Belgian powerlifter Sonita Muluh has fallen victim to sabotage by a Lithuanian staff member during the World Championships Powerlifting in June.
The man, who was a spotter for Muluh during her attempt to squat 334 kilograms, placed his knee under the weights, causing an incomplete motion and a failed attempt. Spotters are only allowed to touch the weights if the athlete can no longer support them.
Muluh’s coach pleaded to get her one more attempt to squat the weights, but the judges were unrelenting, and Muluh saw her hopes at a second world title disappear.
Footage of the apparent mistake was published and spread in the powerlifting community until people noticed a remarkable comment. Ernestas Kusinas responded to a video from an American influencer by saying, “I’m racist, and I did it on purpose, because I hate you pieces of sh*t.”
It was quickly figured out that Kusinas was the spotter that has caused the failed attempt. His admission to sabotage saw him receive a lifetime ban from any competitions from the Lithuanian association.
Muluh took to social media to air her frustrations and anger. “I have dealt with racism in numerous ways but never in this manner,” she posted with a video showing the spotter sabotaging her attempt and his comment admitting guilt.
Absolute scum. Sonita is such a cool and down to earth person it’s insane that someone could be so blinded by racism as to basically try and kill her (which is easily on the table with that much weight on your back).
Here’s a cool video they made for her for Scheffield 2024 (pretty much like the world cup of powerlifting) where she talks for a few minutes about her life and her hopes for the future of the sport, for anyone who wants to check her out
https://youtu.be/F6IcU4a4pV8
I mean, fuck him and all that, but here’s no need for that kind of hyperbole. He didn’t try or risk killing her. He made it so she was disqualified from the contest.
See my other comment. But for additional information, the technical reason she was ultimately disqualified was for failing to post a total.
Due to having her third squat sabotaged, she needed to push her deadlifts more aggressively later on to have a chance at the podium, and she ultimately wasn’t able to put a deadlift on the board