Olympia Expo 2009 = Kings of the Bench IV ?

[Seanzilla HCPL]

(Please Note: The outcome of this year's Olympia Expo benchpress exhibition is in no way the fault of AMI, Weider, Robin Chang or Craig Arthur. They were promised certain things by the new promoter, like all time records, and that promoter failed on multiple levels to deliver.)

1) The promoters are now making unofficial claims that Scot Mendelson broke Ryan Kennelly's all time 308 class record. Here's video of his two attempts proving otherwise.

http://s96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...00attempts.flv


2) Due to the dangerous platform set up (duct tape on the plates, super shirt malfunction and a lack of experience) Glen Russo almost had his head crushed in. Here's the video of 1,000 pounds free falling and just missing his forehead (if it connected, it could have caused brain damage and/or killed him.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb5dHxPfu8M

3) The above accident reminds me of the last time AMI Weider gave the same promoter a chance to run a benchpress centered event about four years ago. Here's the video of that lift where the bar again fell on someone going for a "record" and the person had to take a trip to the hospital.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHr6uGWXuaQ

4) When world record holder, Andy Bolton, came all the way over from the U.K. to rep out with 800 pounds on the deadlift, the promoter didn't even secure the plates properly. This lead to all of them sliding off one side of the bar during Andy's set which could have led to serious injury. Here's the video clip of that incident.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FHuglcCk8I

5) It's no secret that accidents and injuries happen in sports, but duct taping weight plates together (instead of using collars), attempting to lift weights that weigh 100s more than you can physically lift on your own, having spotter who aren't strong enough to spot the weights you're trying for with your super shirt/suit, having unneccesary faulty equipment (bench shirts) tearing, ripping and/or not working properly and causing incidents, ect. are all mistakes, health risks and injuries that could easily have been avoided.

5) It's my company's hope that The Olympia Expo will team up with us again to offer The Kings of the Bench IV at their excellent tradeshow next year. It's time to bring back professional (and professionally run) classic powerlifting that both the fans can enjoy and that matches AMI and Weider's top shelf efforts to produce a world class gym sports weekend.

Stay Strong,
Sean
Hardcore Powerlifting.com

[SmittyTheOX]

Olympia is a big time for powerlifting to get out into the public eye. Its sad to see this happen.

[powerlifter18]

i agree it was poorly put on they should have used kilo plates. instead of worrying about lifter saftey they wanted the weight to look cool