This month, we will turn away from the technical side of weightlifting and instead delve into the personal interest side. This is a great time to be a fan of world weightlifting as there is seemingly an endless supply of new, young lifters coming up through the ranks, breaking world records and claiming world championships. I believe the reason for this resurgence of youth is due in wide part to the International Weightlifting Federation's (IWF) recognition of the Youth category (17 and under) along with Junior and Senior age divisions. Recognizing a youth division allowed for the creation of the first ever Youth World Weightlifting Championships in 2009 and weightlifting's participation in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010. With such high stakes competitions available for the youth participants, there is a stronger sense of urgency to become great sooner. As a result, we are seeing numerous superstars emerging from the youth ranks to not only win titles in their own age group but also to take junior and senior world titles as well.

YouTube has also provided an avenue to bring world weightlifting literally into the fan's living room. Many lifters from Russia and other foreign countries have YouTube channels and regularly post videos of themselves in training. The result of this is a rare opportunity to watch lifters progress almost in real time. This provides the weightlifting aficionado with a constant barrage of new information on the latest lifter who may challenge for a world title.

Senior/Junior Level Lifters

The first senior level lifter who is a rising superstar in weightlifting is the super heavyweight from Iran, Behdad Salimi. Not only is this man big (approximately 6'3" tall and 160kg+) and strong, but he is the most technically sound super heavyweight on the world scene. His snatch technique is flawless as he keeps the bar extremely close to his body, he rebends his knees blindingly fast, and the speed at which he moves under the bar is unmatched. The big man from Iran has personal bests of 217kg in the snatch and 260kg in the clean and jerk. Before the world championships, he took snatch attempts of 209kg, 214kg, and 217kg at the final Iranian National Team competition before the worlds. What is probably more interesting than the 217kg snatch is the fact he opened with 209kg, which is by far the heaviest opener in history, beating a 205kg opener by Antonio Krastev in 1987 and Hossein Rezazadeh in 2000.

Behdad Salimi has been on quite the tear since coming onto the scene at the 2008 Junior World Championships where he placed third. In 2009, he won the Junior Worlds via 195kg + 228kg = 423kg. At the 2010 World Championships, he made a splash in the supers by winning the competition via 208kg + 245kg = 253kg. Later that year he won the Asian Games with lifts of 205kg and 235kg for a 440kg total. In early 2011, he won the Asian Championships again snatching 208kg and clean and jerking a then personal best of 250kg for a personal record total of 458kg.

Capping off a great 2011 for Behdad Salimi was his recent gold medal sweeping performance at the World Championships. Before the contest, Salimi had said his goal was to break the world record in the snatch and he did not disappoint. He made lifts of 201kg, 209kg and 214kg for a new world record breaking the record held by Hossein Rezazadeh for eight years. His only miss came on his last clean and jerk attempt with 260kg which he only pulled in a bid to break the world record in the total. He said the reason he did not make a better attempt with the 260kg was due to a lack of competition.

A junior lifter who is making waves on the international scene of late is Apti Aukudov from Russia. Apti is an 85kg lifter and lifted some monster weights as a youth lifter. When he was 16 and weighed 77kg, he had best lifts of 147kg and 170kg. The next year he improved to 163kg and 195kg as an 85kg lifter. In 2010, he won the Junior World Championship lifting 170kg in the snatched and 201kg in the clean and jerk.

2011 saw Apti Aukudov given the start at the European Championships for Russian where he placed second snatching 173kg and clean and jerking 212kg. He seemed to be the favorite going into the Junior Worlds in Malaysia this year, but critical misses in the snatch and clean and jerk cost him the gold medal. Likewise, at the Senior Worlds, he was certainly a favorite for the podium, if not the gold, but he only made three good lifts and had to settle for fifth place.

The man who upset Aukudov at the Junior Worlds and made a name for himself at the Senior Worlds this year was Kianoush Rostami of Iran. Rostami won the 2010 Junior Worlds at 77kg and placed third at the Senior Worlds with a 161kg snatch and a 193kg clean and jerk. That was all to build up to an incredibly successful 2011.

Rostami began 2011 with a second place finish at the Asian Championships, lifting 162kg and 201kg. At the Junior World Championships, he upset Aukudov by snatching 168kg and clean and jerking a huge 210kg. Coming into the Senior Worlds, he was definitely in consideration for a medal. However, after snatching a big PR 173kg, he opened up the clean and jerk with 209kg and dusted off his competitors. He then took a shot at the world record with 219kg and cleaned it on his second attempt and nearly completed the jerk. It was a performance that signaled he is definitely one of the favorites, if not the favorite, for the gold medal in London next summer.

Youth Lifters

The youth level is by far the most exciting level of world weightlifting today. There are so many talented, young lifters that it is hard to remember who is who. Let's first begin with the big men. 2011 could be said to be the year of Gor Minasyan. This seventeen year-old Armenian super (94kg+) is a very powerful teenager. His technique would never be classified as ideal, but he just rips the weights overhead with a tremendous amount of force. Gor has been on the world scene since placing second at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010, where he snatched 160kg and clean and jerked 190kg. He began 2011 by winning the Youth World Championships via 174kg snatch and a 205kg clean and jerk. At the Junior World Championships, he was Armenia's lone competitor and he did his country proud by winning the gold medal in the snatch (178kg) and placing fourth overall.

The next competition for Minasyan was his crowning achievement for the year. At the Youth European Championships, lifting essentially in a class all his own, Gor opened with an incredibly easy 165kg snatch. He then wasted no time and had the bar loaded to 181kg for a new youth world record. A sixteen kilo jump may have provided a mental block to a lesser lifter but Minasyan pulled the bar as hard as he could, caught it in the bottom position, held it for a second to make sure he had it and then stood up as a new world record holder. He finished the competition with a personal best clean and jerk of 209kg for a PR 390kg total. Gor Minasyan ended 2011 by placing second at the Junior European Championships where he snatched 179kg and clean and jerked a PR 216kg for a 395kg total.

Valentin Hristov is a former Bulgarian youth standout who has found a new home in Azerbaijan; however, the journey was not easy. In 2009, as a fifteen-year-old lifter, Hristov placed 5th at the Youth World Championships in the 50kg class lifting 90kg and 103kg. Later that year, he repeated those results at the Youth Europeans and placed second to his compatriot Stefan Matsarov.

Valentin definitely showed talent in these first international competitions. However, in 2010 he was non-existent on the international scene due to Bulgaria's tumultuous year, effectively being suspended for the season. By early 2011, Valentin had found his way to Azerbaijan where it was reported he would receive a stipend of 3500 Euro per month. It appeared as though Hristov was cleared for competition, and he showed up at the 2011 European Championships and while lifting in the three man B-session, he posted lifts of 117kg and 147kg, which wound up winning the 56kg class. However, right after the competition ended, there was controversy surrounding his paperwork to represent his new country and thus he was disqualified from the competition.

Later in the year, he had been listed on the start list of the Junior World Championships but he never made it to the competition. One month prior to the 2011 World Championships, Valentin snatched 131kg and clean and jerked 160kg at the Azerbaijani nationals weighing around 60kg; he definitely seemed primed for the Worlds. Luckily for him and weightlifting fans, Azerbaijan and Bulgaria resolved their differences and Valentin was given clearance to compete in the championships. He got off to a rocky start, missing his opening snatch (122kg) twice before making it on his third. In the clean and jerk he turned things around, knocking off 150kg and 154kg before missing the jerk on 157kg. The 154kg lift gave him the youth world record in the clean and jerk as well as the bronze medals in the jerk and total. Apparently, good things do come to those who wait.

The Russian Fab Four

Russia has perhaps the best foursome of lifters on any level representing their country. Razmik Unanyan (69kg), Victor Getts (77kg), Artem Okulov (85kg), and Alexey Kosov (94kg) are four of the finest young lifters in the world. Each of these lifters won the 2011 Youth World Championships and Okulov also won the 2011 Junior European Championships. All lifters possess good technique and are extremely strong and fast.

Razmik Unanyan is a 69kg lifter who won the Youth Worlds in Lima, Peru in his first international event. His technique is less than ideal, especially in the jerk where he has more of a split style with a quirky back foot position. However, he is brutally strong and tough and based on his recent YouTube videos is ready for even greater performances in the future. He won the Youth Worlds via 126kg and 162kg but he recently clean and jerked 175kg in training and jerked a powerful 190kg from the rack. Not bad for someone with rough technique.

Victor Getts (77kg) won the Youth World Championships via 138kg and 173kg. He came onto the world scene at the 2010 Youth European Championships, where he placed fourth as a 69kg lifter. His technique is in the classic Russian style--perfect positions coupled with a very straight bar path. His bottom positions are something to desire and his jerk is crisp and picture perfect. He may not possess the brute strength of his compatriot Unanyan, but he has a high level of technical skill that should be strived for in youth lifters.

Artem Okulov is the veteran of the team at the ripe old age of seventeen. Okulov first showed his talent at the first Youth World Weightlifting Championships, where he placed fourth in the 69kg category as a fifteen year-old. The following year, he won the Youth Olympics at 77kg, where he clean and jerked a Youth World Record tying 182kg. This year he moved up to the 85kg and won both the Youth World Championships and the Junior European title. His technique is sound, and he is by far the fastest of the four Russians. His short build coupled with powerful legs give him the look of the powerhouse lifter he is.
Alexey Kosov (94kg) has had a superb year in 2011 as he broke the Youth World Record in the snatch on two separate occasions: first at the Youth Worlds with 172kg and then at the Junior Europeans with 173kg. He placed second at the Youth Olympics in 2010 as an 85kg and this year he moved up to the 94's and won the Youth World Championships and the Junior Europeans. His snatch and clean technique are sound and strong. However, he is limited by a comparatively weak jerk. He cleans the weight well and then appears to jerk it strong, only to lose control while the bar is overhead.

If you are a weightlifting fan, now is perhaps the most exciting time in our sport. There are endless newcomers to the world scene and luckily some of these lifters are extraordinary. Keep your eyes peeled on London, because with the recent results of the World Weightlifting Championships, it appears as if world records will fall and new superstars will be born in 2012.