My biggest "thing" when I started this thread is the amount of gimmicks. I watched Paul Anderson in the 50-something Olympics and these guys today couldn't compete. The 50s guys walk up, yank the weight off the ground to their shoulders with more power than technique, and they press it overhead. The squat-clean and press is technique. Yes, you have to be strong but not like the former group.

The former group also had weights that looked like they just bought them at Dick's Sporting Goods. Just steel.

Nowadays, those plates are some ceramic composite and the inner rings are milled. The bar inside rolls on a milled cam. This increases the speed of the spin of the weight. I am sure there is a momentum advantage to the spinning but being the garage kinda guy I am mine just go clang

The amount of weight they lift is unreal. Watching them, you know they're strong, but it's more like a technical proficiency than it is ripping the bar off the floor and slinging the weight up.

They also get to drop the bar at the top. Once the lift up is complete, they let go and step back. That's HALF the lift in MY book. I have to bring the damned thing back to the rack/floor. I couldn't afford the bars and weights and whatever they landed on if I did that crap.