The heaviest recorded Clean and Jerk appears to be 267kg/588.6lbs by Lasha Talakhadze. And the heaviest recorded Snatch seems to be 220kg/485lbs, also by Lasha. Crazy lifts, but the C&J and Snatch records have been in this general range for decades now. Compare that to powerlifting, where records keep getting broken (for example, Maddox benching 765 raw in the gym).
Anyone know why this is? Is there not much push for new records in the sport of Olympic Lifting?
Are you paying attention lol? I donât even follow weightlifting but I know Lasha is steadily creeping up on those numbers. C+J maybe longer away. Maybe one day not too long weâll see em.
Powerlifting records may fall more because the sport is growing much faster than weightlifting. More freaks in more $$/resources put in
I guess it helps that powerlifters can just juice at will, whereas oly lifters have to at least look clean some of the year.
I think one factor thats hiding progress is thatOly lifting has been a high level, very competitive sport for a long time, and was very competitive at a time when there was functionally no drug testing whatsoever.
So there is progress, but its people not using or minimally / tactically using, now getting the same numbers as people who could use whatever they wanted in the olympics in th 80âs.
All natty bro ur just a hater who doesnât work hard enough
guilty on both counts 
Drug testing got better.
The legendary coaches who trained the lifters of the past have died and the current lifters and coaches canât be bothered to read their super boring books to learn the secrets.
Itâs drug testing, both technology improvements and increased enforcement.
Look at the repeated changes in weight classes, all to wipe out existing records and to âstart overâ. Alexander Kurlovich snatched 217 in the mid 80s, and Leonid Tarenenko C&Jd 266 in 1988. It took almost thirty years to get back to those levels.
Can they? Certain federations test⊠Whilst testing alone doesnât limit what you can/canât use, it does stop one from being able to use some of the stronger/more efficient compounds
Arenât feasible to use
Certain orals and TNE are about the only compounds one can feasibly use with minimal (ish) risk regarding getting caught during the off season
True, but there is the option to compete untested, and most of the relentless advance in world records grabbing social media attention is coming from untested, which is most relevant to the conversation.
Oh, I thought you were referring to âthey can juice at willâ regarding to powerlifting in general. I thought ânot reallyâ
My statement may have been overly broad, but they can juice âat willâ in the sense that if they really want to up their numbers they can just switch federation and records still count, not an option in Oly lifting.
Even within tested PL, the testing standards are far from the same. Yes they are wada tasted, but almost never outside of meets, no biological passport, no multiple samples held for 12 years post event subject to retesting etc etc
If itâs any consolation, I completely understood your original post.
Julius Maddox natty though. He is powered by Jesus. Just hit 350 bench. Kilos that is
Wouldnât the supernatural, by definition, NOT be natural?
Dam needa update WADA list now
I feel like the better question is why do powerlifting records keep going up? In a mature sport, one would expect records to be set and bested rarely. Freaks like Lasha donât happen often.
I feel like youâve answered your own question? Because itâs not a mature sport. Raw powerlifting, which is where almost all of the focus is now, is young and niche, both of which contribute to records being broken regularly as it matures and grows in popularity. In most countries the most physically gifted athletes were never even considering going into powerlifting, they still arenât, but the net is growing and with more participants youâll get more records.
They need untested divisions for weightlifting for real
Well, it looks like the answer is drug testing. That actually makes me sad, because I canât help but think weâd be at a 700lb Clean and Jerk by now if everyone was allowed to juice to their heartâs content.