LYU Xiaojun

At London 2012, 28-year-old Lü Xiaojun provided one early highpoint for weightlifting superpower China in the men’s 77kg category.

Having already been assured of gold, he claimed a world-record total of 379kg when he lifted an impressive 204kg in the clean and jerk after an initial 195kg lift.

Lü marked his achievement, one of 44 world and Olympic weightlifting records broken at the ExCel arena during the Games, by abandoning protocol to lift his coach off the ground – leaving him covered in chalky handprints – before running around the stage in ecstatic celebration.

It was an unusual display of exuberance in the competition but one that reflected both his incredible feat and the importance of the sport in his country – which had missed out on taking gold in the 77kg in its home Games four years earlier.

Lü went on to win silver at Rio 2016, but at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021, the first with new weight categories, Lü dominated the new 81 kg competition to set the first Olympic records in snatch, clean & jerk, and total lift in the new class.