Olympic Champion Ilya Ilyin Attempted an Unofficial World Record Clean & Jerk (Mind-Blowing Archive Video)

Ilya Ilyin is a known name in the world of weightlifting, and for a good reason. The former two-time Olympic champion has set many records in his day, but just a few days ago, he decided to post a rather shocking video on his Instagram page.

In the short clip (from one of his last training sessions before a tournament in 2015), he can be seen attempting to go for a weight one kilo more than his world record and lift 247 kg for the clean & jerk. 

Even though the attempt was unsuccessful, it still provides weightlifting fans with a rare behind-the-scenes look at an insane era of Olympic lifting that will likely never be repeated again.

A Glimpse Into Who Ilya Ilyin Was as a Weightlifter

If the world of Olympic lifting has child prodigies, then Ilya Ilyin will definitely be classified in that category. The Kazakh won his first World Championship at age 17 in 2005 and went on for a whole decade being undefeated in competition.

During that period, he won 4 World Championships and 2 Olympic titles, along with the Asian Games and the President’s Cup. His best record was set in 2015 when he cleaned and jerked 246 kg in the 105 kg division – four kilograms more than his previous world record and the last record he broke in his career.

After that, Ilyin took a hiatus from lifting for three years but attempted to come back to the sport in 2018 as a final effort to compete in the upcoming Olympic Games. 

However, once it was announced that the 2020 Tokyo Games would be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ilya Ilyin officially decided to retire from the sport and can now mostly be seen on his social media profiles. 

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