The weight of disappointment
When Yang was studying physical education at Laiyi Senior High School, he was already capable of squatting 400 kg. However, unable to make further progress, he felt lost, and trained only sporadically for two years. This was the first low ebb in his athletic career.
Nonetheless, encouraged by his family, he decided to recommit himself. Thereafter record-breaking performances in major competitions became routine.
But later another low ebb occurred. At the World Championships in Dubai in 2019, the deadlift proved his downfall and he finished outside of the top ten. Then, at the 2021 World Championships in Norway, he thought he had broken the world record in the squat, but the lift was not registered because he failed in all three attempts at the deadlift. (Powerlifters must complete all three events in order for any single event’s outcome to be valid.) These disappointments hit Yang hard psychologically.
“I just blamed myself: You didn’t train enough! You simply didn’t train enough!” Absorbing these failures, Yang, who is not a glib speaker, says: “You can’t get frustrated. The more frustrated you get, the worse your results become. All I could do was go back and train more.”

A family photo. (courtesy of Yang Sen)

After winning the gold medal at the World Games, Yang returned home to celebrate with friends and family. (courtesy of Yang Sen)