Author Archives: ss080075

Most female weightlifters are not as “in shape” as one might think considering the amount of working out that they do. For the most part, the most powerful weightlifters do not have a typical workout physique that is equated with spending hours in the gym.

Most of these women are obese. Competitors like record breaking Zhou Lulu, Holley Mangold and Sarah Robles are three popular examples of weightlifters who do not fit the feminine physique mold. In fact they are not required to by the sport but by the average American, they do.

But these women like most women in weightlifting do not care how their femininity is measured by participating in the sport whether it be because the sport is male dominated or because they just don’t look very feminine. Should they be wearing heels while they lift 100lbs+ over their heads?

British Olympic weightlifter, Zoe Smith vehemently defended herself against a twitter bully when her femininity was questioned. Not only did she dig a grave for the poor twit where he erased his profile, but she followed up with a blog post where she said,

“You’d think that young women would commend us for doing something different with our lives, and putting 100% effort into it to make something of ourselves.

“But apparently we’re ‘weird’ for not constantly eating crap, binge drinking and wearing the shortest, tightest dresses that the high street has to offer. Sigh.”

Smith’s backlash on the twit received heavy media coverage and support from fellow weightlifters.

In an interview with Huffington Post, Zhou says “Actually I like weightlifting. So when you like something, you don’t think if it’s bad for your body shape or not feminine, I just do what I like.”

Kudos to you ladies! It’s not the 50’s, perhaps society should collectively change its viewpoint on what femininity really means.

Most female weightlifters are not as “in shape” as one might think considering the amount of working out that they do. For the most part, the most powerful weightlifters do not have a typical workout physique that is equated with spending hours in the gym.

Most of these women are obese. Competitors like record breaking Zhou Lulu, Holley Mangold and Sarah Robles are three popular examples of weightlifters who do not fit the feminine physique mold. In fact they are not required to by the sport but by the average American, they do.

But these women like most women in weightlifting do not care how their femininity is measured by participating in the sport whether it be because the sport is male dominated or because they just don’t look very feminine. Should they be wearing heels while they lift 100lbs+ over their heads?

British Olympic weightlifter, Zoe Smith vehemently defended herself against a twitter bully when her femininity was questioned. Not only did she dig a grave for the poor twit where he erased his profile, but she followed up with a blog post where she said,

“You’d think that young women would commend us for doing something different with our lives, and putting 100% effort into it to make something of ourselves.

“But apparently we’re ‘weird’ for not constantly eating crap, binge drinking and wearing the shortest, tightest dresses that the high street has to offer. Sigh.”

Smith’s backlash on the twit received heavy media coverage and support from fellow weightlifters.

In an interview with Huffington Post, Zhou says “Actually I like weightlifting. So when you like something, you don’t think if it’s bad for your body shape or not feminine, I just do what I like.”

Kudos to you ladies! It’s not the 50’s, perhaps society should collectively change its viewpoint on what femininity really means.

With all the hype that surrounded Mangold before the Olympics started, I was really hoping for some truth to the hype. Instead, China dominated once again and Zhou Lulu took home another gold medal for China in the 75+kg match.

Xu lifted 146kg in the snatch, 187 in the clean and jerk for a total of 333, which was 1 more kg than silver medal winner Tatiana Kashirina from the Russian Federation.

Hripsime Khurshudyan from Armenia took home the bronze with a total of 294 kg.

But what happened to the “world’s strongest woman” and the “big girl”. They both failed to round up the top 5. Robles came in at 7th place while Mangold staggered in at 10th with a dismal total lift of 265kg. Mangold blames her injured left wrist, but since she’s still a favorite, there’s hope that she heals in time for the next Olympic games.

Mangold Fail

With all the hype that surrounded Mangold before the Olympics started, I was really hoping for some truth to the hype. Instead, China dominated once again and Zhou Lulu took home another gold medal for China in the 75+kg match.

Xu lifted 146kg in the snatch, 187 in the clean and jerk for a total of 333, which was 1 more kg than silver medal winner Tatiana Kashirina from the Russian Federation.

Hripsime Khurshudyan from Armenia took home the bronze with a total of 294 kg.

But what happened to the “world’s strongest woman” and the “big girl”. They both failed to round up the top 5. Robles came in at 7th place while Mangold staggered in at 10th with a dismal total lift of 265kg. Mangold blames her injured left wrist, but since she’s still a favorite, there’s hope that she heals in time for the next Olympic games.

Mangold Fail

Wang shows off her first gold medal

The weightlifting competition started off small but strong for China’s Mingjuan Wang who brings home the gold in the 48kg match leaving Japan’s Hiromi Miyaki with the silver and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (PRK) Chun Hwa Ryang trailing behind with the bronze medal.

At 4’11” and weighing only 106lbs, Wang won her first weightlifting gold medal by lifting 91 kg in the snatch and 114 in the clean and jerk for a total of 205, just 8 more kgs than Miyaki who totaled in at 197 kg with 87 kg in the snatch and 110 in the clean and jerk. Ryang only trailed by 5 kgs with 80kg in the snatch and 112 in the clean and jerk.

Chia’s Li Xueying 58 kg weightlifter also brought home the gold for the women’s team. The men’s team is also leading with the most gold medals in weightlifting.

Expect yelps and facial expressions to get crazier as the classes get higher and the weight gets heavier in the upcoming weeks. The US team did not compete in this class.

Two of the team members are competing in the 75+kg competition.