On the road From to

The span between two seems to have run since the admired icons, Olympic can be last Olympic Games. and world championship looked at as a four-hundred As customs went, on 25th medal winners, world meter sprint. In terms of August 2004 in Athens, it record holders disappeared weightlifting, the start line was Iranian Hossein Reza from the stage. Some win- of the race was in , Zadeh’s task to say the con- ning streaks suffered sud- then the second hundred- cluding words: he was able den breaks, international meter leg was run in Santo to round up the fantastic power relations have Domingo. weightlifting festival with shifted. At the same time, This year in September, his 263.5kg clean and jerk we could realize with some Chiangmai will mark the world record. He reclaimed relief that even after the last turn on the track before the right of last speech for Konos, the Miyakes, the champion-candidates 2005 in Doha, and also Alexeevs, Suleymanoglus, are headed to the finish later in Santo Domingo. Dimases and Kakhiasvilis line. Apart from that almost weightlifting can produce The last, final leg of one everything has changed. new superstars. hundred meters will then For instance, the half-kilo be covered in Beijing in weight progression stopped August next year. to be applied. It will mark the 23rd Long- appearance of weightlifting in the Olymmic Games. These “hundred-meter legs” seem to have dashed by – just as rapidly as time

The last act of the Athens Games on 25 August 2004: Hossein Reza Zadeh jerked a new world record 263.5kg

9 From Athens to Beijing 2005, Doha: new world champion, junior and senior in the same year, Best Lifter of the Year, On the road Ilya Ilin From Athens to Beijing

It is only normal for the old champions to cede their place to the newcom- ers and the younger genera- tion of contenders duly came into view. They are the ones, winners of Olympic and world titles, that we are going to miss following the next Olympic Games. Anyway, let us not get too sentimental, since the first two hundred meters are behind them and the last turn is just ahead of us. World Weightlifting would like to give you a picture of the past and would-be champions on the following pages under the title “On the road From Athens to Beijing”.

2006, Santo Domingo: after a break of 84 years, once again has a world champion, Vencelas Dabaya

The Beihang Gymnasium in Beijing: the ‘Arena of Dreams’ – all weightlifters’ ultimate destination

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