This past week, GM Chris Penn has had the weight of the world on his shoulders… well nearly. For his seventh challenge, Chris Penn tried out the sport of weight lifting…..
“I was built for weightlifting – low centre of gravity, short and stocky? I think that you will agree from the photo (sorry about the graininess) that I bring a slightly leaner, contrasting style to my weightlifting. I would love to tell you that I was lifting 150 kilos, but it was just a tiny bit below that on this occasion. The greatest weight ever lifted in Olympic competition was a huge 263.5 kilos which is not far off three times my body weight and shows just how strong you have to be to compete on the Olympic stage. The event covers two lifts – the snatch and the clean and jerk. The snatch is one movement from the floor to above the head and the clean and jerk is a double movement, taking the bar to the shoulders first and then above the head. One of the key facts about the competition is that a competitor’s body weight does become a factor in the scoring, so maybe I should work on becoming even leaner to increase my Olympic chances!”
