On August 9, Beijing time, in the men's 73kg weightlifting final of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Chinese player Shi Zhiyong failed to lift three consecutive clean and jerk attempts with a huge advantage of 10kg in the snatch and missed the podium. After the game, the Chinese team's game strategy sparked controversy.
Shi Zhiyong's biggest opponent in this event is Indonesia's Yunian, who holds the world record in the class with a 365kg record. The characteristics of the two men are also different, Shi Zhiyong is better at snatching, while Unian has a certain advantage in the clean and jerk. According to the data released by the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee, Shi Zhiyong's initial reported weight of 163kg in the snatch and 193kg in the clean and jerk. The weight of the Union snatch is 155kg, and the weight of the jerk is 195kg. The snatch competition took the lead, and after Unian's first attempt to lift 155kg, Shi Zhiyong lowered the weight of the opening weight by 2kg. The final result of the snatch was not much like expected, and Shi Zhiyong's lead by as much as 10kg was also due to the latter's unsuccessful first attempt.
Despite trailing by 10kg in the snatch, Unian adjusted the weight of the clean and jerk from 195kg to 191kg for stability, and he managed to lift. At the same time, Shi Zhiyong also adjusted the weight of the handlebar, but only by 2kg. This tactic was considered a complete failure after the game, and with Unian choosing the same opening weight, not only could he not put pressure on his opponent, but once he deviated, he would be the one who fell into passivity. Some weightlifting fans compared the women's 59kg competition at this time earlier, and Luo Shifang and Shi Zhiyong were somewhat similar after the snatch. As a result, Luo Shifang's coach stared at the clean and jerk weight of the main opponent and lowered it to 1kg less than them all to allow Luo Shifang to play before them.
As a result, although Luo Shifang's clean and jerk weight was 1kg lower than that of several of her main opponents, she instead transferred all the pressure behind her opponents after she succeeded, and the first attempts of several people who came out behind were unsuccessful, which was a very successful tactic. However, by the time Shi Zhiyong arrived, he had a huge advantage of 10kg in the snatch, but chose the same opening weight as his opponent in the clean and jerk, which was also considered a wrong decision that directly led to the loss of the gold medal after the competition. As the gold medalist of the Tokyo Olympics, Shi Zhiyong, who persevered for another four years, finally lost the gold because of a debatable opening weight, who can be responsible for the efforts and dedication of the athletes?