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London 2012 Olympic Weightlifting

travoholic | Jul 22, 2010 |

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The summer of 1896 is when Olympic weightlifting became an event at the Summer Olympic Games in Athens Greece. Weight lifting was one of nine sports in the first Olympic Game. The Olympics of 1900 did not include weightlifting but returned in 1904. In 1920 weight lifting became an official sport. Now in the London 2012 Olympics there will be 29 sports and 39 disciplines featured. There are 15 sets of weightlifting medals, 8 for men's competition and 7 for the women's competition.

The competitors must complete two disciplines, one is called snatch and the other is called clean and jerk. Winners are the top in each weight class. Controversy over Olympic weightlifting and body building has been the talk for years. Many of the Olympic fans feel that body building should also be a sport of the Olympics but the International Olympic Committee does not feel that body building is a sport. One athlete you won't see at the London 2012 Olympics is Boyan Polejanov, a Bulgarian weightlifter that tested positive for steroids.

General rules of Olympic Weightlifting are as follows.

Hooking is permitted. This is where the last joint of the thumb is covered with the other fingers of the same hand at the moment of gripping.
Pulling from the hang is not permitted.
Touching the bar against the legs will not make lift a No Lift.
An unfinished attempt of the bar at the height of the knees is a No Lift.
It is considered a No Lift if the bar stops while in its upward path before arriving at the shoulders or arms length.
Under no circumstance is grease, water or any other type of lubricant permitted to be used on the thighs
Other No Lift rules:
If the bar is placed on the chest before the turning over of the elbows.
Touching the thighs or knees with the elbows or upper arms.
Any effort from the shoulders or lowering of the body or bending of the knees, if lift is not complete.
Lifter may release grip of the bar after the barbell passes the level of the waist.

The Olympic competition will be held at the ExCel Exhibition Centre which is near London City Airport in East London's Royal Victoria Dock. The Olympic and Paralympics Games will be the same brand family as a first time happening.

In 2008, China won nine medals, 8 of which were gold. Russia took 7 medals, 4 silver and 3 bronze and Kazakhstan took 4 medals home. In the 1956 Olympics, Paul Anderson of the USA took the Gold. Others are as follows, USSR, Yury Vlasov took gold in 1960, Leonid Zhabotinsky, USSR in 1964 and 1968, Vasily Alexeev, USSR in 1972 and 1976, Alexander Kurovich, USSR in 1988 and 1992, Andrey Chemerkin, Russia in 1996 and Hossein Rezazadeh, Iran in 2000 and 2004