Matthias Steiner

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This is a post by my friend, Brent. One of his hobbies is to get on YouTube and watch videos of Olympic weightlifting, and he has done so for years (along with eating alone at restaurants, loving techno music, and getting chastised at work for having sweet hair). He has a pretty good knowledge of current weightlifters, and I’ve invited him to weigh in on well known lifters throughout the world.
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Matthias Steiner started competing as an Olympic weightlifter in 1995 for Austria. He was a relatively 70s big athlete from the outset, and rapidly grew into a competitive 105k lifter, and would eventually produce a 405k total at the 2004 Olympics, which ranked him 7th in what was a fairly tight competition. During his career with the Austrian Weightlifting Federation he competed in both the 105k and 105k+ categories.

By 2005, Steiner was unable to keep his bodyweight under the 105k limit and permanently moved to the superheavy category. It was also around this time that he and the Austrian Weightlifting Federation had a falling out, and he applied for citizenship in Germany. He wouldn’t compete for three years while his change in citizenship was pending.

Steiner reappeared on the international scene in 2008, making a strong statement when he won the Beijing Pre-Olympic Tournament with a 423k total. People were already speaking of the promise he held when he made another fantastic improvement in his showing at the 2008 European Championships. He was the only 105k+ lifter to snatch 200k, and made a lifetime PR clean and jerk at 246k in a solid 6 for 6 performance. Only Viktor Scerbatihs bested him by a kilo in total.

It was clear that Steiner would be the dark horse in the 2008 Olympic Games. He would face tough competition against Scerbatihs and the Russian colossus Evegny Chigishev. Steiner missed a crucial third attempt snatch and finished with 203k going into the clean and jerk, trailing behind Scerbatihs and Chigisehv in fourth place. Scerbatihs missed his second clean and jerk at 244k, but Steiner missed his first attempt clean and jerk at 246k before coming back on his second to take 248. Chigishev was successful at 240, 247, and 250k, which, along with his 210k snatch, gave him 460 for the lead.

Scerbatihs and Steiner would determine the medal rankings with their last attempts on the clean and jerk. To take first place, they would both need to take unreasonably large jumps in their attempts, but this was the fucking Olympics. Nobody was playing games, they had all quit school because of recess.

Scerbatihs would make a valiant attempt at 257, but was not able to pull through.

Steiner knew what he needed to do; he needed 461 to win, and he called for 258k on the bar. This would be a 10k increase from his second attempt, and a huge lifetime PR. The clean pinned him for a moment, but he powered out of the hole and set himself for the jerk. As he stuck the shit out of the jerk, the auditorium, which had held their silence during his effort, exploded with cheers and applause for he had produced one of the biggest upsets in weightlifting history.


59 thoughts on “Matthias Steiner”

  1. I just want to say that I came very close to shedding a tear when Steiner held the picture up on the podium after being presented with the Gold Medal.

    Watch the video and you’ll know what I’m referring to.

  2. I believe this is the strongest argument for competition presented on 70s Big to date. That is an amazing story and that video says everything that needs to be said.

  3. Talk about moments in life that will define you. The story behind what led upto that lift could have come out of a movie.

    On an unrelated note, I have a little 70’s Big story of my own to share. Myself and three friends have been questing towards 70’s big and male adulthood for over half a year now. Tonight we learned that in the process my house has become ‘that house’ in the neighbourhood. We train out of my garage, Crossfit gyms in the area are super expensive and no where else is friendly to the kind of noise that goes along with what we do; be it dropping a weight or getting pumped for a set AC style.

    I was finishing up my sets of deadlifts at 385 and dumped the weight when I was informed by my younger sister there was a man at the door upset about “inconsiderate teenagers who don’t know how to lift weights”. I went out to explain the situation to this rather hostile older man in a calm and collected manner only to be met with more grumpiness and threats to call the police over noise disturbances. The bylaws here actually allow for a chainsaw to be run until 10 at night so I told him if that was what he wished to do I would not object. Wasn’t going to stop me from trying to train like Ricky Bruch. Apparently the grunting or yelling scares small children in neighbouring homes and the vibrations from occasionally dropping a weight “vibrate their houses”.

    I apologized for the noise, but informed him it was within the bylaw. We would be finishing our sets tonight and continue with our regular routune in the future, but would try to start and finish earlier (it was about 9). He asked how long before he could expect this to stop and I explained it wasn’t something that was going to stop. So long as we are full time students and working only part time we weren’t going to be able to afford a gym friendly to this type of training. At which point he appeared to simply give up and leave still frustrated.

    In questing to get 70’s Big we have become the terrors of the neighbourhood toddlers and elderly and are marked as ‘that house’ on the street. No longer are loud parties the issue in suburban Canada, it is now youth barbell training.

    In conclusion, haters gonna hate.

  4. Would the successful variant of an AC Jump be a Steiner Jump, Justin?

    Gant wrote the AC Jump, so I’m not the authority. I’m gonna go ahead and say no since Steiner actually made his in order to win. Different situation.

    –Justin

  6. what the fuck ectropy. nice! you got to be moving 70’s big weight if it vibrates to your neighbor houses. haha.

    in my gym i am known as “that kid” because i am the only one that squats with two plates each side…well i am not that strong so they know me as the only one that squats period

    @@ i have a question, why does it seem that when steiner’s shins touch the bar at set up, his elbows are in the way of his kness or am i wrong?

  13. Awesome video and inspiring story. As I’m getting more and more into strength training, I find myself enjoying learning about various weightlifters/olympic lifters.

    Can’t wait to hear more stories like this.

  18. I am not afraid to admit I cried when Steiner got up on the podium with the photo of his dead wife in his hand.

    Ectropy, if I lived in your neighborhood, I would totally get my grumpy old man ass over to your house…

    …to see what your training setup looked like. I wish my fucking neighborhood had some kids trying to get 70s big. Instead, I get a few kids who want to train, but whose parents discourage it because “weight training interferes with baseball.” Clueless asshats. When my skinny 11 year old daughter can out-squat and out-press your 13 year old son, you should be pretty fucking worried that he won’t be strong enough to swing a bat.

  19. Steiner is the man. Love his story. I almost got to see him lift at the 2009 Arnold but he got injured before it and couldn’t make it.

    Ectropy – Great stuff! I’d love to have a nice setup in my garage some day and become known as “THAT house”! Someday I’ll have a giant tire to flip up and down my driveway, too. That’ll scare ’em good.

  23. This is basically the greatest thing that can happen in either of the two barbell sports, pushing up your third attempt to win. Generally a third attempt is already a PR attempt but having to up it in order to win and hitting it is one of the greatest feelings. I’ve been able to do this once (not anywhere close to the type of jump steiner made) where I had called for 317.5 for my final attempt deadlift, but my main competition hit his third leaving me needing 320 to win the class on bodyweight. I ended up getting it and its definitely the favorite lift of my life up to this point.

    And this wasn’t any type of dumb jump, this was what he needed to do. Choosing any other weight would have been stupid. You don’t train for second place.

  29. Great write-up, very inspiring!

    As far as big tires go, I just got a big grader tire yesterday! I now have the tire, a sledge, a 50lb sandbag, a 1.5 & 2 pood kettlebell, a 20″ box, and my barbell and plates. What would be some good combinations for some conditioning workouts? Thanks!

  30. @EJLouis-
    That does appear to be the Official 70s Big Face, as previously modeled by AC, Justin, and Chris. It needs a better name than O7BF though, or at least a good made-up backstory for it.

  32. What a lift, that was fantastic. I could not imagine pulling through something like that and hitting a 10 kg PR for a gold medal. Amazing.

    I had an epic failure of a training day today. Tried to use my new belt (Elitefts Double prong that was just on sale). I was suppossed to squat 355x5x3 but could not hit proper depth which caused me to push forward. Belt pinched the shit out of me, hips and ribs. Is this something Im going to have to push through? I’m also kinda short at 5’7″, is the belt too wide for me?

  35. Homer, I broke it in for a good two nights before using it,but I feel like its the width of the belt and my short ass torso. If the pinching is normal then I will just give it another go on Friday. Thanks

  36. Brian G,
    If by “pitching forward” you mean you were unable to maintain your back angle and your back went horizontal and your spine went into flexion, then yea the belt would most likely pinch the shit outta ya. If good form was maintained and the belt still pinched, then maybe it is a belt width thing. How did the belt feel on your warm up sets? Was it digging into your ribs then?

  37. Brian G.
    I have the same problem, but at 6’2″ it’s probably a little worse, i cant squat or deadlift with a belt at all due to the width of the belt destroying my ribs, I order one of those goofy tapered belts from Inzer a few days ago, in the hopes ill finally be able to belt up for the big lifts, hasn’t come in yet, but I’ll post an update after I lift with it.

    Moody didn’t clarify that he has an extremely, horribly short torso. Shorter than any of you. This makes certain things difficult for him, especially they whole “being a lecher thing”.

    –Justin

  38. Great write up Brent, I really enjoyed it. I will be awaiting a vid from you of an interpretive dance that includes Oly lifting.

    Ectropy,
    I know how it is. My neighbors think my friends and I are crazy. But they do not complain, they just ask my buddy who lives with me why they hear so much yelling and loud booms. I believe they are scarred. Either way, they leave me alone.

  39. Ryan- As I tried to hit proper depth, which isn’t a problem I have, I felt like the belt was binding between my ribs and hips which pinched the shit out of both and basically stops my descent. As my belt would bind I found my weight would start to shift forward. The belt pinched me on all warm up sets, which I thought was just something that would get easier as the weight went on. As I got to 275 for a double, I couldnt imagine using any higher weight with the belt.
    I wouldnt be suprised if it was a width issue due to the fact that Im 5’7″ with a short torso. Any other short guys have belt suggestions/problems?

  41. That’s assuming that it is being worn correctly and assuming your squat form is good. Not trying to insult, but these are factors as well.

    We would need a video, but I bet he has a short torso that is the culprit.

    –Justin

  43. I haven’t been able to find any articles to back this but I was told by Coach B that Chigisehv had actually CJ’d 260 at one point during training and was very conservative with his 250 CJ, feeling that a 10KG jump would be impossible for Steiner.

    The human is a great destroyer impossibilities.

  45. I remember watching this live and thinking how bad I felt for Chigishev at the same time as being tremendously happy at Steiner’s victory. Chigishev went 6 for 6 at that event. It would be interesting to see an interview of him since, I hope it doesn’t haunt him too badly, he won last week in Minsk with a 440kg total and kept Steiner in 3rd (426kg) so it looks like he’s channeling that loss well into his lifting. There might be redemption in London 2012

  46. Like hawkpeter, I had the privilege of seeing this live. I watched the whole 2008 olympics and Steiner’s lift was THE olympic moment of the whole olympics for me. I honestly remember tearing up after that lift. What a moment.

  47. BrianG, I am 5’9″ with a short torso. It sucks and when I squatted using a regular 4″ width belt I got the same binding and severe bruising. I got a deadlift belt from Bob’s Belts which is 4″ but tapers to 3″ at the front. Really glad I did as it still gives a larger surface for the abdominal wall to brace against (instead of the puny 2″ belts) and my focus can stay on the squat and not the feel of the belt. A belt is a great tool to use, make sure you have one that is right for your body type.

  48. I sat in a bar to catch the 48kg women lifters in 2008 and when I saw Chen Xiexia totally crush 122kg in the C & J, I made sure to catch as many lifts as possible of that meet. Steiner’s lift capped it all off.

  49. posting my PR’s today as i am putting a break on training because of a short term (2-3 month) road trip.

    BS- 405×5 (probably had 6)
    PC- 3×5@ 235 (easy)
    High hand squat snatch- 165lb this was my PR during my weightlifting meet. always had problem landing in full squat. nailed it multiple times and felt nice and balanced on the bottom. im going to hit these with a fury when i return to training to learn the full squat.

  50. Pingback: 04/14/10 – Tabata Med Ball

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