Hee hee

Update: the hunt for the last judge goes on behind the scene. We currently have several open inquiries, but again, if anyone here feels capable of judging don't hesitate to raise your arm o/.

GREAT NEWS! Brent Kim, winner of the first ever virtualmeet in February 2007 and a competitive weightlifter, has agreed to judge. With Ron Dykstra and Ron Villani already on board, we have what we need and can move forward.

Update to follow on Sunday.

Yes!! Thanks everyone for pressing forward! That stone is starting to budge...

The meet has been passed to the judges. As usual, they have a full week to finish their judging. With only three participants in, it is of course possible that the meet will be done earlier. As usual, the judging progress can be followed in the box above this forum.

In other developments, I will post the 2009 meet schedule proposal tomorrow. I had planned to release it earlier, but first wanted to get a feel for how this first weightlifting meet is turning out.

Stay tuned! 

67% done.

Update: seems like the judging will be completed on Wednesday. I will then start preparing the meet for judging, probably on Thursday given the time difference between North America (where the judges are) and Finland (where I am). Since this is the first weightlifting meet, I expect that I will face some tinkering, but the results should be out well before the end of the this week.

The meet has now been judged. I will start working on getting the meet out tomorrow.

A HUGE THANKS to Ron Dykstra, Ron Villani and Brent Kim for taking the time to make this first virtual weightlifting meet get off the ground by judging.

not a problem

i've come to love watching the sport at almost all levels ... i like to see athletes challenge themselves

This old irondog enjoys helping out, when I can. Thanks,  Ron Villani

Had a busy weekend, but the meet has now been released and the rankings updated. The lift trackers have also been updated with the new logo, and for those who lifted in this meet, new lifts. Speaking of which, Kat's homepage is starting to look rather impressive with a full array of powerlifts and weightlifts.

It was a thrill to see the lifts, hopefully all you lifters enjoyed the experience. Again, big thanks to all lifters and judges for getting us off to a good start with virtual weightlifting. Time to get some sleep, I'll tune in tomorrow.

i liked the fight that kat showed on her third attempt snatch ... it was an exciting attempt, and it definitely seems like she's capable of completing the lift with three white lights with maybe a little overhead squatting ? her arms didn't unlock until she was on the way up, with a stronger overhead rack that weight would not be a question

her performance in the c+j was great, judging from the clean i thought she would have to fight extremely hard to make the jerk at 95lbs, and after a tired-looking dip-and-drive she came through with a really strong lockout under the bar. we as athletes and "theory lifters" can talk as much as we like about driving the bar up explosively in the jerk, or getting under the bar fast enough to catch it at lockout, but a hard, max-effort jerk will always come down to how hard and how aggressively you're willing to hold it in position overhead, and i think Kat's tenacity here exemplifies that

i thought mr. vasilev's opening attempts looked pretty sharp, but maybe his weight selections were a little too aggressive. 20% and 25% jumps are huge in technical movements like the snatch and c+j! but with a little more strength training and some more confidence, a 10k jump here and there shouldn't be as challenging as it was in that particular meet

alexander has a really explosive push press! with just a little practice in timing and getting used to moving underneath the bar, all of those jerks should look ridiculously easy. i thought his power cleans looked strong, too, limiting factor is obviously with the jerk.

pretty cool meet, was exciting to watch and judge

call me Ts

we learned the moves as we warmed up. Alexander has a great deadlift and a decent clean, but squatting under the weight is not his ambition. we sure will see him in the powerlifting, which is his sport of choice.

as for me - I just bombed out. no excuses. will kick ass some other time

the meet was a great experience. I'll meet again.

Thanks for the opportunity to judge the virtual meet. 

Kat, you showed guts and determination, as well as a very real technical understanding of the lifts.  The suggestion that you work on overhead squat was a good one.  There seems to be a bit of a timing issue with your second pull/jumping into the low position of the snatch.  Really concentrate on finishing the pull, and get tall with the weight, before you jump down.

Plus, it seems as if you are making the stomp maybe a little more important than it is (opinions vary on this).  Coach Mike Burgener suggests that simply skimming the feet out to the width you need for the squat is more efficient than doing a big jump up and stomp.  Give that a try, if you want.  Nice jerk, by the way.

I thought that people in Bulgaria grew up doing the O-lifts, so Ts's comment that they learned the lifts while warming up was an eye opener for me!  If that is the case, then simply try to lift with more accomplished lifters, guys, and you will see the speed, accuracy and technique that you should emulate.  Even watching videos can help a lot with this.  Get those elbows up!  Way up!  Whip the elbows underneath the bar, and keep the elbows and shoulders high before the jerk.

A lot more aggression in the jerks, and you should see the bar flying up, and get a few more white lights.  If you are going to power jerk, still try to dip under the bar.  A fast press is not the same as a jerk.  The bar needs to fly to arm's length.

Thanks again for the opportunity to judge the lifts.  I hope this will give more people the chance to learn and contest the lifts.  Kudos to all of Kris's work setting this up.  Very cool.

Ron D

Yeah, hats off to Tsvetan and Alexander for jumping right in. Never even tried the Olympic lift with a broom stick in my life (although I have read Milo for a few years), but I'm starting to feel a very real itch to learn the lifts. Think I have a weightlifting meet upcoming soon... If anyone else is up for a bit of what-the-heck-let's-do-it spirit we could pick a meet to target (the April meet?) and start a thread for helping and motivating each other. Anyone up for the challenge?

I'm also starting to see a real need for a video upload feature so people could upload training clips for technique review without having to go all the way with YouTube.