Not real, but still interesting. A video is making the rounds of Aleksey Lovchev clean & jerking what looks like 270kg (at first glance) doesn’t seem to be the real deal — rather, it looks to be from a promo video for Boston’s failed 2024 Olympic bid, likely shot around 2014 or early 2015.
Yes, it’s a video of Lovchev performing a clean & jerk — but look closer, and it becomes apparent the bar is loaded with fake plates to make it look heavier.
To be fair, Lovchev did have the clean & jerk world record (then 264kg) for a period of time before testing positive for banned substances at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships. The active record has since reverted to Hossein Rezazadeh’s 263kg lift from 2004.
The heaviest competition clean & jerk — and heaviest caught on camera, to our knowledge — remains 266kg, set in the 1980s before weight classes were restructured. (Watch it here.)
Check out Lovchev’s (promotional, not actually 270kg) below, and see if you can spot some telltale signs.
Notice the green screen background and the “Boston” text on the Eleiko platform? The incredible ease of the lift, combined with relative lack of bar oscillation?
And check out the innermost red plates — doesn’t look quite like an Eleiko competition model.
Lovchev is currently facing a multi-year ban from international competition, and it’s unclear when (or if) we’ll see him make a return to the platform.
Featured image: @russia_weightlifting on Instagram
