PLIESNOI Anton

General
MOVE TO GEORGIA
He was born in Ukraine and represented the nation at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia. In 2018 he moved to Georgia in search of a higher standard of coaching and the chance to train alongside his idol, Lasha Talakhadze. "At a certain stage, I realised that I would not be able to prepare for the Olympic Games in the Ukrainian national team, since to go to international starts it was necessary to have the 'right coaches', so I decided to move to a new country. We considered offers from different countries for a long time, but the best conditions were in Georgia and I wanted to go there. Training with Lasha [Talakhadze] is a huge motivation and an understanding that there is no limit to human capabilities." (torokhtiy.com, 05 Apr 2021; accardifitness.com, 23 Jul 2020; torokhtiy.com, 29 Oct 2019; SportsDeskOnline, 25 Oct 2018; glyadya.com.ua, 01 Sep 2016)

HONING HIS CLEAN AND JERK
He has been working to improve the jerk phase of his clean and jerk in order to better compete against his rivals such as Qatari weightlifter Fares Ibrahim Elbakh and Chinese weightlifter Tian Tao. "I am good at clean, but I have always experienced problems with the jerk. There was a time when I took 10kg more in clean than in jerk. I was searching for a convenient position to perform jerk: starting position, elbow height. One of my main problems in the juniors was an excessive backward movement of my pelvis during the dip. This position feels very strong on lighter weights, but as soon as the weights become serious the dip turns to a tilt and the barbell becomes pushed forward. I solved this problem by strengthening my abdominal muscles and honing my motor skills. And here is another conclusion I made - athletes with a good jerk breathe in their stomach, not in their chest, because it is much easier to keep all the core muscles tense. I pay close attention to the clean and jerk because it is a strong point of my rivals, Fares Ibrahim Elbakh and Tian Tao. Yes, I win in the snatch, but I must win clean and jerk too to win overall." (torokhtiy.com, 05 Apr 2021)