A couple of weeks back he said he was still considering all his options. Today Matthias Steiner announced that he will end his weightlifting career.

His London 2012 accident gave him trouble for a long time. I read that even as late as January he wasn’t pain-free.

Well he is 30 years old, Olympic champion and recently he and his wife had a son. So why not?

In our sport, you think in Olympic cycles. So I would have to go three and a half more years, that would not have worked.

Update 26.03.2014: A year later, here is a video update from Matthias.

Matthias (now at around 125kg bodyweight, video is from summer 2013), squatting 190kg for 8, in his garden under the sun.

Reader Alfons translated that:

he points out the superiority of deep squats over leg presses or smith machine squats, their importance in lower body strength development, and remarks that at his best, he used to squat 310 Kg for 3, and 260 Kg for ten.



140kg Snatch Pulls without touching the floor.

‘Snatch Pull from the hang at 140kg. The tension on the body remains constant throughout. This is an accessory movement to the Snatch, which aims to build strength for the pulling phase. If done from the floor, it benefits strength development. Done from the hang, as in this case, it benefits explosiveness. Regardless, both variations are excellent for developing power.’

And some Muscle Snatches



Here, again, is his Beijing 2008 victory.