Good shit. I always wondered, if the Iranians are so good at Olympic lifts, why are they not big in powerlifting, bench press? One would think if they are "world's strongest men" that they would dominate push/pull lifts in powerlifting, etc.
Or is that they only train for O lifting?
It's lack of caring for the other sport. If they stick with and are good at O-lifting, they'll be taken care of and respected in their home countries. If they throw their efforts into Powerlifting, they're just another strong guy in a tiny sport.
Also, at a certain point, they are all worried about injury, so they're slower at pursuing maximal strength, forsaking it for more form work. Also there is some detraining that comes with training for both sports, so powerlifting training has a small detrimental effect on O Lifting, and vice-versa at the very high levels in terms of body positioning, flexability, etc....
