Much of the focus leading up to the weightlifting tournament at the 1980 Olympic Games was on an injury to Russian legend Vassily Alekseyev.
The scene was set for the 353-pound giant from Ryazan to make it an unprecedented hat-trick of gold medals in the super heavyweight category after record-breaking triumphs in Munich and Montreal.
However an injury originally picked up just before the 1978 world championships in Pennsylvania restricted his chances and he was eliminated in the early stages.
Russian lifters dominated, however, with five of the 10 gold medals on offer taken by the home contingent.
Kanybek Osmanaliyev and Viktor Mazin took the honours in the now defunct flyweight and featherweight divisions, the former winning by the slenderest of margins on lower bodyweight.
Yet it was two Bulgarians who set the competition alight at the Izmailovo Sports Palace.
First Yanko Rusev took the lightweight gold with a new Olympic and world record, his overall total of 342.5kgs including a world record jerk of 195kgs putting him streets ahead of the field.
Team-mate Assen Zlatev then followed suit in the middleweight category to take gold with 360kgs and then achieved a jerk world record of 205.5kgs after the competition had been completed.
Home fans had something to cheer about once more when Yurik Vardanian crushed the opposition in the light heavyweight field, winning by an unprecedented 27.5kgs with a winning total of 400kgs, a score which would have won him gold in the first and middle heavyweight classes.
Belarus-born Leonid Taranenko took the heavyweight gold for Russia, and 12 years later was to gain a silver for the unified team at the Barcelona Games at super-heavyweight level.
With Alekseyev bowing out in the early stages, Sultan Rakhmanov proved a worthy successor by jerking an eye-watering 245kgs to lift gold by a healthy margin in the super heavyweight.
Weightlifting Men’s 105kg Group A – Final – Gold: Oleksiy Torokhtiy (Ukraine) – Silver: Navab Nasirshelal (Iran) – Bronze: Bartlomiej Wojciech Bonk (Poland). Highlights from the ExCeL at the London 2012 Olympic Games. — 6 August 2012
Although men’s weightlifting has always been on the programme of the Olympic Games – except for at the 1900, 1908 and 1912 editions — women started to participate only at the 2000 Games in Sydney.
The Olympic weightlifting programme has evolved greatly over time. Today, weightlifters compete in snatch and clean and jerk, and are placed according to their total combined result. From the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, men have competed in eight weight categories and women in seven. This total of 15 events remains unchanged.
Wrestling Men’s Freestyle 74 kg Gold Medal – Iran v United States Full Replay from the ExCeL – North Arena 2 at the London 2012 Olympic Games. – 10 August 2012
In episode 8 Rau’shee discusses the unique history he has with his coach, Mike Stafford. Their relationship has broken the boundaries of the ring and developed into much more over the past two decades.
Founded in 1894 and headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO, the United States Olympic Committee serves as both the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States. As such, the USOC is responsible for the training, entering and funding of U.S. teams for the Olympic, Paralympic, Youth Olympic, Pan American and Parapan American Games, while serving as a steward of the Olympic Movement throughout the country. For more information on the USOC and learn more about our athletes, log on to the official website at http://www.teamusa.org
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13th Temple 
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