The Power of Weightlifting in Tokyo 2020

It's been a hot minute everyone, and apologies for the radio silence on our front! We've been busy launching Asian Futures and have taken a short break since.

I'm not a huge sports fan but when the Olympics come around, I am glued to my TV 24/7 and my productivity declines by a bare minimum of 200%. As some of you may know, I used to be a competitive powerlifter, so competitive lifting has a huge place in my heart even though I'm as weak as a twig now. I love watching Olympic weightlifting - one of the most heart stopping, anxiety inducing sports known to man, and I especially love watching the Chinese weightlifters. Tian "Thicc" Tao, Shi "Wo Cao" Zhi Yong, and my absolute fave Lyu Xiao Jun.

The Olympics represent a great opportunity to see the philosophies of different countries in action. China places emphasis on technique rather than brute athleticism i.e. practice more (feels), which is reflected in the sports they tend to perform well in. From the way they celebrate, to coach/athlete relationships, I always try to understand the context around the athlete and where they come from because there's not many times we get a anthropological study of basically every country on earth.

Best Olympic moment so far you ask? Shi Zhi Yong lifting 198kg in the clean and jerk and then screaming "anybody else". Unreal.

- Jeff