Chapter 395: Breaking the Record on the First Lift

Chapter 395: Breaking Records with the Opening Lift

"Old Zhan, what's the deal with this Meng Fan?"

"Brother Zhan, wasn't Meng Fan a wrestling and judo athlete? How did he suddenly become a weightlifting, wrestling, and judo athlete?"

"Director Zhan, what level is Meng Fan at? Can you give us a hint?"

"Old Zhan, I heard that Meng Fan has already made the national team's roster? Did Old Yu agree to this? Why haven't we seen him at the training camp?"

"Hahaha, Old Zhan, you snatched Meng Fan, a seed who could medaled in wrestling and judo, over to weightlifting. Didn't Old Hu and Old Xiao tear you apart?"

"Young Zhan, I heard that you're the one personally overseeing Meng Fan's weightlifting training. Give me the real scoop, what level is he at? Can he really make a massive breakthrough in the heavyweight division? Don't hide it from me; the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo Center would never agree to let him practice weightlifting if there wasn't a guaranteed splash!"

Ever since Meng Fan’s name appeared on the entry list for the 109+ kg division, countless coaches, directors, and team leaders had been pestering Director Zhan, and this fourth competition day saw an even greater influx, because by this time, almost everything that needed to be contested had concluded, and with so few competitors in the 109+ kg class, everyone was simply waiting for it to end to attend the closing ceremony; since they were idle anyway and their curiosity had been thoroughly piqued by Meng Fan's situation, they all converged on Director Zhan to feel things out.

"Isn't the competition about to start? You'll all see for yourselves in just a moment."

No matter who asked, Director Zhan would simply laugh it off and brush them aside.

In the preceding days, he would add, "I still have some matters to attend to, so please excuse me." Since this selection trial was held in Hangzhou and he was the director of the Zhejiang Provincial Sports Academy as well as a former weightlifter himself, he was naturally a member of the organizing committee and was indeed incredibly busy.

As for today, he added another phrase: "I need to go make preparations, so please excuse me." The role of Meng Fan’s coach could hardly be given to anyone else; it had to be him. Although he had become the academy director, he had always maintained his coaching post with the Zhejiang weightlifting team. Normally, he acted as a "public coach," specifically training the young Shi Zhiyong whenever he wasn't away at the national team's intensive training camp.

Speaking of the young Shi Zhiyong, he was absolute pride and joy among Director Zhan’s disciples, the former king of the 69 kg class, the 2015 World Champion, the 2016 Olympic Champion, who, after moving up to 73 kg in 2018 due to the new weight class regulations, still swept all three gold medals in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total at the 2018 World Championships, simultaneously shattering the world records for all three categories, making him the most formidable contender for the title in that division at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

And on the second competition day, Shi Zhiyong had already smoothly claimed the championship in the 73 kg division.

—In the World Championships and other events, a single weight class has three separate champions for the snatch, clean and jerk, and total; whereas the Olympics only count the total score, awarding a single gold medal per division.

Currently, Shi Zhiyong was training with the national team, leaving Director Zhan to focus primarily on keeping an eye on Meng Fan.

Director Zhan glanced toward the spectator stands, offered a small smile, and then slipped back into the athletes' locker room.

The stands were indeed packed with a substantial crowd; aside from the various representative teams, there were quite a few genuine spectators.

The Olympic selection trials did not sell tickets to the general public, but gaining entry to watch the competition was not entirely impossible, as the event didn't strictly forbid spectators either.

Of course, compared to the previous competition days, the crowd today was noticeably larger.

Many athletes from the Zhejiang Provincial Sports Academy had turned up, particularly from the weightlifting department—be they active athletes, intensive training athletes, trial athletes, or students, they had all arrived.

Furthermore, a massive turnout came from both the wrestling and judo teams.

The China Academy of Art also sent a large contingent of people, including not just students but teachers as well; after all, it was usually difficult to request leave and fly out to watch Meng Fan compete elsewhere, but since it was in Hangzhou, they were absolutely going to show up, especially the animation department, where almost the entire faculty and student body had arrived, effectively acting as the athlete's "family."

Beyond that, the majority were undoubtedly Meng Fan’s various fans, ranging from livestream followers and combat sports enthusiasts to manga lovers, voice-actor fans, and casual passersby.

The Heavy Athletics Center Arena within the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center was by no means small, and even publicly ticketed events usually struggled to achieve a half-empty attendance, yet today it was nearly two-thirds full.

Truth be told, even the venue management was somewhat baffled as to how all these tickets had been obtained.

Weightlifting competitions require athletes to weigh in two hours prior to the event, a process lasting precisely one hour with no exceptions for lateness; exceeding or falling short of the weight requirements results in disqualification. Some athletes on the extreme margins of their weight classes would strictly manage their weight beforehand. Relatively speaking, those in the 109+ kg division rarely controlled their weight, as their body mass generally far exceeded 109 kilograms, mostly sitting between 130 and 145 kg; someone like Meng Fan, whose weigh-in result came in at exactly 112 kilograms, was entirely unprecedented.

Who on earth would compete in the 109+ kg division at a weight of 112 kilograms? Anyone else would have cut down to under 109 to enter the 109 kg class, especially considering that the performance benchmarks between the 109 kg and 109+ kg divisions differed immensely. Taking the world records under the new rules as an example, the total record for the 109 kg class was 435 kilograms, while the 109+ kg class stood at 474 kilograms—a staggering difference of nearly 40 kilograms!

This body weight put him at such a massive disadvantage!

Yet he insisted on balancing other competitions, making weight reduction highly impractical; thus, in the eyes of many industry insiders, it was one thing for Meng Fan to compete in wrestling and judo, but trying to handle weightlifting on top of that was simply pushing his luck.

But then again, if Meng Fan truly succeeded, he would be spanning three major sports and four distinct disciplines; regardless of whether he could ultimately set new records, merely securing the Olympic qualification would cement him as a legend—the only athlete in Olympic history to span three major sports!

It was impossible for the industry insiders present not to feel a surge of anticipation!

Particularly the leaders of the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo Center—if Meng Fan succeeded, they could mock every single other major center under the General Administration of Sport until they coughed up blood!

Following the weigh-in came the drawing of lots—previously, if athletes lifted identical weights, the lighter athlete would lift first, but now the one with the lower drawn number went first, and if final scores were tied, the one who lifted the weight first won—and then the snatch competition for the 109+ kg division commenced, with each athlete submitting their opening weight to lift in order from lightest to heaviest.

"Old Zhan, you aren't joking around with this, are you?"

The jury panel was momentarily stunned upon seeing the opening weight Director Zhan had submitted for Meng Fan; under normal circumstances, they wouldn't say a word, but this number was truly eye-catching, prompting an involuntary, curious inquiry: "You didn't write this down wrong, did you?"

The opening weight Director Zhan had submitted for Meng Fan was 202 kilograms!

This weight was China's national record for the heaviest men's weightlifting division, established before the weight class restructuring and carried over directly as the standard afterward, remaining the national record to this day.

Earlier, a coach had mentioned that if he remembered correctly, this record dated back over a decade, but he had actually misremembered; the record from over a decade ago was 201 kilograms, which was raised by 1 kilogram to 202 in 2017—and it was broken by the exact same individual shattering his own record after a ten-year gap, showing that truly dominant lifters were rare in this division, making the coach's lapse in memory quite understandable.

The record holder was named Sun Haibo, who was 34 years old the year he broke the record again and had rarely competed since; now 37, he basically no longer participated in international competitions and had not come to these Olympic selection trials, with his mediocre clean and jerk performance being a major factor.

Prior to this, the jury panel had seen Meng Fan's entry registration mark, which listed this exact entry for the snatch, but an entry mark was just an entry mark—regulations allowed the final total score to be no less than 15 kilograms below the registered entry mark, and generally, everyone treated their absolute ideal peak performance as their entry mark; yet here he was, starting his very first attempt right at that entry mark, a tactic virtually unheard of!

"Old Yuan, you're questioning my professional expertise here!"

Director Zhan replied with an immensely smug, jovial grin before turning to walk away.

Left utterly speechless, the jury panel could only input the score, whereupon the opening weights of the competing lifters flashed onto the display board behind the weightlifting platform.

A total of eight athletes were participating in the 109+ kg division; the lowest opening weight was 160 kilograms, followed by 160, 161, 163, 164, 165, then a jump to 185, and finally, riding solitary in the absolute lead, was Meng Fan's 202!

The lifter opening at 185 kilograms was named Ai Yu'nan, the reigning king of this division in China in recent years, whose personal bests stood at a 192 kg snatch and a 240 kg clean and jerk; while such numbers were naturally beyond reproach domestically, on the international stage they amounted to little more than the bare minimum opening weights, offering zero competitiveness. To put it bluntly, at international events, the opening weights for the top six lifters were all above 210 and 245 kilograms.

In previous years, an 185 kg opening snatch would have comfortably secured the domestic championship, but this year saw the arrival of Meng Fan—a fierce individual who intended to equal the national record on his very first attempt.

According to the rules of the competition, the lighter weights were lifted first.

The athletes took the stage one after another; the first successfully lifted 160 kilograms and submitted a second weight of 162 kilograms.

The second lifter failed his opening attempt and submitted 160 kilograms again for his second try; according to regulations, since there was no lower weight currently on the field, he had to perform consecutive attempts.

And so it continued in an alternating fashion as the first six athletes made their appearances.

"Why hasn't it been Meng Fan's turn yet? Several people have already lifted multiple times!"

"According to weightlifting rules, the order is strictly based on the weight on the bar, regardless of which round it is. To put it plainly, as long as nobody reaches Meng Fan's weight, he won't come out even if everyone else finishes their lifts. Didn't you notice that there's one other person who hasn't stepped out either?"

"Is that how it works? The gap looks immense! Will the weight suddenly jump up by a lot?"

"Basically, yes. Just wait and see; Meng Fan will definitely wait until absolutely everyone else has finished before he makes his appearance. The other one who hasn't come out yet poses no threat to him either."

The spectators who had gathered here were not hardcore weightlifting fans after all, so it was inevitable that some didn't understand the rules, though plenty of knowledgeable people were on hand to offer explanations.

The progression of the competition followed that exact script; the first six lifters successively completed their three attempts, with the best result among them topping out at 172 kilograms, nowhere near enough to pose a threat to Ai Yu'nan, let alone Meng Fan.

As for Ai Yu'nan, he similarly posed no threat to anyone else; his opening attempt at 185 kg was a success, and for his second lift, he directly requested his personal best of 192 kilograms.

Both Ai Yu'nan and his coach knew that Meng Fan’s performance no longer had anything to do with them; if Meng Fan’s opening attempt succeeded, it would be a height they could never hope to reach, and if he failed repeatedly, then Ai Yu'nan would take first place anyway.

Therefore, calling for his personal best on the second attempt allowed him to lift without pressure, executing the weight smoothly, before using his third attempt to challenge his own limits by calling for 195 kilograms.

Upon catching the bar, his body wavered slightly, prompting a red light from one referee, but it was ultimately ruled a valid lift with two white lights and one red, sending him leaping into the air with excitement.

With Ai Yu'nan's self-challenge concluded, Meng Fan was the only competitor left in the entire field; ready or not, it was time for him to take the stage.

Yet just as Meng Fan was about to step out, Director Zhan walked over to the jury panel once more.

"What's going on?"

Coaches and athletes alike watched as the competition flow ground to a halt, and then the screen flickered as Meng Fan’s weight changed!

Weight adjustments could only increase, never decrease.

Was he planning to break the national record on his very first attempt?!

(End of Chapter)