Dismissing the rumors, Yani Marchokov's coach said today that "100%" Yani was not competing at the Arnold Classic and continues his preparation for this year's World Weightlifting Championships.

Marchokov, who competes for Qatar under the name Jaber Saeed Salem, is the defending superheavyweight world champion in Olympic-style weightlifting. 

Salem swept the gold medals at the 2001 World Weightlifting Championships, snatching 210 kg, and cleaning and jerking 250 kg, at a bodyweight of 125.7 kg. On his third attempt, Salem cleaned 263 kg for a world record attempt, but did not try the jerk, although it showed that he is capable of breaking all three world records in weightlifting.