ANCIENT ORIGINS

$1 MILLION PROVIDES POWER FOR THREE GOLD MEDALS

The first signs that man was lifting things for exercise and to gain strength date back almost 6,000 years, some records suggest. The first firm evidence is found in Egyptian paintings from 4,000 BC which show the sons of pharaohs lifting sandbags, among other weighty things, for exercise.

Weightlifting has long been used by sportsmen and women as well as the military as a way of putting on the pounds and gaining fitness. Chinese soldiers practised a form of lifting similar to today's snatch when they hoisted dings, large two-handled cooking pots.

The Greeks held lifting up as an art that reflected balance of body and mind. In those days, lifters hoisted stone blocks above their heads. That practice gave way to dumb-bells and later the bar we know today was adopted. Weightlifting has not always enjoyed a classical position, however. Freak shows, circus acts and contests proclaiming "The World's Strongest Man" and "Mr Universe" have featured in the sport's history.

Proper weightlifting clubs developed in Germany and Austria in the 19th century, and the first recorded weightlifting competition took place in Vienna in 1877, though alongside the form of lifting we know today were contests involving people who could lift objects with their teeth and hair, among other parts of the anatomy.

Further bizarre lifting habits were recorded in the first "World Record List of Amateurs", which appeared in a New York magazine in 1892. One of those was the effort of a certain Adam Corcoran, of Chicago, who pressed a 5.44kg weight 14,000 times.