Weightlifting
1920:Filippo Bottino, Italy, 70kg / 75kg total: 265kg
2008:Andrei Aramnau, Belarus, Snatch: 200kg, Clean & Jerk, 236kg: 436kg
Before CrossFit competitions and World's Strongest Man Competitions, there was Olympic weightlifting. The original competition was simple: add up the weight lifted in two events (the Clean & Jerk and the Snatch) to attain a score. The improvements here are easy to put in perspective. In 1920, Filippo Bottino's winning gold medal score was 265kgs—roughly 580 pounds. In 2008, Andrei Aramnau lifted 520 pounds in the Clean & Jerk alone, almost beating Bottino's combined weight lift in one lifting event. Aramnau's combined lift total came close to half a ton.
