Chapter 66: The Championship Starts (1/2)

Chapter 66: The Championship Starts

Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The news that Jiang would be competing in the 62kg weight class spread all over the team. It was much harder to drop weight than it was to gain weight in weightlifting, especially when Jiang had been in the 69kg weight class for almost 14 years. It surprised a lot of people when they heard that he was going to the 62kg.

No one had positive opinions about Jiang's decision besides Li. Jiang was 32-years-old, after all. Most domestic athletes' physical abilities began to deteriorate when they got to this age, and most of them were simply counting down to retirement.

Xiang Huang began gossiping again in the cafeteria.

”Jiang is really hard-working. In order to stay on the team, he dropped down to the 62kg weight class. You know he is in his 30s. Normally athletes his age are retired,” Xiang Huang said.

”All he wants to do is to extend his career to 15 years so he can get a higher pension. I heard that his daughter's second surgery is soon,” Coach Tao Liu said next to them.

”But I think that even if he decides to go down to the 62kg weight class it will still be difficult for him. There are only two weeks left before the championship. He does not have much time; he might fail before the game even begins because he is overweight.

…

Weightlifting was divided by weight class. You couldn't take part in the game if you were even 0.01kg overweight the day the weighing took place.

It took two hours to weigh the athletes right before the competition. The pre-weighing room was opened one hour prior so the athletes could prepare for it. The actual weighing room opened one hour later. Athletes could weigh themselves as many times as they wanted. They could go to the restroom or do some strenuous exercises if they found that their weight was not where it needed to be, then weigh themselves again until they were satisfied with the number.

According to the rules of weightlifting, if two athletes lifted the same weight, lighter of the two would win. Every athlete would try everything to bring their weight down. During the 1980s, there was a top-level athlete who lost the Olympic games to his rival because he was 0.05kg heavier than him. It was because he had drank a cup of milk for lunch. That game was named the ”milk medal” because of the incident.

Normally, the athletes started to restrict their diet a few days before the game, only eating some vegetables while limiting the consumption of carbohydrates. 48 hours before the games began, the athletes would restrict their consumption of water. Some even stopped drinking water entirely, to the point where they were slightly dehydrated.

The athletes also had saunas before the competition began. Those who were in a high weight class could lose 2-3kg in the sauna after 30 minutes. If they could not find a sauna, they usually wrapped themselves in down coats and quilts just to make themselves sweat and become lighter. Some considered this procedure torture. There was also an extreme method, which was to cut one's hair, beard, and fine hair, getting rid of keratin, and even cutting one's nails if it meant a lighter weigh-in.

To weigh less, the athletes wore nothing whilst being weighed, not even their underwear; they were naked when they stood on the scale. In national competitions, normally they would ask a male judge to be in charge of male athletes and a female judge to be in charge of female athletes to make the athletes less uncomfortable. However, in international competitions, foreigners did not care about it. There were usually five to six judges, both male and female, which made it a little embarrassing for the naked athletes to stand on the scale.

It was quite normal for some athletes to not pass the weigh-in before the games. There had been an athlete from west Asia who could not reach the standard for the Asian championship, and had to give up before the game even began. Even in national competitions, there were a bunch of people who forfeited due to their weight.

…

Two weeks passed very quickly. The day had come for the national weightlifting championship in Qing City.

The 62kg weight class was the second-lightest group for men's weightlifting. Because of this, the 62kg weight class happened earlier than the other weight classes. Jiang arrived very early in the morning to prepare.

”All athletes taking part in the 62kg weight class competition, please come here and prepare to weigh-in before the games,” a gentle female voice echoed from a speaker on the wall. The athletes who were preparing to compete in the competition all stood up and walked to the pre-weighing room.

”My big bro, Jiang, let's go get ready!” Dai Li said.

”Sure.” Jiang walked to the pre-weighing room with an oppressive look.