Video

A Russian Weightlifter Reportedly Died After Dropping This Weight On His Chest (Video)

by Dan Fogarty | 12:23 pm, August 31st, 2012

This video’s tough to watch: 34-year-old Russian powerlifter Igor Golushkin, attempting to bench press just over 400 pounds, dropped the bar on his chest during a competition. The resulting impact reportedly crushed his diaphragm and broke several of his ribs, and he later died from a heart concussion, according to Red Hot Russia. A heart concussion, also known as “commotio cordis,” is the stopping of the heart due to sudden trauma.

This was Golushkin’s first “serious” competition, according to Red Hot Russia. During a training session earlier, the bar had slipped as he tried to bench 350 pounds, but the spotters caught it in time. For some reason, notes The Big Lead, they weren’t as attentive when he moved up in weight.

Video here. Again, it’s tough to watch: Golushkin drops the bar on his chest, and you can see the impact cause some brief (but visible) trauma to his diaphragm and ribs.

[The Big Lead, Red Hot Russia]

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Filed Under:
Russia
weightlifting

Anonymous

Saw this on Liveleak last night but wasn’t willing to watch. My bench, which um I rarely use, includes a safety device to catch a falling bar. I set the devices to be just above my chest/face height. Since these athletes are intended to push themselves beyond their normal limits (in a competition) I’m surprised they also don’t use such a device. Condolences to the family, friends, and those at the event.
Carmelo

I’ll feel sorry for the family. Hopefully, the people organizing these kind of events will take the necessary steps to avoid such accident in the future.
Pentti

So fucken stupid this macho showing!
vt

this is a powerlifting move bench press, not weightlifting
Marshall Neill

Those spotters are absolutely worthless. They killed that guy. You are supposed to have your hands under the bar as he is pressing up. What did they do? Just f’ing stood there. Worthless pieces of s**t. I have spotted and no way would should that have ever happened. Hell, they didn’t even look like that they could handle the weight falling. The guy behind him should have been one of the spotters as well as the guy to the front. Instead, some dumbass ‘spectator’ is doing the spotting. The whole crew is worthless.
GymGuy

No spotter can stop a bar from being dropped… there role is to minimize the damage in case it’s dropped, but it all happens too fast.
spam troll

lifting a weight = weightlifting no?
Old Timer

I have been lifting for a long time and I have only seen one other guy drop the bar during a bench press, but that guy did not have his thumbs around the bar. I have never seen anyone drop the bar with there thumbs wrapped around the bar. If the guy dropped the bar at a lower weight there is no way he should have been trying 400 lbs. He should have called it a day when he dropped the first bar. This is so sad if the people running the event knew he dropped at 350 lbs they should have told him that they would not allow him to go up.