I believe this is correct. I believe the Eastern European countries screened and selected for this. While even average genetics can keep developing general strength and endurance for a pretty good while, explosiveness seems to require the right genetics to excel.
Yeah, and I don't believe that the US has ever been very competitive at all in olympic weightlifting on the world stage. The top tier genetic that would excel in olympic weightlifting in the US all get sucked up sports that pay millions. I do believe that if you were able to convert a handful of top tier NFL athletes with crazy genetics (think north of 250 lbs with a 36 inch vertical jump), start training them in their teenage years for weightlifting, they would potentially dominate the sport on the world stage by 22, but that's never going to happen because what's the incentive? Americans don't care about weightlifting as a sport. and being an olympic athlete pays all of $16,000 a year or something comparable.
From an engagement standpoint, I'd much rather watch Olympic lifting than Powerlifting, but Oly lifters are generally going to peak out and be done by 25 where other strength sports such as powerlifting and strongman will peak out more in their 30s, as it just takes years to accumulate that kind of strength. Fast twitch muscle fibers are often the very first human performance mechanism to decline. You can easily observe that in Oly lifting, NFL running backs and track and field athletes.
On the flipside, I've seen guys start strength training in their 40s and even 50s and progress to a 600 lbs deadlift inside of a decade. There's just no equivalent for that in Olympic lifting -a 600 lbs deadlift is something that is achievable by the vast majority of the male population with proper training and dedication whereas, a 500 lbs clean and jerk is something that can only be achieved by a small sampling of the population with the best genetics. The fact of the matter is, the vast majority of the population can't "technique" and train their way into a clean and jerk of that caliber.
I do think the snatch has some transfer relevance for throwing sports: pitchers, javlelin, hammer throw, maybe a few others. But, we're talking hunting here: its stupid simple on an athletic front. If a person desires to clean and jerk, it sure won't hurt anything, but most hunters are just trying to be strong enough to deal with the weight they carry and have excellent endurance. I just don't see how dedicating the necessary hours of weekly training required to master the Oly lifts is a practical use of a dedicated hunters time. I personally like the lfts and find them gratifying, but I dropped them entirely from my training some years back as I just don't find any practical value in them for the mountain sports lifestyle that I pursue (I did try and maintain them because I liked them for awhile, but its too much to balance). I do find the basic barbell lifts, however, to be foundational to performance and longevity.
Nothing against the Oly lifts, nothing against the Crossfit coaches who have been training them for all of a year and half and decided to get their certification, but the practicality of them for the general population vs. basic strength training is just not there: its too much training, too much technique and one stioll has to train the squat, deadlift and press to improve the Oly lifts.
