Stop the presses!!!

As one of my dedicated readers has so swiftly brought to my attention. The New snatch record was broken in 2011 and the bar was raised to 214kg. The owner of this big lift is Behdad Salimi who is the former team mate of the previous record holder Hossein Rezazadeh. 

Needless to say, I like Mr. Rezazadeh performance alot better. I was generally more impressed with the last world record. I said it! When heavy weights get thrown around, I expect form to break down. I get it! Walk all around the plat form to save the lift, if you have too. It is generally more impressive of a lift thought, if they make it look like they are not trying. 

P.S. I want to know what in the hell Iran is doing with their athletes! Honestly, have I been living under a rock for so long that all the eastern European countries no longer kick ass and take names in weightlifting? 
countries that come to mind when thinking of weightlifting:
1. Russia
2. Lithuania
3.Germany (east Germany) 

honorable mention: Peoples republic of China.

Discussion: Rate this WR snatch video.

Alright, the big guy up top goes by the name of Hossein Rezazadeh of Iran. Hossein is an incredibly strong individual and im sure he has trained extremely hard just to get to where he is today.  But i got a bone to pick! Some of my acute subscribers will notice that this is from the 2004 olympic games. The reason I'm bring this video us is for two reasons. 1. Didn't that look really easy!?!?!? I mean, come on man! You're making us all look bad out here! Come in and start tossing around your big boy weights making us joe's feel like crap about out new personal record. 2. Why has this record not been beaten yet? Since this lift in 2004 Mr.Rezazadeh has retired. Hung up the ol'lifting shoes as it were. For a guy that tossed up 207.5kg like it was tooth pick, you would think that there would be some ready to hop in his spot ASAP. Maybe I have too high of hopes for the super heavy division. Regardless  scale of one to ten on how im pressed you were. 1 being "yawn! wake me when Crossfit is on" and 10 being  you still havent pick your jaw off the floor.

News: Sitting down with Darren Barens.

Darren Barens is outstanding on and off the plat form as he is up for the Sullivan award. This award is given to amateur athletes that standout in athletics and sportsmanship. Some finalist that are also up from the award are Liz Brenner (right) and Missy Franklin (left). If Barens is lucky enough to win the Sullivan award, he would be the first weightlifter to receive the award.  After reading this Q&A I cant imagine him not receiving the award. Learn more about this well spoken, young weightlifter has to say about what winning the Sullivan Award.

Best of luck Mr.Barens!
From all of us at Hook Grip'd!