Giving everyone an appetizer straight from Beijing, the Arnold invitational weightlifting exhibition took center stage at the Expo Hall yesterday - drawing a huge, enthusiastic crowd of spectators.


He's a lean, mean pulling machine: Zhang Jie on center stage in the EXPO hall at the 2008 Arnold Sports Festival yesterday. Check out the shoes: These are a special issue weightlifting shoe that Nike developed for China's 2008 Olympic weightlifting team. IronMind® | Randall J. Strossen photo.
 

Featuring two stars from the Chinese Weightlifting Association - Zhang Jie and Lu Changliang - plus a handful of top American lifters, the exhibition introduced the sport of weightlifting to people who had never seen a snatch or clean and jerk before, and for the weightlifting aficionados, having two Junior World champions from the Chinese Weightlifting Association as a special feature was a powerful draw.


Lu Changliang celebrates another good lift at the invitational weightlifting exhibition at the Arnold Sports Festival yesterday. Lu Changliang and his teammate, Zhang Jie, are Junior World champions, and their appearance on the main stage of the EXPO hall at the 2008 Arnold Sports Festival extends the tradition of presenting some of the world's best weightlifters at the Arnold. IronMind® | Randall J. Strossen photo.

IronMind® would like to thank everyone who helped make this exhibition a huge success - see you again next year!


Presenting the cast (left to right): Hong Jiaxin, Peter Musa, Jodi Vaughn, Heather Snethen, Henry Woodard, Derrick Johnson (kneeling), Zhang Jie, Dennis Snethen, Lu Changliang, Ma Jianping. IronMind® | Randall J. Strossen photo.