The only shocking thing is the integrity of the USA and USADA to rat their own atheltes out, and Disqualify them , when these other countries, this is so surprising. A chinese getting CAUGHT IN china. Who TF cares where he got caught. Its a disgrace that every country does not have the same integrity as the USA. There is a reason why the USD is still the world reserve currency. It's the least corrupt, and when it comes to games, and Olympics, I just can't take these countries seriously. We need more undercover 3rd party agencies flying out, and flanking the teams of all these "potential" gold, silver, and bronze medallist. The flank surprise tests need to happen much more often, dont know where they are going to get the $$ - but they need to, and just catch all these scammers.
Your comments about the USD being used as a reserve currency is the funnies thing I've read. The least corrupt? You mean how the us stopped backing the dollar with gold in 1971, effectively allowing them to print it to infinity and impose an unstoppable tax on the holders of this currency? How the richest people and institutions in the US created a cartel called the Federal Reserve which is not federal, and has no reserves? And it is this cartel of private players who gave themselves the power to print the money? Or perhaps how the US stole all the gold of its citizens multiple times, including 1971?
There is no way Lu would be willing to concede to get popped as a sacrificial lamb, lay low until the storm is over and come back out competing again. You guys don’t understand. In China an athlete’s career (even life) is completely done for and suffers national disgrace if they are known to violate doping regulations. Sun Yang is a case in point. Chinese public is generally very unaware of scale of PED use in sports and has zero tolerance of PED use. Many still believe Lu is clean if you look at the social media.
The idea of Lu being a voluntary sacrificial lamb is ridiculous. The idea of the National team snaking him to save themselves a headache is not. Still, having it happen in China is pretty surprising.
That's why the substance is EPO, which leaves a lot of wiggle room for Lü and the Chinese media to argue against the result internally, thus preserving Lü's legacy. Lü might be in the dark, but I am full in on the sacrificial lamb theory.
@@JonathonBao how can he come back from this doping violation if the B sample also comes back positive? And if it does not comeback positive, it’s no longer a case of sacrifice because Lu’s reputation will be saved. The general public won’t know the difference between steroid violation and EPO violation. Either case would be equally disastrous for Lu’s career in China, if not his whole life
What's interesting to me is the striking similarity to Liao Hui's case. 1. They were both popped for weird substances. Liao Hui's boldenone is a bodybuilding drug that mainly increases bodyweight with significant estrogenic effects, but at least boldenone is a type of steroids. Lu's EPO is even weirder. Yeah it could enhance training capacity and recovery, but it's also super expensive and even risky to one's life (many cyclists getting up in the midnight to maintain their heart beats for reference). The Chinese team also got some techs like recovery chambers that are much more economical, safe, and effective. 2. They were both training with Coach Yu. Maybe it's Coach Yu's fault but here's sth more interesting: 3. They either used to be or will be (if Lu's not popped, of course) Shi Zhiyong's opponents. After Liao Hui was popped, China let Lin Qingfeng go to London. I don't know who Lin's coach was, but that guy was definitely not Coach Yu. Liao Hui beat Shi Zhiyong in China's selection competition for Rio's 69kg, but somehow Shi went to Rio but Liao didn't. This time Lu was initially gonna compete with Shi at 73kg, and then he's popped...Not saying Shi's the guy responsible but sth is probably going on here... Just adding my two cents to these conspiracy theories. At the end of the day it's just my speculation. Feel free to think it's bs, but all of these put together just sound too coincidental to me...
The thing with this theory is shi could and would’ve comfortably beaten Lu when it counted, I don’t see why or how he would feel threatened, Interesting theory though in what happened in regards to Liao though…
@@clintiacuone1703 it’s possible Chinese coaches know more about the potential of Lu than we do. If they see Lu as a threat, he is and will be a threat if he continues training down the line
@@henrijuan7998 I guess up until the point we stopped seeing clips of lus training he was putting up better numbers than the other 73s I guess you’re right when it comes down to him vs shi he is a threat. I still don’t see why they’d go to that length though I don’t think shi would struggle to beat him but hey anything’s possible I guess!
Given the timing of the doping and with worlds being in Bogota at about 2000m above sea level - is there a chance the EPO was a prep for that to help with any altitude effects?
Great video, have always known there’s more to life than meets the eye, I feel like in this life i am supposed to be doing more than i am doing for the people i love. been seeking for an eye opening enlightenment, a way to be more influential, powerful and protected``
oh well you can achieve that by being a part of the illuminatus brotherhood, i know it sounds like a mystery but there are ways you can actually get in contact with them
@@haynesatteh4463 Well it is not and you can't actually expect it to be open to everyone, but if you want to know more you can look up ANTHONY MARK SZYMON online you will find something interesting.
That "how many b group sessions do you watch?" Is a really good point. The number of b group sessions I watch is some fraction of the number that occur before the a group sessions start.
I don't think it makes a lot of sense. People don't watch the B group because the B group isn't going to win, not because the numbers are low. If no one doped and 135 was a winning snatch it would be a winning snatch out of the A group and people would be watching
@@needsmorsleep the point is that there's a reason you don't watch the B group lifters and it's there performance isn't high enough. The argument against that is 'if they were the new A group' we'd all still love it. I don't think we would, otherwise people would be watching B groups now. Even IF we did end up with that scenario I don't think we could all really adapt to it, the cats are out of the bag now. Would we really be super ecstatic about a super snatching 180? Maybe in 2 generations times we might, but right now it certainly wouldn't fly. I've talked to seb about the sales of Asians vs Worlds and Asians were lower, given how easily accessible it is surely we'd all go watch regardless of the lower totals being lifted? (Yes there's loads of other potential reasons here but the end result is still less interest). To really know we'd need an alternate reality 🤣. I suppose it doesn't really matter though as weightlifting will never be clean.
My personal conspiracy theory: I think they might have known Lu was getting tested, experimented to see if what they were planning to use for Worlds would get them caught, received a tip that Lu did in fact test positive before it was publicly announced, and then backed out whichever athletes (or as many as they could) that were on the same cocktail before they competed knowing that their basically guaranteed medals would get taken away. Lu had the least to lose (he wasn't going to Colombia, and idk how they determine retroactively taking away medals/records after out-of-competition testing positive but mans has a massive pedigree and is nearing the end of his career for sure). A friend mentioned that all the Chinese lifters that pulled out may also be under the same coach-group as Lu (could be wrong, haven't checked) and if that were the case then it makes me even more skeptical. Not that any of this is surprising, but it's interesting to consider why this happened, how the others weren't caught or if they will be after the fact, etc.
Of the big name Chinese lifters, I think it was just Tian and Shi that didn't compete but made the trip(I saw the video of Tian in the training hall but don't recall seeing Shi there); Seb mentioned in the Worlds coverage UA-cam updates that Tian was suffering some effects of altitude sickness and Shi was dealing with an injury, which is why they didn't compete. I believe Tian is with the same coach/team that Lyu is with, and Shi and Li Dayin have the same coach.
@@az8677 I wonder if athletes who withdraw also have to test after the competition. It would make sense to withdraw from competition if you can pass a drug test that way.
@@Ponyslice Yeah, I'm not sure what the testing policies are like for these meets/events. It would make sense to test all of them when they arrive, but I don't know how feasible that is from a logistics and cost standpoint to do that. It really is a cat and mouse game in which WADA is always playing catchup with what new designer drugs are out there and how long they remain in body. Like what the Sika guys mentioned, we all want to see big lifts from these athletes and one would have to be really naive to think that no one was using PEDs. I really don't know what the future of the sport will hold- I'm sure it's on thin ice with the IOC.
Regarding the B group comment, I just want to chime in: I would watch every single B group if Seb and Max had the time to do commentary on those as well. I watched some of them during this world's for the very reasons you guys were kind of talking about: some athletes from my country were in the B groups, but also athletes I'm just genuinely interested in from other countries.
You would be a fan of the sport, and you would be in the minority. Commentary would 100% get more people to watch, but the quality downgrade is a bummer. I watched the men’s +109 B session as there were still some notable names, but that’s it
@@pegleggreg3627 I agree with you that I am in the minority, but as you said, commentary would bring more people which kind of is my main concern and point. Weight being lifted is relative, if we only wanted to see 210+ snatches, people would only watch M109+, yet most A categories are popular. I'm not saying the doped out unbelievable lifts we see today aren't exciting and brings a lot of fans to the sport. But I genuinely believe the popularity could still be there in a (as of now, and probably always) hypothetical scenario where the sport was fully clean.
I don't watch the B sessions because there are 10 male and 10 female A sessions in ~10 days. 20 sessions per championship is more than enough. (I even skip the lightest weight classes)
The B sessions are not about the fight for medals/championships, that’s why people don’t watch them. The absolute weight involved means very little to gen pop
I'm curious. Since they're already there, can't they test the entire team? My guess is that they dropped MPMD into China in the middle of the night on a death star
My bet that the cover story, that may well actually be true, is that he was using it for kidney disease and forgot to/couldn't get a TUE. Think of it, drugs, high protein dieting, and weight cutting could have been quite bad on his kidneys and some people just have bad luck with it anyway. Kidney disease would also explain his detransformation, he would have to severely cut his dietary protein and do a lot of cardio/etc for his health with that disease. EPO has legitimate use in kidney disease for anemia and low RBC. I dunno if my story is true or not, but if I was China I'd use this story. EDIT: They could even blame the virus for this, because it has been documented to cause kidney problems.
I have a few Chinese friends who do weightlifting, had a few interesting discussions with them. They're scouring Chinese social media for discussion, so hopefully some juicy gossip will come out!
I as a Chinese didn’t see much valuable information in Chinese forums or video websites, instead, the Chinese are defending that Lu is being set up by “western”. But I heard rumours that Chinese weightlifting team is using peptides, it’s hard to test. I also know peptides are used in Chinese bodybuilding to cut or lose fat.
@@christopherroberts2500 what did he say? His comment isn’t visible for me. I’ve been told that most on Chinese social media are still denying he’s been caught but I’m all ears for any gossip on the matter.
@@JB-oc6sl I don’t know why my comment get obliterated. But yeah, many in China still insist on his innocence. Most discussions center around Lu’s lack of motive in doping and the ineffectiveness of EPO for strength athletes. Chinese social media is like the mirror reverse of west where theories about US swimmers having asthma to legal dope and America manipulating WADA organizations abound. One other thing is Chinese people are completely unaware of Sacrifical Lamb theory, which doesn’t even arise as a possibility to be considered
@@henrijuan7998 it still says 4 comments, but I see 3. Probably got shadow banned on your other acct, whatchu be commenting on other videos lol YT seems to only shadow back people spreading blatant misinformation
First off, I'm an Asian and I'm a Lu fan. And I want to be like him. This news is very disappointing. All they found was EPO? Can't they just tell me what else Lu is on? There's no way I can become another Lu just on EPO. Come on, tell me the truth. What else is there? Do I need to inject rice into my bloodstream?
It's interesting that Lou's weekly training update videos on the Lou Xiaojun barbell UA-cam stopped at around the same time that the offending test was administered. Perhaps he stopped training or posting updates knowing full well that he had been caught and the news were forthcoming?
he didn't actually stop training. We got videos on instagram still of his heaviest lifts all the way up until November 29th. Unless he had lifted these crazy weights (like 220 front squat, 250kg deadlift, etc.) back in October barely into training and they were posting them slowly which doesn't really make any sense.
Yeah, it just seems implausible that the ITA would only test Lyu alone or that the other Chinese athletes all happened to have everything clear their system when the testers came a knocking. Definitely doesn't change my opinion and adoration of his accomplishments, but it's too bad his career had to end this way. I always wondered why he didn't just ride off into the sunset instead of trying to make a comeback that seemed like it'd be almost impossible, given his age and competition(Shi Zhiyong and others). Much like Tom Brady's career longevity, Father Time is undefeated and will continue to be so, no matter how special the athlete and what kind of gear is out there.
I don't think the greatest can ever get rid of the burn to compete. You can say you retire, but something inside says win or die trying. I think it's something that we can't fully ever understand if we haven't been there or if we're not the same kind of people. Some just don't do a thing and then quit because they're done, they got to the goal. Some want to go as far as they can until they no longer can't.
It's rare for athletes to just stop while they're on top even if it's clear to people on the outside, certainly part of the post athletic career blues etc
A thing with 77kg male winning an olympics with 135kg snatch is the same as winning a 100m sprint gold with 10.05s. Actually there is a situation now close like that and its way lower popularity than it used to be in Usain Bolts era. Basically only people who train that specific sport will follow it.
Bolts performances werent the result of doping, the guy was an utter freak since 15 and had an insane ability to start at 6'5. Tyson Gay and Gatlin were genetically more average but felt the need the dope to get close to the GOAT.
I personally think it is the sacrificial lamb (hopefully Lu compensated down the line). Though EPO as explained would be useful for strength sports, it would also be the drug I would choose to be popped for as no one can say it would be kilos on the bar directly meaning it can be still claimed "Lu is as amazing as everyone said naturally but as a bit older and coming back needed a little boost to keep up with the volume required". I also wander if the hyper critical look at Lu's regaining of size and strength might have just been to much for IOC WADA ITA to swallow and rpessure was put on from that angle as well.
@HkFinn83 True to people who take an interest in doping in sport but to the wider population something to help your stamina for an ageing (relatively speaking) athlete can be more easily spun then literally been caught on sikastrol etc ...
I personally just think China's making way for their younger athletes: Li Dayin replacing Lu Xiaojun, Shi Zhiyong replacing Liao Hui (a decade ago iirc). I think Lu just didn't want to retire and they popped him for it.
The timeframe for catching someone for epo is like 1/2 to maybe max 1week. This means they have to basically catch him suring the administration of the drogs (not quite). This makes me think they got inside information and this was a crusade aimed specifically at him. They must have known that he would be poppable at that very time to launch such a difficult testning mission. I think he will get some doctor to state that he had it prescribed because of some medical treatment, think its used for kidney issues among other things.
When you asked "where are the other positive tests", you made me think of a similar question -- "why did he test positive for ONLY EPO?" A decent answer could just be advanced pharmacology, but I have my doubts.
A lot of high-level athletes in sports with a lot of testing and a lot of money involved have untraceable designer steroids just like Barry Bonds and Marion Jones had The Clear from BALCO. The Chinese program is even more outrageous than The Russian state doping program stumbled upon in Icarus most likely.
I think it was an inside work. In many instances in China - like in the USSR - selection happens with political background. After so many years Lu probably had a big pull in that regard and would have knocked out of selection a younger might be even stronger lifter. From that region they thought : Again????No way Lu, you're 54 yrs old just bugger off! And they made him go away because he just wanted to be in the limelight for too long.
Honestly I hope there will be a weightlifting fed that would allow PEDs. Watching weightlifting in comparison to the London olympics is not as exciting because of the weight lifted in London before those athletes were re-tested and came back positive. Five people in the 94kg class in 2012 totaled over 400kg, something a natural will more than likely never achieve. The hype is just gone whenever we watch this weight class or somewhere around that weight moving forward.
National Federations need to be responsible to this. Testing should be mandatory before every event and this will happen as technology evolves. The numbers everyone is hitting and have hit in the past are insane and impossible to sustain on a body without PED.
Would someone please have a look at a calender? The test happened on 30th October - a Sunday. We know that the Chinese train Monday-Saturday, so this was not a training day. It is well possible that the test occurred at his home because he spent the day with his family, but still needed to provide a time window for testing as all elite level athletes need to do every single day. Accessing him there - even under COVID-restrictions - may well be doable for an ITA team that was in the country, having declared to test someone else. No special operation needed other than maybe not being fully transparent about who they wanted to test and the answer to the question why no team mates were tested that day.
I think Lu Xiaojun used EPO because the World Weightlifting Championship (qualifier for 2024 Olympics) was held in Bogota, Colombia in December this year. Bogota has elevation of 2600m and people who live at sea level going to this elevation can get high-altitude sickness & lack of oxygen. Over half of the lift results in this competition were No-Lift and many athletes reported difficulty breathing.
Not sure I agree with the whole B group thing. The weight lifted is all relative. Whether someone's snatching 135 or 170, the interesting thing should be the fights for the medals. Competition between competitors, not numbers. Obviously there is no way to make 100% people aren't doping, so the whole thing is just speculation anyway
26:05 I'd till say that all the shit that came out few years back about IWF selling medals, bribing testers and getting rid of doping samples is bigger. I think that was an actual blow to many peoples' faces when it comes to integrity of weightlifting. Probably not for those who are in-the-know, like Max Aita or you guys, but for more naive observers like myself it was a hit... Lu is a star, even the star. But still just a star. Not the whole heaven. And maybe Lu getting popped is part of that debacle. That first olympic trans-athelte was to be in weightlifting, which is like one of the most stupid sports to debut a trans athlete, is no consequence after all that IWF debacle. I think that was one of the ways how IWF secured Paris Olympics. And maybe China popping one of it's best was another condition for weightlifting to have Olympic sport status in future?
Although currently China has dropped a lot of the lockdown due to massive protests, back in October the lockdowns were in full effect. Not sure how the ITA could have 'snuck up' on the Liu in that environment. Even if they tried to be sneaky, claiming they were there to test another sport, they couldn't just walk across town and also the security around the weightlifting team could have turned them away claiming lockdown protocol. The willing or unwilling sacrificial lamb theory seems more likely - I'm leaning toward unwilling.
Doping regulations makes sports way more unequal. You have countries where domestically they never test their athletes like China. Plus they have all the money and resources to juice their athletes up during off-season then prep them for comp so they don’t get popped. I’m not super familiar with Western European testing but I assume it’s similar to the States where you can’t just blast year round and expect not to get caught bc there’s constant random testing happening in the off-season. Get rid of testing and now the playing field is level bc everyone has the ability to take the same shit for the same amount of time.
The thing is they got to put the work in no matter what everybody knows that everybody's on the sauce but still you got to put the work in it doesn't work unless you're putting that effort into it the sauce only enhances whatever you're doing
Did you see how adamant he was in his rebuttal to the result? That'd be crazy if he agreed to be the sacrificial lamb but then he and the Chinese weightlifting association are going to such lengths to deny and reverse it.
His rebuttal seemed very much like politician talk to me. He didn't reveal any additional details and didn't say anything that could incriminate him. He just said what he needed to try and protect his reputation. That way he had something out there while all the drama is going on.
@@andrewchao9164 Yes, but that's not my point and I'm not arguing that it wasn't politician-like... I'm saying if he was a voluntary sacrificial lamb, strategically it would make no sense for both he AND the CWA (who I would assume would be the orchestrator) then to come out so staunchly against the result and any wrongdoing. My point is the sacrificial lamb theory is implausible.
Why tf would he be tested for taking drugs on his last few years of his career and was not caught in his prime? Anyone with some brain cells wouldn’t do something this stupid
Nobody watches the B session because apart from anomalies, they never win the category. The bigger the numbers, the more interesting the sport is to the public eye but there's a drop off point. We want results that when the couch potato compares themselves to the competition, there's no way they could think "I could do that!". We play down 135kg @ 77kg because to us in the sport that's helluva lot closer than 177kg.
So what you're saying is that it wasn't surprising that Lu uses PEDs, him getting caught was. The time window sounds certainly curious. That they were giving him EPO just when he was about to be tested. I'd find it odd that they had 0 idea he was gonna be tested at that point when it was such a short window until testing. Maybe they were very good at being incognito to be able to just pop up there unexpectedly. Someone also pointed out how nobody else was popped or at least they weren't noticed when this caught all the attention. Nobody thinks the chinese team is clean sans Lu. But he's the only one who got popped. Not believable. And you'd think if he was popped, he'd be popped for other, more obvious things too. Unless it was things that don't show up in the tests (if we believe Chavez they don't even have the appropriate tests for a lot of the stuff to begin with, let alone more advanced stuff). What I'm actually super interested to see is if the anti-doping efforts will be the actual deathblow of weightlifting for a while despite being able to stay in the olympics. Like imagine the top 10 being blown out of competition and we're left with the people who barely didn't qualify or had a significant distance from the top in the games. Will people find the sport exciting anymore? Will they start the "old guys were better, these numbers are so not impressive" even though the numbers truly were impressive with no PEDs? Like I'll admit it, 180 kg C&J doesn't sound as exciting as 220 kg at all. Well, you actually completely covered this in the video. On the other hand think about having Sika Strength team in the olympics. That's exciting.
Yeah EPO could be somewhat useful in weightlifting but don't forget that team China also got training bases with higher concentration of oxygen and much better crazy techs like a variety of recovery chambers with zero side effects... Either Lu's IQ suddenly plummeted to 80 or some political stuff was going on...
What if skinny Lu has been out because of injury and because he got a bad case of COVID. I’m not a doc, but what if he took the EPO to carry extra oxygen around his body. I got Uncle VID and list 4kg is 4 days, my VO2 dropped by 20-30%, and generally just get tired while lifting for a few months. It could be possible. 🤷♂️
Why only him? US/ AUSTRALIA so called OLYMPIC TOPPERS run systematic DOPING PROGRAM Olympics today is a contest of DOPING TECHNIQUES especially in events which offer highest number of medals like ATHLETICS/ WEIGHT LIFTING and SWIMMING
I am all for the sacrificial lamb or escape GOAT theory. Truth is that there is no downside on the ‘optics’ here. We all still talk about Klokov, Ilya, and many others as the legends of the sport. We could care less about their use of drugs of getting popped. We know. Confirmation changes nothing. Moreover, the market and brand of Lu will remain unaffected insofar as he show grace in these moments, which he is doing. Look at the Chinese fanboys: they’re begging for a free pass, no one is shocked. No one in the Chinese team is. No one in that country is either, I’m willing to bet. So it’s a new period in Lu’s career. They already offered him a coaching spot which he was beginning to perform in. Everything was ready for him to move on.
Couldn’t he be taking EPO specifically because he thought he was going to be tested? Like it’s only detectable 24 hours after being injected and his training vlogs show him going from a skinny dude to jacked former Lu in months which is impossible without gear so he probably was taking as much quick acting PEDs as possible?
Nonsense, if the A session is clean people will watch the competition an enjoy it. Your suggestion of allowing doped athletes to see impressive weights is comparable to eliminating the goal keeper in soccer to see a higher soccer or a few players with hat trick days.
Well, he already is in full damage control mode on insta. Same goes for squat jerk journalist, who is 100% lying but I can see why he has to do it. I don't buy for a minute that he volunteered in any way for a sacrifice. Even in western countries athletes get grilled for doping, so imagine what would happen in China. Lasha getting popped right now would be a huge bombshell aswell but for weightliftings sake I hope this can be avoided. Loosing Lu is bad enough.
Solution... needs professional helpn from tne only athlete that dan help him...only one have power ... Maybe he as not that kind of $ ...too bad.. china Should have paid for him or a private cie .. Epo : need spécial attention....
What a horrible argument. The "regular" games would be the A session. The league below nfl would be the B session. But it's not your fault you're American 🤓
While I generally like you guys …the smugness of your comments about “no one wants to watch a 73kgs lifter snatch 135” is quite unreal… I’ve known many world class CLEAN weightlifters who played by the rules and NEVER received their undue recognition for being world beaters Tom Gough of the USA on steroids WOULD have been a world champion! Let’s not forget that! And guess what Sika strength: I ENJOYED watching him When he competed in the B class because I knew how great he was I was naive back then and truly didn’t realize how nasty dirty these Chinese, Eastern European lifters were….but now that I know, I actually don’t really get a kick out of watching them lift HOWEVER I do enjoy watching them compete in competitions where the drug testing is more rigorous and struggle to come remotely close to their best…it humanizes them a bit! I loved watching Lu looking like shit in his come back trail .. what a joke …and within one month he gains 10lbs of muscle ….sad Have you seen Lasha’s process from 2012-2016????? It’s SICKENING!!!!!!!!!! The man snatched what he basically cleaned and jerked in a few years Again, as I’ve always maintained: Let’s follow the world class powerlifters’ model: they OPENLY use drugs and it’s on baby …and some powerlifters DON’T and they compete in clean competitions….SHAME on the douche bag who cheats and beats clean athletes You want to juice ….compete against juicers !!!!! I will ALWAYS call out this charade that is the Olympics But please DO NOT disparage the 73kgs athlete who snatches 135kgs That’s a great lift I’ve seen dirty athletes OFF the juice They’re just like you and me …humans
Legalise PED have and agreed protocol and have the athletes post their bloods to show they are following it. We get to watch the supers lift these incredible weights. We all know the elite lifters are juicy and if you think they are not try picking up a barbell and giving it a go and then have a think about it. 🏋️♂️🏋️♂️🏋️♂️
The only shocking thing is the integrity of the USA and USADA to rat their own atheltes out, and Disqualify them , when these other countries, this is so surprising. A chinese getting CAUGHT IN china.
Who TF cares where he got caught. Its a disgrace that every country does not have the same integrity as the USA. There is a reason why the USD is still the world reserve currency. It's the least corrupt, and when it comes to games, and Olympics, I just can't take these countries seriously.
We need more undercover 3rd party agencies flying out, and flanking the teams of all these "potential" gold, silver, and bronze medallist. The flank surprise tests need to happen much more often, dont know where they are going to get the $$ - but they need to, and just catch all these scammers.
USA USA USA!!! 🇺🇸
@@sikastrength lmao sika strength’s response is golden
@@sikastrength lads you have to pin this comment.
It's fucking hillarious.
Your comments about the USD being used as a reserve currency is the funnies thing I've read. The least corrupt? You mean how the us stopped backing the dollar with gold in 1971, effectively allowing them to print it to infinity and impose an unstoppable tax on the holders of this currency? How the richest people and institutions in the US created a cartel called the Federal Reserve which is not federal, and has no reserves? And it is this cartel of private players who gave themselves the power to print the money? Or perhaps how the US stole all the gold of its citizens multiple times, including 1971?
@@MrPikkabo don't engage with the children. It has little positive affect.
There is no way Lu would be willing to concede to get popped as a sacrificial lamb, lay low until the storm is over and come back out competing again. You guys don’t understand. In China an athlete’s career (even life) is completely done for and suffers national disgrace if they are known to violate doping regulations. Sun Yang is a case in point. Chinese public is generally very unaware of scale of PED use in sports and has zero tolerance of PED use. Many still believe Lu is clean if you look at the social media.
The idea of Lu being a voluntary sacrificial lamb is ridiculous. The idea of the National team snaking him to save themselves a headache is not. Still, having it happen in China is pretty surprising.
That's why the substance is EPO, which leaves a lot of wiggle room for Lü and the Chinese media to argue against the result internally, thus preserving Lü's legacy. Lü might be in the dark, but I am full in on the sacrificial lamb theory.
lu = clean
@@JonathonBao how can he come back from this doping violation if the B sample also comes back positive? And if it does not comeback positive, it’s no longer a case of sacrifice because Lu’s reputation will be saved. The general public won’t know the difference between steroid violation and EPO violation. Either case would be equally disastrous for Lu’s career in China, if not his whole life
@@frontrackkid631 cope
The Chinese Weightlifting team Is natty they just sun their balls
Especially the women.
@@arghnewslmao!
What's interesting to me is the striking similarity to Liao Hui's case.
1. They were both popped for weird substances. Liao Hui's boldenone is a bodybuilding drug that mainly increases bodyweight with significant estrogenic effects, but at least boldenone is a type of steroids. Lu's EPO is even weirder. Yeah it could enhance training capacity and recovery, but it's also super expensive and even risky to one's life (many cyclists getting up in the midnight to maintain their heart beats for reference). The Chinese team also got some techs like recovery chambers that are much more economical, safe, and effective.
2. They were both training with Coach Yu. Maybe it's Coach Yu's fault but here's sth more interesting:
3. They either used to be or will be (if Lu's not popped, of course) Shi Zhiyong's opponents. After Liao Hui was popped, China let Lin Qingfeng go to London. I don't know who Lin's coach was, but that guy was definitely not Coach Yu. Liao Hui beat Shi Zhiyong in China's selection competition for Rio's 69kg, but somehow Shi went to Rio but Liao didn't. This time Lu was initially gonna compete with Shi at 73kg, and then he's popped...Not saying Shi's the guy responsible but sth is probably going on here...
Just adding my two cents to these conspiracy theories. At the end of the day it's just my speculation. Feel free to think it's bs, but all of these put together just sound too coincidental to me...
That shi thing is something I haven’t seen anybody mention kind of weird
The thing with this theory is shi could and would’ve comfortably beaten Lu when it counted, I don’t see why or how he would feel threatened, Interesting theory though in what happened in regards to Liao though…
@@clintiacuone1703 it’s possible Chinese coaches know more about the potential of Lu than we do. If they see Lu as a threat, he is and will be a threat if he continues training down the line
People are disregarding how many of these drug failures happen due to petty politics within the team.
@@henrijuan7998 I guess up until the point we stopped seeing clips of lus training he was putting up better numbers than the other 73s I guess you’re right when it comes down to him vs shi he is a threat. I still don’t see why they’d go to that length though I don’t think shi would struggle to beat him but hey anything’s possible I guess!
Given the timing of the doping and with worlds being in Bogota at about 2000m above sea level - is there a chance the EPO was a prep for that to help with any altitude effects?
Lu took a break for a year; he barely front squatted 140 back in October when they tested.
I like watching aggressively in shape people throw massive weights over their head with technique only PED abuse can allow.
Great video, have always known there’s more to life than meets the eye, I feel like in this life i am supposed to be doing more than i am doing for the people i love. been seeking for an eye opening enlightenment, a way to be more influential, powerful and protected``
oh well you can achieve that by being a part of the illuminatus brotherhood, i know it sounds like a mystery but there are ways you can actually get in contact with them
@@bartholetbay412 Hi, isn't the brotherhood a myth?
@@haynesatteh4463 Well it is not and you can't actually expect it to be open to everyone, but if you want to know more you can look up ANTHONY MARK SZYMON online you will find something interesting.
@@bartholetbay412 oh really, i just saw his website, interesting.i will leave him a message.
yeah i kinda do feel that way too sometimes.
That "how many b group sessions do you watch?" Is a really good point. The number of b group sessions I watch is some fraction of the number that occur before the a group sessions start.
I don't think it makes a lot of sense. People don't watch the B group because the B group isn't going to win, not because the numbers are low. If no one doped and 135 was a winning snatch it would be a winning snatch out of the A group and people would be watching
@@needsmorsleep the point is that there's a reason you don't watch the B group lifters and it's there performance isn't high enough. The argument against that is 'if they were the new A group' we'd all still love it. I don't think we would, otherwise people would be watching B groups now. Even IF we did end up with that scenario I don't think we could all really adapt to it, the cats are out of the bag now. Would we really be super ecstatic about a super snatching 180?
Maybe in 2 generations times we might, but right now it certainly wouldn't fly. I've talked to seb about the sales of Asians vs Worlds and Asians were lower, given how easily accessible it is surely we'd all go watch regardless of the lower totals being lifted? (Yes there's loads of other potential reasons here but the end result is still less interest).
To really know we'd need an alternate reality 🤣. I suppose it doesn't really matter though as weightlifting will never be clean.
My personal conspiracy theory:
I think they might have known Lu was getting tested, experimented to see if what they were planning to use for Worlds would get them caught, received a tip that Lu did in fact test positive before it was publicly announced, and then backed out whichever athletes (or as many as they could) that were on the same cocktail before they competed knowing that their basically guaranteed medals would get taken away. Lu had the least to lose (he wasn't going to Colombia, and idk how they determine retroactively taking away medals/records after out-of-competition testing positive but mans has a massive pedigree and is nearing the end of his career for sure). A friend mentioned that all the Chinese lifters that pulled out may also be under the same coach-group as Lu (could be wrong, haven't checked) and if that were the case then it makes me even more skeptical.
Not that any of this is surprising, but it's interesting to consider why this happened, how the others weren't caught or if they will be after the fact, etc.
Of the big name Chinese lifters, I think it was just Tian and Shi that didn't compete but made the trip(I saw the video of Tian in the training hall but don't recall seeing Shi there); Seb mentioned in the Worlds coverage UA-cam updates that Tian was suffering some effects of altitude sickness and Shi was dealing with an injury, which is why they didn't compete.
I believe Tian is with the same coach/team that Lyu is with, and Shi and Li Dayin have the same coach.
The other big names not lifting would certainly be a big coincidence if it was unrelated to Lu lifting. I'm sure we'll never know the truth though
@@az8677 I wonder if athletes who withdraw also have to test after the competition. It would make sense to withdraw from competition if you can pass a drug test that way.
@@Ponyslice Yeah, I'm not sure what the testing policies are like for these meets/events. It would make sense to test all of them when they arrive, but I don't know how feasible that is from a logistics and cost standpoint to do that. It really is a cat and mouse game in which WADA is always playing catchup with what new designer drugs are out there and how long they remain in body. Like what the Sika guys mentioned, we all want to see big lifts from these athletes and one would have to be really naive to think that no one was using PEDs. I really don't know what the future of the sport will hold- I'm sure it's on thin ice with the IOC.
@@az8677 thanks for the clarification there!
Regarding the B group comment, I just want to chime in: I would watch every single B group if Seb and Max had the time to do commentary on those as well. I watched some of them during this world's for the very reasons you guys were kind of talking about: some athletes from my country were in the B groups, but also athletes I'm just genuinely interested in from other countries.
Agree 100%…I loved watching every B group session and would have loved Seb and Max commentary on those sessions as well.
You would be a fan of the sport, and you would be in the minority.
Commentary would 100% get more people to watch, but the quality downgrade is a bummer. I watched the men’s +109 B session as there were still some notable names, but that’s it
@@pegleggreg3627 I agree with you that I am in the minority, but as you said, commentary would bring more people which kind of is my main concern and point. Weight being lifted is relative, if we only wanted to see 210+ snatches, people would only watch M109+, yet most A categories are popular.
I'm not saying the doped out unbelievable lifts we see today aren't exciting and brings a lot of fans to the sport. But I genuinely believe the popularity could still be there in a (as of now, and probably always) hypothetical scenario where the sport was fully clean.
I don't watch the B sessions because there are 10 male and 10 female A sessions in ~10 days.
20 sessions per championship is more than enough. (I even skip the lightest weight classes)
The B sessions are not about the fight for medals/championships, that’s why people don’t watch them. The absolute weight involved means very little to gen pop
I'm curious. Since they're already there, can't they test the entire team?
My guess is that they dropped MPMD into China in the middle of the night on a death star
My bet that the cover story, that may well actually be true, is that he was using it for kidney disease and forgot to/couldn't get a TUE. Think of it, drugs, high protein dieting, and weight cutting could have been quite bad on his kidneys and some people just have bad luck with it anyway. Kidney disease would also explain his detransformation, he would have to severely cut his dietary protein and do a lot of cardio/etc for his health with that disease. EPO has legitimate use in kidney disease for anemia and low RBC.
I dunno if my story is true or not, but if I was China I'd use this story.
EDIT:
They could even blame the virus for this, because it has been documented to cause kidney problems.
We don’t generally give EPO to people with JUST kidney disease, 99% of the time it’s when they are on dialysis for actual kidney failure
@@Jmack7861 I'm just making up a story.
I have a few Chinese friends who do weightlifting, had a few interesting discussions with them. They're scouring Chinese social media for discussion, so hopefully some juicy gossip will come out!
I as a Chinese didn’t see much valuable information in Chinese forums or video websites, instead, the Chinese are defending that Lu is being set up by “western”. But I heard rumours that Chinese weightlifting team is using peptides, it’s hard to test. I also know peptides are used in Chinese bodybuilding to cut or lose fat.
@@anbangzhang2292 thank you for the response, very interesting. I will see what surfaces in the next few days. The perspective is interesting. 谢谢
@@christopherroberts2500 what did he say? His comment isn’t visible for me. I’ve been told that most on Chinese social media are still denying he’s been caught but I’m all ears for any gossip on the matter.
@@JB-oc6sl I don’t know why my comment get obliterated. But yeah, many in China still insist on his innocence. Most discussions center around Lu’s lack of motive in doping and the ineffectiveness of EPO for strength athletes. Chinese social media is like the mirror reverse of west where theories about US swimmers having asthma to legal dope and America manipulating WADA organizations abound. One other thing is Chinese people are completely unaware of Sacrifical Lamb theory, which doesn’t even arise as a possibility to be considered
@@henrijuan7998 it still says 4 comments, but I see 3. Probably got shadow banned on your other acct, whatchu be commenting on other videos lol YT seems to only shadow back people spreading blatant misinformation
First off, I'm an Asian and I'm a Lu fan. And I want to be like him.
This news is very disappointing. All they found was EPO? Can't they just tell me what else Lu is on?
There's no way I can become another Lu just on EPO. Come on, tell me the truth. What else is there? Do I need to inject rice into my bloodstream?
It's interesting that Lou's weekly training update videos on the Lou Xiaojun barbell UA-cam stopped at around the same time that the offending test was administered. Perhaps he stopped training or posting updates knowing full well that he had been caught and the news were forthcoming?
he didn't actually stop training. We got videos on instagram still of his heaviest lifts all the way up until November 29th. Unless he had lifted these crazy weights (like 220 front squat, 250kg deadlift, etc.) back in October barely into training and they were posting them slowly which doesn't really make any sense.
Yeah, it just seems implausible that the ITA would only test Lyu alone or that the other Chinese athletes all happened to have everything clear their system when the testers came a knocking. Definitely doesn't change my opinion and adoration of his accomplishments, but it's too bad his career had to end this way. I always wondered why he didn't just ride off into the sunset instead of trying to make a comeback that seemed like it'd be almost impossible, given his age and competition(Shi Zhiyong and others). Much like Tom Brady's career longevity, Father Time is undefeated and will continue to be so, no matter how special the athlete and what kind of gear is out there.
well now we'll never know what his comeback could have amounted to.
I don't think the greatest can ever get rid of the burn to compete. You can say you retire, but something inside says win or die trying. I think it's something that we can't fully ever understand if we haven't been there or if we're not the same kind of people. Some just don't do a thing and then quit because they're done, they got to the goal. Some want to go as far as they can until they no longer can't.
Exactly what I was thinking.
It's rare for athletes to just stop while they're on top even if it's clear to people on the outside, certainly part of the post athletic career blues etc
A thing with 77kg male winning an olympics with 135kg snatch is the same as winning a 100m sprint gold with 10.05s. Actually there is a situation now close like that and its way lower popularity than it used to be in Usain Bolts era. Basically only people who train that specific sport will follow it.
Bolts performances werent the result of doping, the guy was an utter freak since 15 and had an insane ability to start at 6'5. Tyson Gay and Gatlin were genetically more average but felt the need the dope to get close to the GOAT.
I personally think it is the sacrificial lamb (hopefully Lu compensated down the line). Though EPO as explained would be useful for strength sports, it would also be the drug I would choose to be popped for as no one can say it would be kilos on the bar directly meaning it can be still claimed "Lu is as amazing as everyone said naturally but as a bit older and coming back needed a little boost to keep up with the volume required".
I also wander if the hyper critical look at Lu's regaining of size and strength might have just been to much for IOC WADA ITA to swallow and rpessure was put on from that angle as well.
@HkFinn83 True to people who take an interest in doping in sport but to the wider population something to help your stamina for an ageing (relatively speaking) athlete can be more easily spun then literally been caught on sikastrol etc ...
compensated??? its china.. they'll lock him up and throw away the key if they want to.
I personally just think China's making way for their younger athletes: Li Dayin replacing Lu Xiaojun, Shi Zhiyong replacing Liao Hui (a decade ago iirc). I think Lu just didn't want to retire and they popped him for it.
The timeframe for catching someone for epo is like 1/2 to maybe max 1week. This means they have to basically catch him suring the administration of the drogs (not quite). This makes me think they got inside information and this was a crusade aimed specifically at him. They must have known that he would be poppable at that very time to launch such a difficult testning mission. I think he will get some doctor to state that he had it prescribed because of some medical treatment, think its used for kidney issues among other things.
My heart goes out to Lou I watch The b&c classes must be my age
When you asked "where are the other positive tests", you made me think of a similar question -- "why did he test positive for ONLY EPO?" A decent answer could just be advanced pharmacology, but I have my doubts.
A lot of high-level athletes in sports with a lot of testing and a lot of money involved have untraceable designer steroids just like Barry Bonds and Marion Jones had The Clear from BALCO. The Chinese program is even more outrageous than The Russian state doping program stumbled upon in Icarus most likely.
I watched several B sessions and would have watched nearly all of them if that's where the medals were given out.
Did he go rogue with that UA-cam channel and get punished for it?
I don’t know of any other Chinese state sponsored athlete that has a UA-cam channel
I think it was an inside work. In many instances in China - like in the USSR - selection happens with political background. After so many years Lu probably had a big pull in that regard and would have knocked out of selection a younger might be even stronger lifter. From that region they thought : Again????No way Lu, you're 54 yrs old just bugger off! And they made him go away because he just wanted to be in the limelight for too long.
Honestly I hope there will be a weightlifting fed that would allow PEDs. Watching weightlifting in comparison to the London olympics is not as exciting because of the weight lifted in London before those athletes were re-tested and came back positive. Five people in the 94kg class in 2012 totaled over 400kg, something a natural will more than likely never achieve. The hype is just gone whenever we watch this weight class or somewhere around that weight moving forward.
Let the debate in the comments section begin!
MAY THE ODDS BE FOREVER IN YOUR FAVOUR
Has Seb commented on this at all? I'm a wee bit disappointed in him.
He just wrapped up commentating worlds and probably has a back catalogue on videos that he has to make. He'll get to it.
1:54 what a mind-blowingly sick physique. Most fitness guys can only dream of looking like that, no matter how much steroids they take.
National Federations need to be responsible to this. Testing should be mandatory before every event and this will happen as technology evolves. The numbers everyone is hitting and have hit in the past are insane and impossible to sustain on a body without PED.
Why not just make steroids legal? If alcohol was invented nowadays it would definitely be illegal. One of the worst "drugs"
The lack of shock or outrage is why I like this sport who cares they're all pushing their body's to the absolute limits
wait wait.... wait.....
If the C130 is flying low and under radar..... Why's the testing team wearing the air masks??
CERTIFIED GOTCHA
What about a new series - Sika Scandals? Check the info on Lahti cross-country skiing championships of 2001.
Would someone please have a look at a calender? The test happened on 30th October - a Sunday. We know that the Chinese train Monday-Saturday, so this was not a training day. It is well possible that the test occurred at his home because he spent the day with his family, but still needed to provide a time window for testing as all elite level athletes need to do every single day. Accessing him there - even under COVID-restrictions - may well be doable for an ITA team that was in the country, having declared to test someone else. No special operation needed other than maybe not being fully transparent about who they wanted to test and the answer to the question why no team mates were tested that day.
I think Lu Xiaojun used EPO because the World Weightlifting Championship (qualifier for 2024 Olympics) was held in Bogota, Colombia in December this year. Bogota has elevation of 2600m and people who live at sea level going to this elevation can get high-altitude sickness & lack of oxygen. Over half of the lift results in this competition were No-Lift and many athletes reported difficulty breathing.
I don't think they had any intentions of having Lu compete there. Similarly to some of the other athletes that they sent.
He had zero intentions of going there wtf.
Or you could just live at altitude or use a sleep chamber and increase naturally? Epo is stupid for strength sports
Great video
The real thing that concerns me is why is does Eoins head always have a cut?
“How can you wear that shirt iron the sleeve!!”
-My OCD
Yeah you definitely have real OCD bro
Shout out to Greg "sellout" Ducette for fronting him being natty despite knowing hes not to sell in the chinease market.
He could also just be an idiot
@@mrsmiley4842 Yeha a former ped dealer and world record holder and drug conesoure did not know.. Come no...
@@up2me967 doesn't mean he's an expert in clocking natties
@@mrsmiley4842 he has the most watched natty or not segments online. He's really good at it man. He just us a disingenuous pos. Ps: merry xmass
Does this mean there will be no more road to Paris?
"Does that mean he's not coming on, then?"
EPO increases stamina, not strength. Little benefit for weightlifter to take that risk.
@@22448824 As someone mentioned, risk to reward ratio isn't worth it. EPO doesn't help weightlifters.
Not sure I agree with the whole B group thing. The weight lifted is all relative. Whether someone's snatching 135 or 170, the interesting thing should be the fights for the medals. Competition between competitors, not numbers.
Obviously there is no way to make 100% people aren't doping, so the whole thing is just speculation anyway
Urge to make overdramatic "Leave Lu Alone" video intensifies
26:05 I'd till say that all the shit that came out few years back about IWF selling medals, bribing testers and getting rid of doping samples is bigger. I think that was an actual blow to many peoples' faces when it comes to integrity of weightlifting. Probably not for those who are in-the-know, like Max Aita or you guys, but for more naive observers like myself it was a hit... Lu is a star, even the star. But still just a star. Not the whole heaven.
And maybe Lu getting popped is part of that debacle. That first olympic trans-athelte was to be in weightlifting, which is like one of the most stupid sports to debut a trans athlete, is no consequence after all that IWF debacle. I think that was one of the ways how IWF secured Paris Olympics.
And maybe China popping one of it's best was another condition for weightlifting to have Olympic sport status in future?
EPO violation is not logical for weight-lifter. 😢
I think the lamb theory makes the most sense with the given information
Although currently China has dropped a lot of the lockdown due to massive protests, back in October the lockdowns were in full effect. Not sure how the ITA could have 'snuck up' on the Liu in that environment. Even if they tried to be sneaky, claiming they were there to test another sport, they couldn't just walk across town and also the security around the weightlifting team could have turned them away claiming lockdown protocol. The willing or unwilling sacrificial lamb theory seems more likely - I'm leaning toward unwilling.
Was he really caught recently???
I believe he was also caught a long time ago
@@alvarny77 No, this is the first time that Lu got popped.
The squat jerk finally caught up with him
Alternatively, false positive. Let’s go Lu
Doping regulations makes sports way more unequal. You have countries where domestically they never test their athletes like China. Plus they have all the money and resources to juice their athletes up during off-season then prep them for comp so they don’t get popped. I’m not super familiar with Western European testing but I assume it’s similar to the States where you can’t just blast year round and expect not to get caught bc there’s constant random testing happening in the off-season. Get rid of testing and now the playing field is level bc everyone has the ability to take the same shit for the same amount of time.
The thing is they got to put the work in no matter what everybody knows that everybody's on the sauce but still you got to put the work in it doesn't work unless you're putting that effort into it the sauce only enhances whatever you're doing
Demonstrably false, but go off
Did you see how adamant he was in his rebuttal to the result? That'd be crazy if he agreed to be the sacrificial lamb but then he and the Chinese weightlifting association are going to such lengths to deny and reverse it.
His rebuttal seemed very much like politician talk to me. He didn't reveal any additional details and didn't say anything that could incriminate him. He just said what he needed to try and protect his reputation. That way he had something out there while all the drama is going on.
@@andrewchao9164 Yes, but that's not my point and I'm not arguing that it wasn't politician-like... I'm saying if he was a voluntary sacrificial lamb, strategically it would make no sense for both he AND the CWA (who I would assume would be the orchestrator) then to come out so staunchly against the result and any wrongdoing. My point is the sacrificial lamb theory is implausible.
I’ll sound like a dad right now; I’m not surprised, I am disappointed.
Why tf would he be tested for taking drugs on his last few years of his career and was not caught in his prime? Anyone with some brain cells wouldn’t do something this stupid
People will get used to the new totals.
lol at-leets 😂 every thing they say it, gets me
Didn't expect the TES IV intro lol
Whoever accepted this contract to extract with Lu's blood from China must be crazy... but he made it. GG
I had to check to see if my pc was on with the Skyrim music
If the Olympics had any self respect it would kick weightlifting tf out yesterday. Luckily the Olympics has no self respect.
Weightlifter Seppuku
Only a matter of time till the other Chinese get caught. Lol
alguien en español que me traduzca que fue lo que paso con LU Xiaojun
But , but they say passing drug test are eaaaaaasy even when you get test by a legit organisations
Nobody watches the B session because apart from anomalies, they never win the category.
The bigger the numbers, the more interesting the sport is to the public eye but there's a drop off point. We want results that when the couch potato compares themselves to the competition, there's no way they could think "I could do that!".
We play down 135kg @ 77kg because to us in the sport that's helluva lot closer than 177kg.
So what you're saying is that it wasn't surprising that Lu uses PEDs, him getting caught was.
The time window sounds certainly curious. That they were giving him EPO just when he was about to be tested. I'd find it odd that they had 0 idea he was gonna be tested at that point when it was such a short window until testing. Maybe they were very good at being incognito to be able to just pop up there unexpectedly. Someone also pointed out how nobody else was popped or at least they weren't noticed when this caught all the attention. Nobody thinks the chinese team is clean sans Lu. But he's the only one who got popped. Not believable. And you'd think if he was popped, he'd be popped for other, more obvious things too. Unless it was things that don't show up in the tests (if we believe Chavez they don't even have the appropriate tests for a lot of the stuff to begin with, let alone more advanced stuff).
What I'm actually super interested to see is if the anti-doping efforts will be the actual deathblow of weightlifting for a while despite being able to stay in the olympics. Like imagine the top 10 being blown out of competition and we're left with the people who barely didn't qualify or had a significant distance from the top in the games. Will people find the sport exciting anymore? Will they start the "old guys were better, these numbers are so not impressive" even though the numbers truly were impressive with no PEDs? Like I'll admit it, 180 kg C&J doesn't sound as exciting as 220 kg at all.
Well, you actually completely covered this in the video.
On the other hand think about having Sika Strength team in the olympics. That's exciting.
If there’s money or reputation on the line, there will be cheating.
I will end cancer
If bodybuilders are taking EPO, then there is absolutely no reason why an Olympic strength athlete would not be using it
Yeah EPO could be somewhat useful in weightlifting but don't forget that team China also got training bases with higher concentration of oxygen and much better crazy techs like a variety of recovery chambers with zero side effects... Either Lu's IQ suddenly plummeted to 80 or some political stuff was going on...
What if skinny Lu has been out because of injury and because he got a bad case of COVID.
I’m not a doc, but what if he took the EPO to carry extra oxygen around his body.
I got Uncle VID and list 4kg is 4 days, my VO2 dropped by 20-30%, and generally just get tired while lifting for a few months.
It could be possible. 🤷♂️
EPO improves stamina not strength.
Why only him?
US/ AUSTRALIA so called OLYMPIC TOPPERS run systematic DOPING PROGRAM
Olympics today is a contest of DOPING TECHNIQUES especially in events which offer highest number of medals like ATHLETICS/ WEIGHT LIFTING and SWIMMING
He was caught by Chinese authorities. Perhaps he is clean after all..
I still can’t believe it 😢
everyone on the world stage is on steroids tho
I am all for the sacrificial lamb or escape GOAT theory. Truth is that there is no downside on the ‘optics’ here. We all still talk about Klokov, Ilya, and many others as the legends of the sport. We could care less about their use of drugs of getting popped. We know. Confirmation changes nothing. Moreover, the market and brand of Lu will remain unaffected insofar as he show grace in these moments, which he is doing. Look at the Chinese fanboys: they’re begging for a free pass, no one is shocked. No one in the Chinese team is. No one in that country is either, I’m willing to bet. So it’s a new period in Lu’s career. They already offered him a coaching spot which he was beginning to perform in. Everything was ready for him to move on.
Scapegoat not escape
@@kimborampage Vielen Dank
Couldn’t he be taking EPO specifically because he thought he was going to be tested? Like it’s only detectable 24 hours after being injected and his training vlogs show him going from a skinny dude to jacked former Lu in months which is impossible without gear so he probably was taking as much quick acting PEDs as possible?
Nonsense, if the A session is clean people will watch the competition an enjoy it. Your suggestion of allowing doped athletes to see impressive weights is comparable to eliminating the goal keeper in soccer to see a higher soccer or a few players with hat trick days.
No it's the equivalent of soccer players kicking a significantly smaller number of goals. Come on, performance not rule change.
Why would they even film the skinny Lu to jacked Lu transformation to begin with? It seems kinda sus
Believe or not most people who don't know anything about fitness thought he was natural lol
Yeah. Weightlifting would not be as exciting if someone on Instagram/UA-cam can outlift these Olympians.
Well, he already is in full damage control mode on insta. Same goes for squat jerk journalist, who is 100% lying but I can see why he has to do it.
I don't buy for a minute that he volunteered in any way for a sacrifice. Even in western countries athletes get grilled for doping, so imagine what would happen in China. Lasha getting popped right now would be a huge bombshell aswell but for weightliftings sake I hope this can be avoided. Loosing Lu is bad enough.
anyways yeah the sacrificial lamb theory is what I'm buying here
Catch and expose every fake natty…… and still… it doesn’t make our gains better … just makes us better haters
China dropping in on that B sample.
Llasove What is the greatest at his time and it was before drugs use.
It's all politics. Lu is old. He can be sacrificed.
See: Boxer in ‘Animal Farm’.
Sacrificial lamb so li doesn't get popped I think
Nino, Karlos and Lasha are next lmao. 500 will never happen now.
Lasha has been caught and banned before years ago when he wasn’t anywhere near as good or well known as he is now.
Solution... needs professional helpn from tne only athlete that dan help him...only one have power ... Maybe he as not that kind of $ ...too bad.. china Should have paid for him or a private cie .. Epo : need spécial attention....
algorithm boost
I don't follow your B session argument. We don't just watch the super bowl, we watch the regular season games too.
What a horrible argument. The "regular" games would be the A session.
The league below nfl would be the B session.
But it's not your fault you're American 🤓
Is your D-league that bad?
While I generally like you guys …the smugness of your comments about “no one wants to watch a 73kgs lifter snatch 135” is quite unreal…
I’ve known many world class CLEAN weightlifters who played by the rules and NEVER received their undue recognition for being world beaters
Tom Gough of the USA on steroids WOULD have been a world champion! Let’s not forget that!
And guess what Sika strength: I ENJOYED watching him
When he competed in the B class because I knew how great he was
I was naive back then and truly didn’t realize how nasty dirty these Chinese, Eastern European lifters were….but now that I know, I actually don’t really get a kick out of watching them lift
HOWEVER I do enjoy watching them compete in competitions where the drug testing is more rigorous and struggle to come remotely close to their best…it humanizes them a bit!
I loved watching Lu looking like shit in his come back trail .. what a joke …and within one month he gains 10lbs of muscle ….sad
Have you seen Lasha’s process from 2012-2016?????
It’s SICKENING!!!!!!!!!!
The man snatched what he basically cleaned and jerked in a few years
Again, as I’ve always maintained:
Let’s follow the world class powerlifters’ model: they OPENLY use drugs and it’s on baby …and some powerlifters DON’T and they compete in clean competitions….SHAME on the douche bag who cheats and beats clean athletes
You want to juice ….compete against juicers !!!!!
I will ALWAYS call out this charade that is the Olympics
But please DO NOT disparage the 73kgs athlete who snatches 135kgs
That’s a great lift
I’ve seen dirty athletes OFF the juice
They’re just like you and me …humans
Lack of binjiling
Legalise PED have and agreed protocol and have the athletes post their bloods to show they are following it. We get to watch the supers lift these incredible weights. We all know the elite lifters are juicy and if you think they are not try picking up a barbell and giving it a go and then have a think about it. 🏋️♂️🏋️♂️🏋️♂️
hi
China's Xmas gift to us
someone in china is getting absolutely bollocksed right about now