A Lithuanian powerlifting volunteer has been banned for life and reported to police after allegedly admitting he deliberately sabotaged a Belgian athlete's world record attempt because he was "a racist".
At last month's World Classic Powerlifting Championships in Lithuania, Belgian lifter Sonita Muluh squatted 334.5kg – a weight that would have set a new women's world record.However, her attempt was ruled invalid after the barbell made contact with the leg of Lithuanian spotter Ernestas Kusinas.Initially, Muluh believed the incident had been an accident. But Kusinas later wrote on social media that he had intentionally ruined the lift because he was "racist".Five spotters assist athletes during such lifts – two on each side of the barbell and one behind the lifter. Video footage of Muluh's successful 321.5kg squat shows the same spotters widening their stance as they squat alongside the athlete to avoid interfering with the lift.During the final attempt, however, the weight plate appears to make contact with Kusinas's leg. Instagram users later drew attention to comments allegedly posted by Kusinas, in which he admitted intentionally invalidating the lift because the athlete was Black.Racist comments and neo-Nazi sloganThe failed lift attracted wider attention in mid-July after American powerlifter and bodybuilder Joe Sullivan highlighted the incident.On his Instagram account, which has around 150,000 followers, Sullivan shared footage showing the barbell plate hitting the Lithuanian volunteer's leg.Reacting to the video, Sullivan wrote that "this should not have happened" and questioned why the spotters did not know how to protect an athlete properly during a world championship squat.Kusinas himself joined the discussion in the comments."I'm racist and I did it on purpose because I hate you," Kusinas wrote with further expletives. "No one got stuck except for one monkey relative."
