Wroclaw, Poland—Is Lyu Xiaojun (China) the most electrifying weightlifter on the planet?  




77-kg weightlifter Lyu Xiaojun hits the bottom with a 176-kg world record snatch locked out overhead.  IronMind® | Randall J. Strossen photo


Could be and it was about Lyu at the 2013 World Weightlifting Championships where he was in a class by himself as he broke the world record in the snatch and looked like he might well have assaulted the world record in the clean and jerk if he had wanted to.

Krzysztof Zwarycz (Poland) didn’t help fill seats with cheering fans for no good reason: he delivered a bronze medal performance in the snatch with his 161-kg second attempt lift, two kilos behind Kim Kwang Song (North Korea).

Now it was time for Lyu Xiaojun to take the stage, and he whipped through 165 kg, 170 kg and then 176 kg for three good lifts, a world record and the gold medal in the snatch.

Rasoul Taghian (Iran) lost the bronze medal in the clean jerk on bodyweight to Kim Kwang Song, who also made 196 kg, the same weight that Lyu Xiaojun opened with—if you told someone that squat jerks have almost no margin for error, so they are hard to execute, they would never believe you after watching Lyu Xiaojun because he makes the movement look effortless.  Ulubek Alimov (Uzbekistan) followed with a good 197-kg lift, to move into gold medal position in the jerk and bronze medal position in the total.

Now, with two attempts remaining, it was all Lyu Xiaojun, who took 204 kg, making another great lift, but then he pulled down the straps of his singlet—signaling that he was done for the night.

Once again, the Polish Weightlifting Federation worked its magic at the 2013 World Weightlifting Championships—they delivered fans, fun and more top drawer weightlifting.

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