Men's Superheavyweight

Tuesday, August 19

An unusual Olympic superheavyweight men's competition, to say the least. There were only 8 lifters entered. The lifter from Qatar did not weigh-in. Jeon (KOR) bombed in the Snatch, not looking at all ready for this level of competition. The entire session was over in less than 1-1/2 hours.

Chigishev (RUS) weighed only 124.13, a la Pisarenko 25 years ago. He snatched well, ending with 210kg. Udachyn (UKR) as second with 207. Scerbatihs (LAT) ended with 206kg. These 3 lifters made all of their Snatches.

Shymechko (UKR) at 22 looks to have a good future. He made all 6 attempts.

Steiner (GER), the eventual winner, missed his first Jerk with 246kg, walking off the platform. Chigishev ended with 250kg, so his Total was 460kg. Scerbatihs started with and succeeded at 242 and was put into the scoring system for an automatic jump to 244. His coach attempted to change this, but time ran out and they were stuck with the lighter weight. Scerbatihs simply sat in the back room and didn't come out for the lift.

For some reason, Scerbatihs jumped to 257kg, more than he needed to move into first place. He missed the lift and ended up in 3rd place.

On his second attempt Steiner made the minimal jump in order to total, then waited for what he needed to win. This was 258kg, a lift he successfully completed without a great deal of difficulty.

This is Germany's first superheavyweight win in a very long time. It's also the first time an American has not been in this class.

The program is due to air around noon today, probably on MSNBC, but check for confirmation. The previous plan of broadcasting this category live was wisely ditched, as it would have been a disaster.