Lu Yong’s Road to London 2012

Thanks to Clarence K for uploading some news pieces about Lu Yong’s road to the 2012 Olympics.

And thanks to YouTube commenter shawncheng8 we get an English translation.

It begins with a recap of his last lift in the 2008 Olympics and the red light situation with his second to last C&J, which I won’t bother translating.

Lu Yong: It’s been 4 years since the Olympics and I’ve experienced a lot. I’ve participated in a lot of competitions and won them but the total wasn’t that good. (He mentions his mentality or something in connection to this.)

Narrator: After 2008 Olympics, Lu Yong won Chinese, Asian, and World championships and thus became a great champion but never equalled a world record like his 08 performance. Not only Lu Yong, but these 4 years after 2008 Olympics, no 85kg lifters have appeared on the national stage to lift more than 390kg+. It seems like no one’s in a rush to display their abilities, but rather are saving their energy for the London Olympics.

Lu Yong: Because we athletes are really competitive, always being the only person in your category isn’t fun. Competing only against myself is actually really hard.

Narrator: Everyone starts with joint exercises and massages before every training session. Lu Yong starts with taping his foot. After 2007 competition, they found a problem with his left foot (I think fracture or something like that). Every session for Lu Yong starts with taping his foot.

Also, Lu Yong’s comment about competing against himself is more in relation to training than competition, I think. The literal translation of what he said is, “Always being the only person on one platform isn’t fun,” so he’s basically saying he wants a rival on the team to spur him to greater heights.

Narrator: asks Lu Yong if he can slowly rehabilitate the foot and heal it.

Lu Yong: It won’t get better. Maybe when I stop training in the future I can get surgery and take out the bone fragments.

Narrator: All the championships Lu Yong has won since the Beijing Olympics have been with this fractured foot. So we think that this bone must be a hard bone (weird metaphor about being tough I think).

And another news piece about Chinese weightlifters preparing for London 2012 with a summary from takk86:

Lu says that his sight is set on gold. He may attempt to set records depending on his opportunities be is staying on the cautious side as to avoid injuries. His coach is saying that he believes Lu will no doubt total 390 and possibly more.