Lü Xiaojun

Lü Xiaojun (; pinyin: lǚxiǎojūn, born 27 July 1984) is a Chinese weightlifter. He is a three-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion competing in the 77 kg category until 2018 and 81 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories. He is widely considered as one of the greatest weightlifters of all time.

Early life

Lü was born in a village administered by Qianjiang City, Hubei Province. His father, Lü Yuan, and the rest of his family were impoverished peasants. Contrary to popular belief, Lu's athletic career started out as a short-distance track and field sprinter and he didn't begin specific weightlifting training until he was 14. After winning a local elementary school track and field meet at the age of 12, he was scouted by the county-level track and field coaches and asked to join the team. But Lu led a rather short career as a young sprinter. At a 200 metre meet where he was placed 6th in 1998, Lu was scouted by his first weightlifting coach Deng Minghu who noted that Lu, though lacking endurance for short-distance sprinting, was extremely explosive and powerful out of the block and at the early part of the race and had a favorable physique for the sport of weightlifting. Lu, who was already 14 at this point, was then invited by Deng to join the Qian Jiang city youth athletic school to start training as a weightlifter. In 1999, to remove the financial burden on Lü's family, his coach Dengling Hu sent him to join the provincial team.

Weightlifting career

In 2003 Lü represented the Hubei provincial team in the Chinese national weightlifting championships, competing at 69 kg. He won the bronze total for his class. The same year, due to his outstanding performance, he was recruited by the Chinese national team. In 2006 due to ligament injuries in his shoulders and legs, he left the national team. In 2008, after the 2008 Summer Olympics, Lü renewed his training in the national team with coach Yu Jie.

He has set thirteen senior world records throughout the course of his career, seven at –77 kg and six at –81 kg.

Olympics

Heading into the 2012 Summer Olympics Lü was the heavy favorite to win. He ended up winning the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 77 kg class with a total of 379 kg. His snatch of 175 kg set both a world and Olympic record, as did his total of 379 kg, for the 77 kg class. Due to the confusion between Lü and his opponent Lu Haojie's family name, Lü was unable to attempt his third lift of snatch at 177 kg.

He was again the heavy favorite to win gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He finished the snatch phase with a new world record of 177 kg, but did not win gold due to Nijat Rahimov's clean and jerk world record of 214 kg. Lü and Rahimov had the same total, but Rahimov won due to virtue of a lighter body weight.
However, due to the doping offences of Rahimov, the gold medal was stripped and Rahimov was disqualified in March 2022. As of July 2024, the medals have not yet been re-allocated and will not be until final rulings by the IOC have been issued.

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Lü dominated the newly established men's 81 kg weightlifting competition by lifting 170 kg and 204 kg in the snatch and clean & jerk phases respectively for a total of 374 kg to win the gold medal. By winning this title, Lü became the oldest weightlifting champion in the history of modern Olympic Games at 37.

World Championships

In 2009 he won his first World Weightlifting Championships where he set new Snatch and Total world records. Looking to repeat in 2010 he ended up being the silver medalist, but returned in 2011 to win gold for the second time.

Lü won 3 gold medals in the 77 kg class at the 2013 World Weightlifting Championships. He broke his own world record in the snatch with a lift of 176 kg. He also completed a 204 kg clean and jerk, setting a new world record total of 380 kg.

At the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships he won the gold medal in the snatch, but was unable to complete a clean and jerk which eliminated him from winning a fourth world championship.

In 2018 the International Weightlifting Federation updated the weight classes, and he competed in the newly created 81 kg division. The 81 kg division saw 5 world records set and 11 junior world records set. In the snatch portion, Lü initially set the snatch world record of 172 kg, then Mohamed Ihab in his next attempt lifted 173 kg setting a new world record. In the clean & jerk portion, Mohamed Ihab set 2 new world records in the total with his first two lifts, but he was unable to lift his final clean & jerk of 203 kg. This allowed Lu to win gold with his 202 kg clean & jerk, setting a new world record total of 374 kg, out lifting Mohamed Ihab by 1 kg.

In the 2019 Championships held in Thailand, Lu again won gold in the 81 kg category, setting a new world record of 378 kg total (171 kg snatch and 207 kg clean & jerk).

Lu did not compete in the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships held in December 2022, which was won by his compatriot Li Dayin.

Doping ban

In December 2022, it was revealed that Lu had tested positive during an out-of-competition testing for the use of blood booster hormone EPO in a blood sample collected on 30 October 2022. Lu denied taking any prohibited substance and can request that a backup sample B be tested. Lu has been provisionally suspended until the issue is resolved.

Personal life

Lü married his long-term girlfriend Guo Xiyan, a former world class weightlifter herself, in December 2013. They have three children, with the youngest born in December 2023.

Major results

*WR: World record
*OR: Olympic record

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lu, Xiaojun
1984 births
Living people
People from Qianjiang
Weightlifters from Hubei
Chinese male weightlifters
Weightlifters at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Weightlifters at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Weightlifters at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Olympic weightlifters for China
Olympic gold medalists for China
Olympic medalists in weightlifting
Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
World record holders in Olympic weightlifting
World Weightlifting Championships medalists
Weightlifters at the 2014 Asian Games
Asian Games gold medalists for China
Asian Games medalists in weightlifting
Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games
20th-century Chinese people
21st-century Chinese sportsmen
Olympic silver medalists for China