Hercules II looks for Olympic gold
Move over Hercules, the world's strongest man is muscling into your territory. Iran's Hossein Rezazadeh, a colossus who stands over six-foot tall and weighs 160kg, is looking to rewrite Greek folklore by defending his Olympic weightlifting superheavyweight title in Athens on Wednesday.
Known for summoning up the Gods to give him strength before every lift, Rezazadeh realises that only a Herculean effort will land him gold. "To win the gold medal I will have to lift (a total of) 475kg. That will be a new world record," said the softly-spoken gentle giant. "There is no alternative."
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The deeply-religious 26-year-old has taken weightlifting by storm since bursting onto the scene in record-breaking fashion at the 2000 Sydney Games, a victory which saw him dubbed ‘The World's Strongest Man’.
He was voted World Lifter of the Year and Iran's Sportsman of the Year in 2003 and is hot favourite for gold in Athens after winning his second straight world title last November.
Rezazadeh says a short prayer before every lift, invoking the spirit of an Islamic warrior, and awes the crowd with his superman-like feats of strength. He holds the world record of 263kg in the clean and jerk - that's the equivalent of lifting two fridge freezers above his head.
Rezazadeh, an icon in Iran whose wedding near Mecca was shown live on television last year, has a season's personal best of 470kg which is 10kg better than his nearest rival in the 10-strong field of man mountains. The people's favourite is Ronny Weller of Germany who will be bidding for a fifth Olympic medal.
The 35-year-old won bronze at the 1988 Seoul Olympics when just 19, gold in Barcelona four years later and silvers in Atlanta and Sydney. He resurrected his career after being close to death after a car accident in 1990 in which his girlfriend died.
Weller was stunned by Rezazadeh's victory in Sydney.
"I cannot quite recall this guy's name. I have difficulty remembering his face. The Iranians keep coming out of nowhere. It is like a movie by Spielberg," he said with a shrug of his massive shoulders.
The sheer physical size of weightlifting's superheavies defies belief. Shane Hamman of the United States has a 22-inch neck, 22-inch biceps, 22-inch calves, 35-inch thighs, 47-inch waist and a 62-inch chest.
According to the USA Weightlifting team, who live and breathe statistics, Hamman's thighs were larger than his sister-in-law's stomach when she was nine months pregnant.
"I eat what I see and can load 7,000 calories a day," said the larger-than-life character.
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