Weightlifting seems simple enough. You lift a weight above your head, and whoever lifts the most wins, right? Well...not quite. It turns out that the manner in which an athlete lifts a weight affects which set of muscles are employed. Thus, to guarantee a fair assessment of strength, Olympic Weightlifting requires athletes to perform two different lifting techniques. First is a snatch, in which they tug up the barbell in a single motion. The second is called the clean and jerk: a two stage lift which generally allows for larger weight. The sum of these two techniques is used to decide the winner. There used to be a 3rd variant required by the Olympics: the clean and press. This third one was a similar two-stage lift, except the second part was a slow push ('press') upwards as opposed to a quick jerk under the bar. Athletes discovered that they could 'press' more effectively by leaning way back, as this added the strength of their back muscles and pectorals. However, in addition to being very dangerous, leaning back made it difficult for judges to distinguish proper technique. Because of this, in 1972, the clean and press was removed from the Olympics.
Bonus:
What about the numbers? The record for the 'snatch' is 217 kg. The record for the 'clean and jerk' technique is 266 kg. The record for the most anyone's ever lifted (a deadlift, where it is not necessary to bring the barbell above your head) is 535 kg.
-E
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