One of China’s most beloved Olympic weightlifters turned 34 this summer and look, we’re not saying that’s too old to be an elite level lifter. After all, Naim Süleymanoğlu’s most epic weightlifting victory ever happened when he was 39. But mid-30s is about the age when a lot of weightlifters think about exploring other sources of revenue, which may be why Lu Xiaojun is launching his own line of barbells.
Take a look at these photos of the lad courtesy of Strength Insider on Instagram. (You can scroll through for some additional pictures.)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpM46KdhMTp
[In the market for a new barbell? Check out our list of the best value Rogue barbells.]
Slight downside: we don’t have any decent pictures of the barbells themselves so we can’t give as close a look at them as we’d like. And since the man is Chinese and in some respects works for the Chinese government, he’s not exactly active on Facebook or Instagram, which are blocked on the mainland.
Still, it’s pretty cool that he’s releasing his own line of equipment. The first thing we thought of, though, was “Boy, hope that works out better for him than it did for Klokov.”
Dmitry Klokov, one of Russia’s most beloved weightlifters, officially retired from international competition at age 32 and among his many, many business endeavors he launched his own line of weightlifting equipment as well. But the company hasn’t posted anything on social media since May and the company’s future seems a liiiiittle uncertain. Nothing has been confirmed from them, though.
[Watch Lu Xiaojun try his hand at Olympic diving here!]
Anyway, Lu Xiaojun has a line of barbells and we’re sure the company’s success will add to his long line of accomplishments, which thus far includes ten gold medals at various World Weightlifting Championships and one Olympic gold medal from London. His biggest total in an international competition to date was a 380-kilo total at the 2013 World Championships — here’s his 176kg snatch from that event.
The -77kg athlete has also entertained the idea of competing at the 2020 Olympics — whether or not he goes through with it, it looks like the man has a busy future ahead of him.
Featured image via @strength_insider on Instagram.
