Tian Tao – Done With Weightlifting Until Next Year?

Tian Tao is one of the most recognizable names in weightlifting thanks to his fantastic results over the years and his incredible consistency. With that said, fans of the sport know throughout most of his career, he has been battling injuries and has declared that he may never compete again on multiple occasions.

Just two years ago, he unofficially announced his retirement on Instagram with this post:

However, later on, he managed to come back and continue competing. During the World Weightlifting Championships in Riyadh, he managed to complete a 168 snatch, and it looked like he was ready for more podiums again this year.

Unfortunately, it turned out that injuries were still standing in the way of him getting better results. 

Two days ago, on his Instagram, Tian posted a photo of himself in a hospital bed with a patch above his shoulder and a caption, “Waiting for better times, will talk about life later.”

This picture caused a lot of discourse among weightlifting fans as it was unclear what had happened, as Tian had looked healthy just a few days before. The speculation of whether he had been in an incident or not ended yesterday when the Chinese weightlifter finally posted a video explaining his previous post.

In the short Reel, Tian Tao said: “Hello everyone, I’m Tian Tao. I posted a photo yesterday of my surgery, which actually took place a week ago, but I decided to post it yesterday.

The surgery happened due to an old shoulder injury that has been bothering me for a while and has affected my training. After the Asian Games, it got worse, so I finally decided to get the operation done. Thank you, everyone, for the kind messages.” 

With this statement, it became clear that Tian hadn’t gotten in an accident and that he was feeling okay, especially considering that he ended the clip by stating that he has already gone back to training (only the lower body and core) and that he is positive about returning back to competition in April of next year.