Topic: You be the judge

[Shaun Le Conte]

I'm stirring up some history here but I think this can lead to some good discussion.

I'm posting a video from the 2003 Canadian Championships. The video itself explains the situation. The second lifter would have won the weight class, however his final lift was turned down for a pressout.

You be the judge

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NrML6t9mtjQ

[Matt Erdman]

I think the pressout rule sucks, but he did press it.

[Tom Banister]

Boy, that's a close one.  The first guy caught his jerk with a bent left arm, but since he maintained the bent arm, it was good. The second guy caught his jerk with a slightly bent arm and then straightened it, so, it really was a press out. However, if I was judging, I probably would not have called it.

Even though I generally hate subjective rules, I don't mind the press out rule. I think if the press out rule was eliminated, jerks would get so sloppy it would be difficult to call them jerks.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

I hate the press-out rule. It is not enforced consistently at any level, across lifters, and especially across sessions or events. In my opinion, the first lift that got green is "worse" than the second lift. In the first lift, there was obvious breaking of the left elbow. In the second lift, there was no breaking of the elbows whatsoever. I do not believe getting rid of the press-out rule would motivate lifters to use worse technique. It would change nothing but increase consistency of judging, make the judges less of a factor in the contest, and improve our appeal to audiences.

[Walter Bailey]

If I'm not mistaken, the first lifter always lifts like this.  I think it's an anatomical limitation.

[Shaun Le Conte]

Here's a more recent video of the first lifter for comparison. If indeed an anatomical limitation is present preventing full lockout, the same standard should still apply - their jerks should still be held without bending and unbending of the arms.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fcPNBDGsOZI

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

As I interpret the rules, the elbows can fail to completely lock out if there is an anatomical limitation. However, they can not extend to a point and then bend further or go back and forth between different amounts of flexion. So, I think a strict enforcement of the rules would turn both of these lifter's attempts down. However, I saw no violation whatsoever in the lift that was turned down. Rather than arm bend, he had shoulder movement relative to the torso in my view. But, I wouldn't have turned any of these lifts down and personally think the rule is awful.

[Guy Greavette]

I was the head Referee for these lifts and I judged both as "no lift". As you know, it takes at least 2 Referees to agree on a lift and that is the case with these two lifts. The lift that was turned down was a two to one majority and it was the same for the lift that was passed. I saw the same infraction on both lifts.