Lasha Talakhadze of Georgia is the most dominant weightlifter of his generation and he is well on his way to being the first man to break the 500 kg total in weightlifting.
Lasha Talakhadze of Georgia is the most dominant weightlifter of his generation and he is well on his way to being the first man to break the 500 kg total in weightlifting.
At the Tokyo Olympics, in the 109+ kg category, Talakhadze broked the world record for the snatch with 223 kg and then he broke the world record for the clean and jerk with 265 kg and then, as you would expect, he broke the world record for a total of 488 kg.
That’s a good 15 kg ahead of his total at the Rio Olympics in 2016 which puts him on pace to break through the 500 kg total ceiling at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Talakhadze was a good 44 kg (103.6 lbs) ahead of silver medalist Ali Davoudi of Iran. So, there’s that. And, he didn’t seem to break a sweat, hitting every lift, and seeming like he had it all figured out way in advance.
In fact, he waited until his fellow competitors had all lifted first before jumping in and doing his thing meaning that he has a little streak of cruelty in him, probably enjoying the turning of the knife in all the lifters he leaves behind him in the rearview mirror.
