Tian Tao (; born 8 April 1994) is a Chinese
weightlifter
Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lift ...
, Olympian, World Champion, Asian Champion and Asian Games Champion competing in the 85 kg division until 2018 and 96 kg starting in 2018 after the
International Weightlifting Federation
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), headquartered in Lausanne, is the international governing body for the sport of Olympic weightlifting. The IWF was founded in 1905, and has 192 Member Federations. The IWF President is Mohammed H ...
reorganized the categories.
Career
Tao took up weightlifting in
Changyang at ten years of age.
He first rose to national prominence after winning the 77 kg category of the Chinese Intercity Games in October 2011 at the age of 17. Although not recognized for not being an international event, his lifts far exceeded the official Youth World Records (by 6/23/35 kg respectively), the jerk of 205 kg even beating the Junior World Record by 3 kg.
Tian's next competition was the April 2012 National Championships where he attempted to qualify for the
London Olympic Games. With his total of 365 kg he was however beaten by
Lu Haojie and
Lu Xiaojun to third place and didn't make the national team. During his second attempt in the jerk with 211 kg he also injured his right elbow and had to rehab for the rest of the year.
In 2013, he moved up to the 85 kg class and competed in January at the
Australian Youth Olympic Festival
The Australian Youth Olympics Festival (AYOF) is an international multi-sport event organised by the Australian Olympic Committee
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Aust ...
, winning the bronze medal. In the March National Championships he won the snatch with 165 kg but had to retire early again due to injury after only one successful jerk, not placing on the overall podium. Later this year in September at the domestically prestigious
Chinese National Games
The National Games of the People's Republic of China (), sometimes known as the All China Games (though not to be confused with the All-China Games), is the premier sports event in China at national level. It is usually held once every four yea ...
he placed third with only two good attempts. He was nevertheless chosen to represent China at the
2013 World Championships, where he was forced to drop out after the snatch part of the competition.
Major results
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tian, Tao
Living people
1994 births
People from Yichang
Weightlifters from Hubei
Chinese male weightlifters
Olympic weightlifters of China
Olympic medalists in weightlifting
2016 Olympic silver medalists for China
Asian Games medalists in weightlifting
Weightlifters at the 2014 Asian Games
Weightlifters at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Asian Games gold medalists for China
Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games
World Weightlifting Championships medalists
21st-century Chinese people