London Olympics: Weightlifting

Pure strength is the order of the day as the London 2012 Olympic Weightlifting competition comes to the ExCeL Centre in the River Zone from Saturday 28 July until Tuesday 7 August. The rules for this one are quite simple: the athlete who can lift more weight than anyone else in his weight division wins the gold medal. There are 15 different weight categories - eight for men, seven for women - and each event features two types of lift: the "snatch", which is completed in one movement, and the "clean and jerk", a two-stage action that sees the bar lifted up to the shoulders (sometimes resting precariously on the collarbone) before being jerked over the head. The lifters are allowed three attempts at each type of life, and their best effort in each discipline is counted towards their total. In the event of a tie, the athlete with the lower body weight is declared the winner - which is interesting when you consider that some of the strongest competitors may lift more than three times their bodyweight.