got watching the last leg the other night and zoe smith was on and they had her lifting a 40kg bar against jimmy carr (who could hardly move it) and she said afterwards thats the first time she's lifted since the olympics !?
no wonder theres issues within british weight lifting if this is there idea of a proper lifting program.
just seem's odd to me to be doing nothing at all. sure take it easy for a month but you'd still want to throw a few weights around to maintain your strength as well as stay loose, we all know what its like taking a week off and going back you always feel funky for the first couple of sessions.
i just cant see how this would be a good thing for any sportsman to down tools for a month really.
as for olympic lifting clubs, true there's not many outside of specific spots. dont know of any within 6 miles of my house and there must be 50 gyms dotted about.
as for the 4 years on a exhausting training regime, this maybe true but gb lifting has issues zoe nearly missed the olympics and the europeans this year due to weight issues after she was brought down a weight level, as did another girl. just seems like the sports not being managed as well as it could be.
as for poorer country's i wouldnt been that surprised if there lifters where back in the gym within a week of getting back home. happens in other sports and until that sort of work ethics picked up here more we'l always get similar results.