The U.S.’s best lifter in
2011 (arguably) was Kendrick Farris.
At the World Championships that year he placed 19th in the
85kg class with a total of 349 kg.
Iranian Klanoush Rastami won gold that year with a total of 382 kg. This is a 33kg (72 lb) difference
between the two lifters. That same
year Kendrick won nationals pretty convincingly with a better total. Even if he had the lower total, he
would have won gold by 19 kg (41 lbs).
That is a dominant performance!
Yet on the world stage he gets crushed. Why?
Rastami
This is Kendrick a little heavier
This is the third rail of
weightlifting. Everyone that has
heard of the sport has an opinion.
I will attempt to share my rookie opinion on the matter. There are a few reasons for our
lackluster performances as compared to other countries.
Show me the money!!!
Weightlifting pays nothing,
relatively speaking. Great
professional American weightlifters become hundredaires, while their football,
baseball, basketball counterparts become millionaires. That is just how the free market cookie
crumbles. Freak athletes in Iran,
Russia, or Turkey become weightlifters because they will be well taken care of. In the US, that same freak athlete
plays two years in college and signs a 3-year, $10 million contract to be a
backup running back for the New England Patriots.
Kendrick Who?
Becoming a Hall of Fame
weightlifter in the US is like entering the witness protection program. There are no $75 jerseys bearing your
name. People are still talking
about Babe Ruth, but Kendrick Farris… soon to be three time Olympian… pound for pound one of
America’s greatest lifters… (cricket noises).
Drugs… allegedly.
Countries that dominate
strength sports use lots of drugs… allegedly. They allegedly use and use and use and come time for the
Olympics, their team tests their athletes. If they test “hot”, the athlete has to pull out of the
competition for an injured knee… allegedly. By pulling out, the International Olympic Committee can’t
test them… so no cheating… allegedly.
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