Olympic lifting is a style of weightlifting that focuses on performing two explosive type lifts – the snatch and the clean and jerk. Versus other styles of lifting, Olympic lifting is said to have more benefits when it comes to functional and explosive strength which translates better to other sports.
Also, you’ll notice that Olympic style lifters are not super huge and overly bulky like bodybuilders or power lifters. Though they are clearly very strong and muscular, they are usually quite lean and often have to compete at set weight classes much like in mixed martial arts competition.
In the following video, we see Olympic gold medalist in weightlifting Szymon Kolecki try his hand at MMA fighting and it doesn’t last long.
Szymon makes quick work of his opponent, and is clearly the much stronger man in there. He hurls his over matched opponent to the ground and quickly pounds him out, getting the TKO finish in just 33 seconds.
What makes Olympic style lifters different is just what you see here. Though they have a lot of physical strength, their main focus is the explosiveness as well as the speed too from not being overly bulky.
Szymon Kolecki won the gold medal at the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing and also holds the world record for the clean and jerk which is 232.5kg. It’ll be interesting to see how Kolecki progresses in the MMA world going forward.
ABOUT SZYMON KOLECKI:
Szymon Kołecki is a Polish former competitive weightlifter. He won a silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and a gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Kołecki represented the team of Górnik Polkowice. He is around 6’1″ (1.85 m). His career was put on hold in the early 2000s because of a serious back injury. He qualified for the 2004 Polish team, but was disqualified from Olympic competition after a urine sample he provided tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone. [Source: Wiki]
