Chapter 427: Snatch 233kg

Chapter 427: Snatch 233

Meng Fan’s second lift of 223 kilograms had already secured him first place in the snatch, and once again, the world record was firmly in his grasp.

Yet who could have imagined that for his third attempt, he would declare a weight a full ten kilograms heavier than the brand-new world record!

In snatch competitions, it’s rare to see a jump of ten kilograms all at once, especially on a stage like the Olympics—it’s almost impossible.

If you’re talking about provincial or city-level meets, adding ten kilograms in one go might happen, since those competitions are lower-tier with uneven skill levels, but at a top-tier event like the Olympics, who would play with their heart like that?

In snatch or clean and jerk, you only get three attempts, each one precious—who the hell would dare to gamble with them?

Could it be...

Many spectators, not just Chinese ones but also foreign viewers who had followed Meng Fan’s previous domestic trials, immediately recalled how in that trial, after securing his advantage, he had also declared 233, and then—damn it all—he had abandoned the lift!

Was he pulling the same stunt again?

It had to be!

Doing this at the domestic trials and then again at the Olympics—you could only say he had the strength to be willful.

This was truly an international joke.

The key was that domestic audiences knew the 233 meme, but did foreign audiences?

How to explain it to them—climb over the wall and say that 233 equals the Japanese “www” (warau, meaning laugh) or the English “lol” (laughing out loud), both meaning big laughter, and that the 3 after 233 could be extended like the w after www and the ol after lol, for example—never mind, no examples, this example would just pad the word count.

While those in the dark were stunned into Spartan shock and those in the know were ready for the show, Meng Fan appeared, walked out of the rest area, stepped into the competition zone, bowed, and climbed onto the platform!

What was going on?

That wasn’t how the script went!

Was he really going to lift it, or was he taking the joke all the way?

After Meng Fan stepped out, almost everyone in the venue stood up—especially the athletes, coaches, IWF officials, and seasoned weightlifting fans. They knew all too well what it meant to raise the latest world record by ten kilograms in one go. If he actually lifted it, then...

The entire weightlifting world would be turned upside down!

In the past, snatching 220 and clean-and-jerking 260 was considered the human limit—under standard weightlifting technique.

Later, Tarahadzi snatched 220, touching that limit, and some athletes achieved similar results in domestic competitions. Gradually, snatching 225 and clean-and-jerking 265 became the new limit, while snatching 230, clean-and-jerking 270, and a total of 500 were still recognized as the human forbidden zone!

Now, Meng Fan was about to push that limit to 233 in one go—how terrifying was that!

This wasn’t just rewriting weightlifting history; it was changing human history!

“Impossible!”

Tarahadzi had already gone to rest, planning to suppress Meng Fan in the clean and jerk, but upon hearing this weight, he rushed out of the rest area. Staring at Meng Fan as he stepped onto the platform, he muttered to himself: “What a joke! How could such a weight be snatched? Yes, it must be a joke! But this joke isn’t funny at all! You’ve already won first place in the snatch—do you have to be so arrogant?”

Zhou Yingjie, the CCTV5 commentator, was completely at a loss for words!

Because he had no idea whether Meng Fan was joking or serious!

If it was a joke, how was he supposed to commentate? After a long spiel of blah-blah-blah, would he just say to the audience, “Heh heh, Meng Fan is joking—he must be afraid of too many New Year’s Eve blessings, so he’s giving everyone an early New Year’s greeting”?

If it wasn’t a joke, he was even more lost for words!

Whether joke or serious, it was no human endeavor!

The difference was that in the former, everyone rolled their eyes; in the latter, everyone’s eyes would pop out.

So was Meng Fan joking?

Of course not.

Not this time, and not even the last time at the domestic trials.

It was just that Dean Zhan had ultimately stopped him, adhering to the spirit of delivering a heavy atomic bomb to the global audience, and forcibly held Meng Fan back.

An atomic bomb like that—if it exploded domestically, it had to be in a closed, uninhabited forbidden zone, like lifting it for him to see. If it had to be shown to others, it had to be at the Olympics!

Dean Zhan stood beneath the platform, smoothing every hair of his handlebar mustache with his hand, revealing a meaningful smile, and said in a voice only he could hear: “Time to blow up!”

Meng Fan stood on the platform, extended one hand in a peace sign, then made an OK gesture with both hands—foreign athletes didn’t know the 233 meme, but they should understand the victory and “no problem” hand signs, right?

After the gestures, Meng Fan stood in front of the barbell, which had already been loaded to 233 kilograms.

Bending down, he placed both hands on the bar, slowly adjusted to a comfortable grip, then squeezed and tightened.

Letting out a long breath, Meng Fan gave a low grunt.

“My god! Is he really going to lift it?”

Seeing Meng Fan ready to pull, Tarahadzi already had his hands on his head. He didn’t believe it, but he had a terrible premonition that something big was about to happen!

Meng Fan pulled the bar!

The immensely heavy barbell was swiftly lifted off the ground by Meng Fan’s hands, rising past his knees, past his crotch, to his chest. Just as the bar reached chest height, Meng Fan crouched down, positioning his body beneath the bar, and simultaneously extended his arms to support it overhead!

He drew his legs back!

Arms and legs fully extended!

Both feet stood on a line, aligned vertically with his torso and the barbell!

The lift was complete!

Arms and legs were straight, the bar was steady!

He had snatched it!

“My god!”

Tarahadzi screamed, clutching his head, his eyes bulging as if they might pop out at any moment. After the scream, his legs gave way, and he sat down hard. There happened to be a stool behind him; his butt landed on half of it, shattering the stool, and he ended up on the floor.

“He lifted it!”

In the live broadcast, commentator Zhou Yingjie roared out again. This time, not only did he roar, but he also stood up from his commentary seat—though the screen naturally didn’t show his trembling state.

“One second!”

“Two seconds!”

“Three seconds!”

“Why hasn’t the jury given the lights yet?”

“It’s a perfect lift!”

Zhou Yingjie shouted, extremely dissatisfied with the jury’s delay in signaling.

According to the rules, no matter the movement or completion state, if the barbell is lowered before the jury gives the lights, it’s considered a failure.

Zhou Yingjie was no longer thinking about what this lift meant; his mind was entirely consumed by worry that Meng Fan couldn’t hold it much longer, even though the time was already sufficient for the lights!

What were the judges doing?

It wasn’t that the judges deliberately withheld the lights—it was that all three were stunned!

“Lights!”

“Lights!”

“Give the lights!”

In the entire arena, the most clear-headed person was undoubtedly Dean Zhan. As soon as Meng Fan lifted the bar, he fixed his eyes on the jury, and when two seconds passed without lights, he shouted at them.

The judging panel finally reacted, but they still needed time to respond—after three seconds, nearly four, they gave the signal: two white, one red!

Once the signal was given, Meng Fan dropped the barbell to the floor with a loud clang, glanced at the lights, bowed, and left the platform.

Though there was one red light, it didn't affect the result—Meng Fan's lift was valid!

Zzzt.

As Meng Fan stepped down, the lights changed: two white and one red became three white.

The judge on the left side of the panel was flushed red, sitting with an air of composure, but inwardly shaken—damn, he had pressed the wrong button!

It seemed everyone had fallen silent because of that red light, until it turned white, and then the entire venue erupted.

"He did it!"

Zhou Yingjie roared again, his voice cracking with excitement: "Two hundred thirty-three kilograms! 233—this is no joke of a number; it's a number that rewrites the history of the sport! With this lift, Meng Fan has raised his own freshly set world record by another 10 kilograms! And before today, the world record was 217 kilograms! After this competition, the world record has increased by 16 kilograms! Sixteen kilograms, dear audience! What a terrifying number, what a soul-stirring number!"

"233! Meng Fan has given this number a whole new meaning!"

"The snatch of 225 kilograms was called the human limit, 230 kilograms the human forbidden zone! And Meng Fan, with the magical number 233, has stepped into that forbidden zone! This zone was previously uninhabited, and it remains uninhabited! Because Meng Fan's nickname is the Iron God!"

"We always like to call the most legendary athlete in a sport a god—like the God of Speed, Schumacher, or the God of Basketball, Jordan. From today onward, the sports world will once again see an undisputed Iron God!"

Teacher Zhou Yingjie had completely erupted, as if all the words pent up from the wrestling and judo events had been unleashed after Meng Fan surpassed human limits by lifting 233.

This number was simply too shocking!

For the entire weightlifting community, the shock was at least ten levels greater than for the audience!

Was this still just breaking a world record?

This was smashing through the ceiling of humanity!

Tarahadzi had sat down on the floor right after Meng Fan's lift, and now that Meng Fan had left, he remained seated, apparently not planning to get up anytime soon.

Even this athlete, who had traded world records with Meng Fan in the first two rounds, was in such a state—let alone the others; 'collective petrification' was a mild description.

More than half of the IWF officials and staff were trembling like Teacher Zhou Yingjie; the other half, who couldn't tremble, were petrified.

With Meng Fan's lift, the snatch competition for the 109+ kg category ended. Meng Fan entered the clean and jerk with a 12-kilogram lead over second place.

After the snatch competition ended, there would be a ten-minute break before the clean and jerk began.

Ten minutes was enough to rest, but not nearly enough to calm the emotions!

(End of this chapter)