The Olympic silver-medalist Tian Tao (CHN -96) has turned up alongside the rest of the Chinese national team at the training hall of the 2019 Asian Championships in his home country. Fortunately for us, ATG is there keeping us all updated with the awesome footage.
Tian hit a comfortable 210 kg clean and jerk which he followed up with a 290 kg back squat. This 210 kg clean and jerk is just 16 kg below his competition best in the clean and jerk of 226 kg from the 2018 World Championships, a world record at the time. The back squat is just 30 kg below his best of 320 kg, and it moved fast!
A point worth noting is that Tian has notably dropped the small pre-‘dip and drive’ dip that he has consistently used to add oscillation to the barbell as an aid to the jerk. At the European Championships earlier this month several athletes were called for adding oscillation to the barbell and subsequently had their lifts failed.
The letter of the weightlifting law says that the athlete must not intentionally add any oscillation to the barbell after the clean and prior to the dip, and that the athlete must be stationary under the barbell. Tian Tao is known for pushing against this rule perhaps more than anyone else and has as of yet gotten away with it without penalty.
Considering the Championships are in his home country he will likely receive the benefit of the doubt in any dubious case.
Tian competes on the 25th of April
Full details of the Asian Championships here