2008 & 2012 Olympic Weightlifting

I've been watching a lot of Oly lifting lately.  But it's interesting because I've watched enough to the point where I have favorite moments.  And most of these moments surprisingly come from older competitions.

I was watching some of the newer championships as well.  And while the competition is high and there are a lot of great stories across all weight classes (at least the ones I watch), I couldn't help but notice that something about weightlifting today felt kind of boring.  So that was when I became curious as to why I felt the older videos felt cooler to me, and I realized a few things about how the competition was being shot that actually made a big difference.

Cameras

Zooming

So to dive into those differences, the first thing I realized was how different the camera-work was for shooting the lifts.  If you look at the 2008 or 2012 Olympics (links are for the 105kg class competition), it's almost like I'm watching a Bollywood movie, with the cameras zooming in and out relatively freely.  When the lifter's setting up for a lift, the camera zooms in so that the lifter takes up most of the screen.  As the lifter performs the lift, the camera zooms out to capture the whole sequence.  Then the lift is over and the camera zooms back into the lifter to capture their celebration.  It's hard to explain why exactly this style felt so right to me, but it felt like a real action shot.  Really almost like a movie.  The movement really breathes life into the lift.

Compare that with a lift from any of the recent championships.  I'll link the 2019 64kg W competition for reference.  But you'll see that for any lift, they've now fixed the main camera.  I'll give them credit for using the second camera to get a zoomed look at the lifter's expression before the jerk, but that's something that the 2012 Olympics featured too.  And the main fixed camera just takes something away from how lively the movement looks.

Face Cam

One thing that was really cool in the 2008/2012 Oly's were the face cam.  That's the camera that captures the lifter's expression while they're looking down, getting ready for their lift.  I mean it's also kind of a weird camera angle, definitely not the most flattering, but there's something about seeing the expressions that's really cool.  Like I love watching Klokov's expressions.  How intense he looks, how focused he is.  (35:36 for 2008 vid)

They pretty much got rid of it, as far as I know, for the recent comp's.  Maybe it's just an Olympic thing?  I haven't really watched 2016 so I can't say.  And it makes sense why they got rid of it, but it would still be cool to have.

Other Captured Moments

Watching competitions is also a lot of fun because you get to see the backstage tension/ drama as well.  While that's been done for all competitions, I really liked how there was a dedicated camera on the coaches in the Olympics.  So to clarify that, usually there's a camera (hand-held, if you call it that, I guess?) to take the competitors and their coaches back and forth the competition platform and the backroom.  So that camera can also be used to capture the reactions of the coaches close-up, and then there's usually another camera on the other side of the platform that can be used to get both the actual lifting and the coaches' reactions at the same time.  

But what I realized in the Olympics was that there was another camera on the side where the main camera is, and that's capturing the expressions of the coaches up close from that front angle.  And that's also a really interesting angle.  So then you can see them trying to quiet the crowd, or how intent they really look from afar.  

So that's the technical aspect of things.  But I also thought there were some really raw and emotional moments in the 2008 backroom that were special, and maybe something like that hasn't happened in recent years.  That could also be another difference.  Check out the backroom footage towards the end of the 2008 105kg competition, it's very cool.  

Quality

This is kind of an extra point, but I also just feel like watching weightlifting in not so great quality is also just really cool.  I don't really know what it is.  It just feels more raw.  I loved the shot of Pyrros Dimas doing that insane C&J, and you can see the crowd going nuts (7:07 here).  The crowd looks like bubbles of energy.  The crowd is roaring and the energy is palpable.  Which leads me to my next point...

Sound

Silence

One of the things I love about Oly lifting is the silence.  The silence that's thick with nervous tension and raw anticipation.  It's one of the things that doesn't happen in other sports very often, if at all, especially in a sport as dynamic, fast and strong as weightlifting.

So it's a really interesting experience when watching the older videos, where the static pops out.  It's not something that's just there; I could feel it.  Because the silence is not supposed to be hollow, I don't think.  It's almost like the lift demands deafening silence, and that somehow the lifter and the weight is emitting this silence, this fleeting quiet energy that ironically demands all the attention in the vicinity.  It's almost poetic.

Compare that to recent competitions.  The silence just feels like the kind of silence that could pick up coughs and murmurs in the crowd.  It feels empty of the tension that brings excitement.

It was a small thing, but felt very important to me.  And it's hard to really go anywhere with this point too, because then what's the solution, get shittier microphones just for weightlifting?  I guess to me, it feels like a special artifact of a past time.

The Platform

The Digital Fullscreen Backdrop

Okay, the more I thought about this point and became aware of watching recent weightlifting comp's, the more it frustrated me.  And that's regarding the backdrop of the lifters.  You'll notice that it's a full digital backdrop now.  And I just don't like it. 

Just check out any other past comp and you'll see that it used to be just a plain backdrop, or just the Olympic logo on a consistent color background.  Most likely blue, but I saw in the 1980 Moscow Olympics that it was white.  And it looked really cool. 

I'd understand that it's digital because it's a modern day and age or whatever, but it's not like the screens are needed to display ads or anything.  I mean if you need to show ads just print them on the background.  And plus all the digital background is used for is things like showing that the lift is a world record attempt, and maybe some other information, but it can't be that hard to have a consistent backdrop for the lifters, and then have the digital display on top of the backdrop, just like it used to be. 

I think what bothers me about it is that, when I watch the old competitions it feels like the platform is a sacred space.  It's just the lifter and the weight and the chalk bucket and really nothing else.  But with the digital background (which by the way is most of the time just a solid color while the lifter so why not just make it not digital?), something just feels off.  I feel distracted by the flashing lights behind the lifter.  Something about the moment feels cheapened.  I don't know, maybe it's just me. 

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Anyways, that's just my opinion on the comp's I've been watching.  But I mean for all I know the Olympic Comittee agrees with me regarding the digital backdrop, because I don't think I saw it in the 2016 Olympics.  Yeah just checked and it wasn't there.  The classic format of consistent backdrop w/ Olympic logo, and the digital lifting tracker thingy on top of it.  I like that style.  It feels retro but in a good way because it doesn't take away from the viewing experience.  Hopefully this is the same style in 2021.