Why are the Chinese so good at weightlifting?
China has topped the medal table in each of the last six Olympic Games. At Tokyo 2020 they dominated, taking home eight medals including seven golds. And at the time of writing, Chinese athletes hold 25 world records. So what’s their secret?
In this edition of the blog, we asked our head coach and founder Mehmed Fikretov – himself a former international competitor – what makes the Chinese such formidable opponents on the world stage.
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1: THE CHINESE TEAM TRAINS HARD
“The first thing most lifters can learn from the Chinese is how hard they train. They’re in the gym day in, day out. They train for two intense sessions each day.
“Athletes are often working-class people from poorer, rural areas. They’re hungry to succeed.
“It also helps that weightlifting is a state-sponsored sport in China, so the athletes get paid. That’s not the case in other countries. So their team is looked after well. They don’t have to think about anything other than weightlifting. Accommodation, food, training programme, recovery… it’s all laid on for them.”
2: THEY GET GREAT SUPPORT
“China has created a great environment for weightlifting, has excellent training facilities and well-developed programmes. They eat, sleep, train and recover on the same campus.
“And the athletes get incredible support. A team of professional sports psychologists, mindset coaches, physiotherapists, sleep therapists, chiropractors and nutritionists make sure the ideal environment is created for their athletes.”
3: THEY START FROM A YOUNG AGE
“In China, each province has around 2,000-3,000 children who train regularly – some as young as 10.
“Coaches select the best athletes to join specialist schools with around 300 students in each. That’s as many weightlifters as we have back home in Bulgaria! Having such a big pool of talent to choose from certainly helps.”
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