunder®, might be coaxed into taking an attempt or two after the strongman event, and given the neighborhood, you never know whether a walk-on wonder might show up on Saturday and rewrite the record book.

Ivan Chakarov was in Kiev at the European Weightlifting Championships last week, and it was terrific to be able to catch up with the man who inspired us to coin the term "No-No-No" squats over a decade ago. Turn the clock back to 1993, at the World Weightlifting Championships (Melbourne, Australia), and Bulgaria's 91-kg Ivan Chakarov, a couple of days from competing, finished his workout with a 270-kg triple in the back squat - besides squatting high-bar, close-stance and rock bottom, it was even more impressive because Chakarov squatted without a belt, wraps or spotters. The no belt-wraps-spotters caused us to label it a No-No-No squat, and between Chakarov himself, the No-No-No name, the photo, and the video, the lifting world was changed forevermore. Chakarov went on to snatch 185 kg and clean and jerk 222.5 kg, winning the 1993 World Championships over such big name lifters as Khaki Kakiachvili and Anatoli Khrapaty. In Kiev last week, Yoto Yotov had tipped me off that Ivan was lighter and had long hair now, but would you believe that he weighs about 75 kg and has a ponytail ("Steven Seagal," a Bulgarian journalist kidded). Ivan said he still trains a little, smiling broadly when he said he cleans and jerks 120 kg and back squats 150 kg. Chakarov works for an express package delivery company, and continues to coach as well.

The IFSA Battle of Muscle Beach will present a top strongman event in an outstanding location (Venice, California) this weekend. "It will be heavy," promised Odd Haugen, and to give you an idea of what he means, consider that the contest opens at 10:00 am on Saturday with a 25-meter farmer's walk holding 385 pounds in each hand. Odd Haugen, Chad Smith, Dan Ford, Abdul Wesolowski, Ron Sularski, Corey St. Clair, Chad Coy, Don Pope, Jon Andersen, Grant Higa, Phil Pfister, Shawn Smith, Mark Keshishian are competing, and Bill Kazmaier will be calling the action.

The New York Arm Wrestling Association just announced two contests next week. The Nassau Community College championships will be held outdoors on the Quad in Garden City, Long Island on April 29. Please call (718) 544-4592 or check http:///www.newyorkarmwrestling.com/ for details. On May 2, the 24th Annual White Castle Long Island Open Arm Wrestling Championships will be held on the main stage at the Belmont Stakes Fair. Please check http://www.belmontfair.com/ for details.

Catering to strength and power, offering a home to powerlifters, Olympic lifters, strongmen, arm wrestlers, grip specialists, and everyone else interested in getting stronger, the Power Palace is coming to Chatsworth, California. There will be discounts for Sterling Weekend graduates, UPS employees, and for all police and fire agency employees. Please contact Kevin Meskew (Valley Center) at (818) 899-7555/(818) 723-3350 or at warrior01@earthlink.net for more information.

Kiev, Ukraine - Starting things off with a bang today, Poland's Aleksandra Klejnowska returned to competition with an impressive performance in the women's 58-kg category at the European Weightlifting Championships. Aylin Dasdelen (TUR) snatched a new continental record with 98.5 kg on her second attempt, which held up for the gold medal. In the clean and jerk, Dasdelen made 117.5 and 122.5, before missing 125. Klejnowska had finished with 95 kg in the snatch, and was heavier than Dasdelen, so after making 120 and 122.5 in the clean and jerk, Klejnowska waited for Dasdelen to finish, and, on her third attempt, Klejnowska called for the 127.5 required to give her the gold medals in the jerk and in the total. Klejnowska continued her perfect steak today, made the lift and bagged the victory. In the women's 63-kg category, Bulgaria's Gergana Kirilova swept the golds, but she won each of them on body weight: there was a three-way tie at 100-kg in the snatch, and for the last attempt of the contest, Kirilova had to match the 127.5 kg clean and jerk Dominka Misterska (POL) had just made. Kirilova succeeded, bumping Misterska on body weight for top honors in both the jerk and the total. Also enjoying a successful return to competition, Sevdalin Angelov won the men's 62-kg category with 137.5/165.

Kiev, Ukraine - With Turkey's Halil Mutlu said to be enjoying an extended honeymoon and concentrating on the Athens Olympics, his countryman Sedat Artuc fought down to the last clean and jerk to win the title in the 56-kg category at the European Weightlifting Championships today. The weights weren't at world record level, but the battle was great, as Vitali Dzerbianiou (BLR) outsnatched Artuc, 127.5 kg to 125 kg. Both opened with 145 kg in the clean and jerk for good lifts. Dzerbianiou missed 150 on his second, and Artuc jumped to 152.5 for a good second attempt, which put him in first place in the jerk and the total. Dzerbianiou answered with a good attempt at the same weight on his third attempt, to go into the lead, but Artuc had one attempt left. Being the lighter man, he called for 155, which he made, to win on body weight. In between the snatch and the clean and jerk, about a dozen Ukranian performers entertained the crowd with a dazzling show of kettlebell juggling - tossing and catching the kettlebells high in the air and between each other with apparent ease and great skill. Earlier today, Izabela Dragneva (BUL) did 82.5/97.5 to take top honors in the women's 48-kg class, and Nurcan Taylan (TUR) won the women's 53-kg category with new continental records in the snatch (95.5 kg) and in the clean and jerk (115.5 kg).

Kiev, Ukraine - Addressing the Congress of the European Weightlifting Federation today, IWF President Dr. Tamas Ajan said "Stop . . . Enough!" when discussing the use of banned substances in the sport. With fifteen years of stricter and stricter doping controls in weightlifting, and with the current rate of positive tests ranging from only one to two percent, Dr. Ajan said that he still is not satisfied and that he wants the sport to do even better. To put some added pressure on everyone to be clean in Athens, Dr. Ajan said that the IWF Executive Board has initiated a new policy and any athlete who is positive at the upcoming Athens Olympics will not only receive all the existing penalties, but in addition, both the athlete and his or her federation will be ineligible to compete in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Enlisting the help of everyone involved in the sport to continue its efforts to clean up completely, Dr. Ajan said, "We can do it together," and he noted that the consequences of a major drug scandal in Athens would put weightlifting at risk in terms of maintaining its position on the Olympic program.

The 2004 Arnold Strongman contest will be aired on Fox Sports today at 3:00 p.m. Pacific time, so if you weren't in Columbus, or just want to see the IFSA Super Series final again, here's your chance. The program is scheduled to be repeated this weekend, as well, so check local listings for details.

Almaty, Kazakhstan - For those of us who were close to the platform, the popping sound might as well have been an explosion, and in the next instant Hossein Tavakoli (Iran) collapsed on the platform in tremendous pain. Tavakoli, the defending Olympic champion in the 105-kg category, was starting his serious training for the Athens Olympics, and had snatched 175 and 180, before missing 185 kg on his third attempt at the Asian Weightlifting Championships today. He opened with an easy 210-kg clean and jerk, and when he went to rack 217.5 kg on his second attempt, the weight once again looked easy, but he ruptured his patella ligament on the lift. Dr. Asghar Shahabi, who operated on Kazakhstan's Sergei Kopytov when he suffered a similar injury about ten years ago, said that he will operate on Tavakoli tomorrow, and that this injury ends Tavakoli's bid to defend his title in Athens, but it does not have to mean the end of his weightlifting career. Even with just one clean and jerk, Tavakoli got the silver medal in the total, behind Dmitriy Frolov (Kazakhstan), who did 177.5/217.5. Saeed Salem Jaber (Qatar) coasted to all three gold medals in the 105-kg category, only taking two attempts in each lift to hit 190/230.

Almaty, Kazakhstan - Showing that the future of women's weightlifting is now, Tang Gonghong (China) cleaned 182.5 kg on her third attempt today at the Asian Weightlifting Championships, but she missed the jerk. Opening with a world record of 170 kg, Tang mauled the weight, and followed with 175 kg for another new world record in the clean and jerk, as well as one in the women's 75 kg category total (302.5 kg). Rani (India) was second in the total (240 kg) and Kanunova (Kazakhstan) was third (237.5 kg).

Almaty, Kazakhstan - The men's 94-kg category was another big one at the Asian Weightlifting Championships today for host country Kazakhstan, as Bakhytbek Akhmetov won all three golds, and his teammate Andrey Makarov picked up a pair of silvers. Akhmetov had to run hard to save his opening snatch of 175 kg and that set the stage for what was to follow: On his second attempt, 182.5 kg, he again had to run forward, but this time he ran out of platform, the bar went across the stage with such force that it crumpled the steel barrier protecting the referees, and one end landed on the ground, nearly in the lap of the center referee. The announcer calmly said, "as you can see, we have a small technical problem," as the loaders and officials struggled to get the bar back on the stage. Akhmetov made a successful lift with the weight on his third attempt. After Shahin Nasirinia moved into gold medal position in the clean and jerk with his third attempt 210 kg lift, Akhemtov, who had the last lift attempt in the class, called for 212.5 and made it. Makarov hit 180/197.5 for silvers in the snatch and in the total. Chasing the Kazakhstan teammates all night, two Iranian lifters picked up the remaining medals: Shahin Nasirinia got the silver in the clean jerk (210 kg) and the bronze in the total (375 kg), and Asghar Ebrahimi got the bronze in the snatch (170 kg) and in the clean and jerk (205 kg).

Almaty, Kazakhstan - Displaying her raw power, Kazakhstan's Tatyana Khromova destroyed the women's 75-kg category world record in the snatch today at the Asian Weightlifting Championships. With the world record standing at 118.5 kg, Khromova sailed through 110 and 115, before taking 120 on her third attempt and she not only made the lift, but she power snatched it, for the world record and the gold medal in the snatch. Sun Ruiping (China), who had snatched an easy 117.5 kg, got the gold in the jerk (147.5 kg) and beat Khromova on body weight for the gold in the total (265 kg), to continue another exceptional performance by the Chinese women's weightlifting team. Yesterday ended with Liu Chunhong (China) sweeping the gold medals in the women's 69-kg category (117.5/152.5). Earlier today, Yuan Aijun (China) dominated the men's 75-kg category, with 170/210. Yuan attempted to break the world record in the clean and jerk on his third attempt, calling for 218.5 kg. Yuan cleaned the weight, but missed the jerk, and it was subsequently determined that the bar had been misloaded to 219 kg. The men's 94-kg category follows later today.

Almaty, Kazakhstan - With the Olympic games rapidly approaching, the powerful Iranian weightlifting team, which won two gold medals in Sydney, is focused on achieving its best results. Defending Olympic superheavyweight champion Hossein Rezazadeh is not lifting at the Asian Weightlifting Championships, but 2000 Olympic gold medalist Hossein Tavakoli is: the 105-kg lifter said yesterday that he is healthy, his training is going well and that he hopes to medal again in Athens. After Athens, Tavakoli said that he might move up to the superheavyweight class, where, weighing about 130 kg, he thinks he could do at least 200/250. Shahin Nasirinia, who won over Pyrros Dimas at the 1999 World Weightlifting Championships in Athens, will be competing at the Asian Weightlifting Championships later today, in the 94-kg category. Hossein Barkah, who blew out his left arm at the 2003 World Weightlifting Championships in Vancouver, is still rebuilding, and is only handling very light (for him) weights in the snatch and clean and jerk at the moment. Ali Falahati Nejad, 77-kg gold medalist in Vancouver, did not compete at the Asian Weightlifting Championships, but his teammates said that he is training hard for Athens and is in excellent shape.

Almaty, Kazakhstan - It couldn't have been scripted any better: Kazakhstan's Sergey Filimonov swept the gold medals and broke the world record in the snatch in the 77-kg category today at the Asian Weightlifting Championships. Starting what would be a six-for-six day, Filmonov opened with an effortless 160-kg snatch, hit 167.5 on his second attempt, and followed that with a world record lift of 173.5 kg. Maintaining his momentum in the clean and jerk, Filmonov did 190, 195 and 197.5 to cap off a great day. Earlier, China's Liu Xia won all three gold medals in the women's 63-kg category with 102.5/137.5 and Kazakhstan's Olga Sablina got silver medals in the jerk (125 kg) and in the total (220 kg).

Almaty, Kazakhstan - China continued its winning ways at the Asian Weightlifting Championships today, but North Korean Kim Chol Jin pulled out the stops and won the 69s on the final attempt of the class, breaking China's perfect streak. In the men's 62-kg category, Chinese teammates Shi Zhiyong, the snatcher, faced off with Le Maosheng, the clean and jerker. Le made 140 and 145, but passed on his third attempt, while Shi nailed 145-, 150- and 152.5 kg. Shi, a squat jerker, opened with 167.5, for a good lift, and then missed the jerk on 172.5, but came back to make it, for a 320-kg total. Le took 172.5 on his first attempt, cleaned the weight, but dumped it after standing up, appearing to be passing out. He moved up to 175 on his second attempt, for a good lift, took 180 in a bid to win on bodyweight, but missed the jerk. In the women's 58-kg category, China's Sun Caiyan swept the gold medals with 100/130, holding off Thai lifter Junpim Kuntatean, who did 97.5/125. In the men's 69-kg category, Chen Chufu (China) ended the snatches with 150 kg, followed by Kim Chol Jin (North Korea) at 142.5, but Kim had the body weight advantage. Both lifters opened in the clean and jerk with successes at 175 kg, and then Chen made a good lift with 180, while Kim did likewise with 182.5. Chen cleaned 185 kg on his third attempt, but missed the jerk. With all the marbles on the line, Kim took 187.5 on his third attempt, made it, and won two gold medals (clean and jerk, total) for his efforts - a great ending to the second day of lifting at the Asian Weightlifting Championships.

Almaty, Kazakhstan - Former Soviet weightlifting stars Anatoli Khrapaty and Leonid Taranenko are among the lifting greats in Almaty, Kazakhstan this week for the Asian Weightlifting Championships. Khraphaty said that after so many years of lifting, he no longer hits the weights, although he said that might change in the future, but he jogs, and plays tennis and soccer. Taranenko is once again coaching India's women's team, a position he said he resumed two months ago. Khraphaty is from Kazakhstan and closed out his magnificent weightlifting career representing his country, and Taranenko, who is from Belarus, is still credited with the all-time highest official clean and jerk, a whopping 266 kg.

Almaty, Kazakhstan - The powerhouse Chinese weightlifting team opened the first day of the Asian Weightlifting Championships with a bang, winning all nine gold medals awarded today. In the women's 48-kg category, Li Zhuo snatched 90 kg, and cleaned and jerked 115 kg. In the 56-kg men's category, Wu Meijin did 127.5/165 in convincing style and proved that he is within striking range of the world record in the clean and jerk. Finishing the day in grand style for her team, Deng Jianying, after snatching 95 kg, first broke the junior world record in the clean and jerk on her second attempt, with 122.5, and then hit 125 on her third, for another junior world record in the clean and jerk, plus a junior world record in the total.

Plan to be at Muscle Beach (Venice, California) on May 22nd if you think you've got strong arms, strong hands, both, or want to watch some people who do, because Kevin Meskew is putting on the US National Strict Curl and West Coast IronGrip Championships. For more details or to enter, email Kevin at warrior01@earthlink.net .

Maybe we shouldn't have been surprised, but when we ran a photo of Shannon Hartnett winging the weight for height on the cover of the December 2003 MILO, a lot of people wanted to buy a poster of the cover. Well, we listened to your requests, and the poster is available now: To order, go to our online store. Hang it on your wall and go heave a few heavy ones yourself.

Confirming rumors that TWI and BBC had withdrawn from the 2004 World's Strongest Woman contest, IFSA president Douglas Edmunds said today that IFSA would fill the gap with its own contest: The IFSA Strongwoman World Championships. World's Strongest Woman might not have proven to be financially viable, Edmunds said, but he explained that IFSA had some new concepts for the competition, leading to a format that would prove to be "more modern and more interesting." Tentatively scheduled for September 12th in Ireland, the IFSA Strongwoman World Championships will have a field of athletes who qualified in either the USA Nationals (run by Shannon Hartnett), the Scandinavian qualifier (run by Ilkka Kinnunen) or the European qualifier (run by Douglas Edmunds). As they develop, more details will be available on the official IFSA website or here, so check back for updates.