What ever happened to the Clean & Press?

When the modern Olympics started in 1896, the weightlifting competition consisted of the One-Hand Clean & Jerk and the Two-Hands Clean & Jerk. The Press entered the Olympics in 1924. Along with the One-Hand Snatch, One-Hand Clean and Jerk, (done with the opposite hand) the Two-Hand Snatch and the Two-Hand Clean and Jerk, we were up to five lifts. At this time the Press was a military press. The lifter stood like a soldier at attention. The bar actually had to go out and around his face! It wasn't pressed straight up; that came later. He also had to do the lift at the same speed as the referee raised his hand. This eventually gave way to leaning back very slightly so the bar could follow a straight path on it's way overhead. Still pretty strict. By the end of the second world war the Soviet Union was accepted into the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). They were determined to dominate world weightlifting. Their coaches told the lifters to ignore the rule of no back bend. A little backbend here and there; it was getting passed by the referees! The Russians got so good at getting these presses passed that the records were climbing faster than the snatch and the clean and jerk combined! Eventually, before the press was dropped from competition, some lifters were "pressing" more than they could clean and jerk! Instead of enforcing the rules, the rules were actually rewritten in 1956 to read that the lift would be done "without exaggerated back bend." How much was too much? It was up to individual interpetation. There were a few styles of pressing, but the "Russian style" broke all the rules. First, leaning back before starting the press; then quickly coming erect to launch the bar into the air. Then laying way back to straighten the arms, only to come erect again to finish the lift. Instead of being a slow strength lift like it was supposed to be, the press had become a "quick lift" like the snatch or jerk. If the press was done fast enough, it seemed, a lot of bad lifting would pass. By 1964, the IWF knew that things were out of hand. Thus a motion to eliminate the Press was made at the IWF congress at the Tokyo Olympics. It failed. A similar motion was tried in Mexico City at the 1968 Olympics. It failed, too. However, at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, a motion to eliminate the press finally passed, and starting on January 1st, 1973 only the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk officially remained. Too bad. It was a good lift.