Russell Boyce writes: The men’s +105kg weightlifting produced grunts and groans, strains and shouts as men lifted weights up to 258kg.

It also produced an amazing series of portraits as these heavyweight giants battled it out for the gold medal, ferocious and hard faced giants every one of them, or at least so it seemed.

Amazing just how wrong first impressions can be as winner, Germany’s Matthias Steiner, wept on the podium clutching his gold medal and a photograph of his late wife Susann.

PHOTO (TOP): (Top row L-R) Viktors Scerbatihs of Latvia, Evgeny Chigishev of Russia, Grzegorz Leszcz of Poland, Maama Lolohea of Toga, (bottom row L-R) Artem Udachyn of Ukraine, Matthias Steiner of Germany, Jeon Sangguen of South Korea and Ihor Shymechko of Ukraine compete in the men’s +105kg weightlifting competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 19, 2008 in this combination picture. REUTERS/Yves Herman

PHOTO: (BOTTOM): Matthias Steiner of Germany holds a photo of his late wife Susann as he poses with his gold medal in the men’s +105kg Group A weightlifting competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 19, 2008. REUTERS/Alvin Chan

For a selection of other great Reuters pix from the Games click here.