Q 01/05

Which two lifts make up modern Olympic weightlifting competition?

A) Squat and deadlift

B) Snatch and clean and jerk

C) Clean and jerk and deadlift

D) Snatch and overhead squat

Answer · why

B) Snatch and clean and jerk

Snatch and clean and jerk are what is left of a longer programme: a century ago Olympic lifters faced five lifts, two of them done with one hand.

Q 02/05

In which lift is the barbell taken from the floor to overhead in one continuous motion?

A) Clean and jerk

B) Power clean

C) Snatch

D) Push press

Answer · why

C) Snatch

The snatch is as much a drop as a lift: the bar is pulled as high as it will go, then the lifter dives under it, catches it on straight arms in a deep...

Q 03/05

In the clean and jerk, the 'clean' brings the bar to which position?

A) Locked out overhead

B) The front of the shoulders

C) The top of the thighs

D) The back of the neck

Answer · why

B) The front of the shoulders

The front of the shoulders is a staging post: the lifter resets there before the jerk drives the bar overhead, and going up in two stages lets lifters...

Q 04/05

Which third Olympic lift, a test of pure arm and shoulder strength, was dropped after 1972?

A) The one-hand snatch

B) The clean and press

C) The continental clean

D) The bent press

Answer · why

B) The clean and press

The clean and press had stood beside the other two lifts since 1928. It allowed no help from the legs, but referees could never agree on what counted ...

Q 05/05

A weightlifter who misses all three attempts at one lift has done what?

A) Bombed out

B) Pressed out

C) Timed out

D) Locked out

Answer · why

A) Bombed out

Bombed out is the phrase, and it is ruinous: with no good snatch, or no good clean and jerk, there is no total, and Olympic medals go to totals alone,...