Chapter 429: The 500kg Milestone

Chapter 429: The Five-Hundred Barrier

The five-hundred barrier—this is a goal for the entire weightlifting world, one might even call it an ultimate goal!

Weightlifting is a sport with a long history; at the first Olympic Games in 1896, it was already an official event. Over more than a century of modern weightlifting development, weight classes emerged from nothing, the basic methods underwent several reforms until only the snatch and clean and jerk remained, and athlete gender evolved from male-only to allowing women. After over a hundred years of progress, today there are highly regulated competition formats and very scientific training methods—the advancement of the entire sport has been immense.

Starting from the year 2000, world records gradually stabilized, no longer as easy to improve as before. Even though news of record-breaking still appeared frequently, the increases were very small.

Take the heaviest weight class: the snatch, after crossing the 210-kilogram threshold around 2000, progressed very slowly. Over twenty years and countless competitions, it only improved by about 7 to 10 kilograms (the world record before the reform was 220 kilograms). Similarly, the clean and jerk slowed down after the 250-kilogram mark. With the advent of scientific training methods, these two decades have pushed human potential to a bottleneck.

The total was originally 474 kilograms. Given the current pace of record improvement, for many people, the five-hundred barrier is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

A gap of 26 kilograms!

Even if the snatch and clean and jerk could each continue to improve by 1 kilogram per year, it would still take 26 years to see humanity break the five-hundred barrier.

The key is that the heavier the weight, the harder it becomes to break again. In other words, 26 years might turn into thirty, fifty, or even longer!

And just now, in the snatch competition, Meng Fan raised the former world record to 233 in one go, and now he has declared 267 for the clean and jerk. In the blink of an eye, that once-in-a-lifetime five-hundred barrier is right before our eyes! For the entire weightlifting world and all its fans, how could they not be shaken, how could they not be excited!

Everyone held their breath, waiting for Meng Fan to take the stage.

At the same time, they prayed in their hearts, praying that this time, like last time, Meng Fan was not joking.

Meng Fan appeared.

He walked toward the platform.

Everyone’s heartbeat seemed to sync with Meng Fan’s steps—each step he took, their hearts beat once.

When he reached the edge of the platform, Meng Fan stopped and bowed, and their hearts stopped too, until he straightened up and stepped onto the platform, at which point their hearts gave a sudden, heavy thump.

As Meng Fan stood before the barbell, starting from bending down to grip it with his thumbs and forefingers, their hearts no longer followed his steps but seemed to hear his breathing, rising and falling with it.

Huff!

Meng Fan exhaled heavily, and their hearts struck their chests like a hammer.

Lift!

The barbell was pulled up by Meng Fan’s hands, and their hearts were lifted with it. As the barbell turned and Meng Fan’s body dropped into a squat, their lifted hearts plummeted with a thud. Then, as Meng Fan slowly stood up and the barbell was gradually pushed overhead, their hearts rose again. The barbell ascended, their hearts ascended; the barbell reached its peak, and their hearts reached their throats!

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Three white lights appeared, the success signal sounded, and Meng Fan dropped the barbell to the ground with a clang that slammed heavily into their hearts!

Clang!

The hearts that had been in their throats fell, striking their chests once more with a fierce blow—a blow that made them all leap to their feet!

Ah!

Aah!

Aaaah!

Almost everyone was shouting—not screaming, but roaring, as if releasing all the pent-up tension and pressure.

Why say “almost”?

Because a small portion of people were slumped in their seats, unable to stand, let alone jump. Some were even wet!

Not from fear, but from excitement, from exhilaration, from sheer thrill!

“Five hundred!”

“Five hundred!”

“Five hundred! Oh my god, it really is five hundred!”

“I never thought I’d see five hundred in my lifetime!”

“I never even dreamed of it!”

There was so much roaring at the scene, followed by murmurs after the roars. If you didn’t know this was the Olympic Games, if you didn’t know this five hundred was the weightlifting total of five hundred, you’d think it was a Wu Bai concert or a fan meeting!

Of course, you could also start singing “The World’s Number One” right now—“World’s Number One” is Meng Fan, and “waiting” is for the other weightlifters.

“267! Meng Fan lifted it! He didn’t joke with us—he really lifted it! He raised the former world record of 257 by a full 10 kilograms! And the total has reached 500 kilograms! History! Meng Fan has made history again!”

The voice of CCTV-5 commentator Zhou Yingjie cracked once more, every word seeming torn from his throat: “Five hundred kilograms! This weight is a dream, a fantasy for the entire weightlifting world! Someone once predicted this would be the ultimate goal of the 21st century in weightlifting—a dream weight that could only be slowly approached through the efforts of generation after generation of lifters! And Meng Fan, with one snatch, seized the dream of the weightlifting world; with one clean and jerk, he lifted the sky of weightlifting! He has made history, he has created a miracle! He is history, he is the miracle! Before this lift, Meng Fan with a 233 snatch would surely be a great weightlifter; after this lift, having broken the five-hundred barrier, Meng Fan is undoubtedly the greatest weightlifter of all time, bar none!”

“Having already secured the Olympic gold medal with his first attempt, Meng Fan reached the five-hundred barrier on his second! Now there’s a third attempt! Will Meng Fan put on another personal show?”

“Will he skip the third attempt? Or will he tough it out and keep lifting?”

“It’s out! Meng Fan’s third attempt weight is out!”

“282!”

“15 kilograms!”

“Oh my god! He’s going to raise this terrifying world record by another 15 kilograms!”

“15 kilograms?”

“To be honest, I’m very curious—why did he jump by exactly 15 kilograms?”

Commentator Zhou Yingjie was puzzled, mainly because Meng Fan’s 233 was so mischievous, and combined with the previous 267 to make 500, it felt like Meng Fan’s weight declarations weren’t random but carried meaning.

To be honest, if Meng Fan had jumped another 20 kilograms to make a total of 520, he could understand—after all, Meng Fan showing off his love on the field is nothing new.

But this 282, or rather a total of 515, was truly baffling.

Was it just because 15 kilograms is half a round number?

Not only was the commentator puzzled, but the live audience was also confused.

The scene was actually quite odd—having just broken the five-hundred barrier and then adding 15 kilograms, shouldn’t everyone be shocked by how huge that number is? Shouldn’t they be worried or questioning whether this weight can be lifted? Instead, they were searching for the meaning behind the number—what incredible confidence they had in Meng Fan!

Everyone was baffled and frustrated, except for the direction of the Meng and Wu families in the stands, especially the Wu family, who all turned in unison to look at Wu Tong.

Because her birthday is May 15th.

Wu Tong smiled, very happy, remembering how last year Meng Fan asked when her birthday was, and she didn’t tell him. This year, when her birthday came, he was fully focused on preparing for the Olympics, and she didn’t tell him. She thought he had no idea.

Happy Spring Festival!

(The End)