Chit-chat thread

[Hawkpeter]

Quoting from Brian Oliver's wrap up article.

'Total entries were 719, of which about 680 actually competed while others opted to withdraw after weigh-in, which is allowed in Olympic qualifying events provided the athlete is present for anti-doping procedures.

Sam Coffa, chair of the IWF Technical Committee, told the Congress last week, "Look at what a good job Saudi Arabia has done, and then ask yourselves 'How many other nations could match it, could cope with these numbers?'

"A World Championships of this size is not sustainable. It’s too big and too long, and a pressing issue for us is how we change it.

"Everything is open, all are welcome to the table with a clear and open mind as to what we do.

"There must be no self-interest, we must put the sport first."

Member federations can send their suggestions direct to Coffa, who said there was no timeline for implementing any of them.

The next World Championships will be in Bahrain in November 2024.

Coffa said suggestions so far included setting minimum standards for qualification to the World Championships, which could be via continental championships.

Cutting the weight categories by two each for men and women is very likely.

Those with the fewest entries in Riyadh were all non-Olympic classes, 45kilograms, 76kg and 87kg for women and 55kg, 67kg and 109kg for men.'

If I were an incoming CEO, this would be a point of significant consideration.

[erpel]

The next WWC will be significantly smaller anyway since it's the Olympic year and several countries will send no or reduced teams.

10+ years ago World champs used to have (arguably too low) entry requirements. Kicking out categories is unfair. Change the TCRR in the first place then.

2025 should bring new classes as previously announced.

[brian.degennaro]

Quoting from Brian Oliver's wrap up article.

'Total entries were 719, of which about 680 actually competed while others opted to withdraw after weigh-in, which is allowed in Olympic qualifying events provided the athlete is present for anti-doping procedures.

Sam Coffa, chair of the IWF Technical Committee, told the Congress last week, "Look at what a good job Saudi Arabia has done, and then ask yourselves 'How many other nations could match it, could cope with these numbers?'

"A World Championships of this size is not sustainable. It’s too big and too long, and a pressing issue for us is how we change it.

"Everything is open, all are welcome to the table with a clear and open mind as to what we do."

Qualifying totals would be important and useful to trim the fat in a sense if you kept it to simply an A and a B session you would cap the competitors at 560. Another idea is keep the size of the event but maybe break it into two meets. An international meet (with lower qualifying totals) and an actual world championship that is just A sessions. Only A session is eligible for medals, records, and so forth, and the qualifying total must be validated through the NGO and third party, not through some secret gym meet.

[Hawkpeter]

Quoting from Brian Oliver's wrap up article.

'Total entries were 719, of which about 680 actually competed while others opted to withdraw after weigh-in, which is allowed in Olympic qualifying events provided the athlete is present for anti-doping procedures.

Sam Coffa, chair of the IWF Technical Committee, told the Congress last week, "Look at what a good job Saudi Arabia has done, and then ask yourselves 'How many other nations could match it, could cope with these numbers?'

"A World Championships of this size is not sustainable. It’s too big and too long, and a pressing issue for us is how we change it.

"Everything is open, all are welcome to the table with a clear and open mind as to what we do."

Qualifying totals would be important and useful to trim the fat in a sense if you kept it to simply an A and a B session you would cap the competitors at 560. Another idea is keep the size of the event but maybe break it into two meets. An international meet (with lower qualifying totals) and an actual world championship that is just A sessions. Only A session is eligible for medals, records, and so forth, and the qualifying total must be validated through the NGO and third party, not through some secret gym meet.

I like this idea. Ultimately a World Championships will need to figure out how to pay for itself and in fact be a money maker for the IWF. With that in mind, there would be a sweet spot in terms of the number of competitors. The issue however is that whatever model that is developed may not be exportable all around the world.

Perhaps based on continental performance? But you could still miss out on some prominent lifters. I think there is more than enough depth in the better classes for B sessions but overall it comes down to optimizing number of entries, venue costs, entry fees, sponsorship and TO numbers.

I was imagining a meet where C to E sessions remain but are taking place in the multi-platform format and with fewer technical officials and the premier A sessions are featured and sold for media rights etc. The C to E sessions need to be revenue streams for the IWF. The weightlifting economy has never been bigger, and to keep it growing there needs to be international events of high caliber to replace what may be lost from the Olympics.

[strapping]

As a spectator, I'd enjoy the World Cup (qualifier) + World Champs model. The queation is how it would be executed to be financially viable. Using continental championships, prior WWC totals or minor internationals as a qualifier is reasonable.

I like the overlooked option of filling up a session with 17-20 lifters (especially a B session), instead of having twice as mamy small sessions. This saves time and money overall, even if the sessions are longer.

[brian.degennaro]

We could always go the USAW route and have SuperWorlds all at once.

[strapping]

Lydia Valentín has retired as she won't be able to qualify for Paris. As a spectator, I think her retirement was overdue.
However, I wouldn't want to let the disappointing results from the last ~4-6 years to overshadow what was a fairly interesting and dare I say, underrated (amongst more serious WLheads, not social media) career for someone who was likely lifetime clean.

It's too late now for Beijing 2008 retests but I think it would be funny/depressing if she wins a Rio gold, post-retirement, after the Rio reanalyses.

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You would rather have hoped (but not expected) that after the weigh-in regulation changes, you wouldn't hear another story like Kate Vibert's regarding being told that her singlet (booba) was unacceptable and being repeatedly requested to strip in front of the weigh-in officials. Rather concerning as well that no one really stood up for her other than her coach.

Side note: Her lifting results (prior to Cuban grand prix) are under her previous married name, even the ones before she was married. IWF IT is a mess, between this and listing birthdays incorrectly resulting in 2 (or more) "lifters" for a given human being.

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Entries should be listed within a week or two for the IWF Grand Prix II in Doha, as it's getting to two months away.

A bizarre "list of athletes" (not really, for these events) was created instead of an entry list, which is at least more manageable than the official site which is a pain in the rear.

The IWF Congress was a meaningless procession. It will be interesting to see what happens at IOC level at their next meeting.

I would agree with a set of sensible, statistically based categories instead of the currently politically driven categories.

We could always go the USAW route and have SuperWorlds all at once.

I don't know enough about either American weightlifting culture or internet weightlifting culture (a clone of the aforementioned point) to understand this.

[Guima73]

https://iwf.sport/qualif2024/P2024_Qualification/

Updated Ranking for Paris

[Hawkpeter]

You would rather have hoped (but not expected) that after the weigh-in regulation changes, you wouldn't hear another story like Kate Vibert's regarding being told that her singlet (booba) was unacceptable and being repeatedly requested to strip in front of the weigh-in officials. Rather concerning as well that no one really stood up for her other than her coach.

Side note: Her lifting results (prior to Cuban grand prix) are under her previous married name, even the ones before she was married. IWF IT is a mess, between this and listing birthdays incorrectly resulting in 2 (or more) "lifters" for a given human being.

I dont understand this story, but a significant part of it seems to be the lack of definition of what constitutes what 'the singlet' is. An interpretation I have seen seen is that it should be the singlet that you are going to use in the competition. The IWF could have written that but they didnt. Athletes and coaches are right to push the boundary.

As far as officials making some sort of big deal about how modestly the weigh in attire is - I mean, we just finished a period in the sport where athletes could weigh in naked. What were the officials objecting to? If they want to make an issue about the interpretation of the new rule you have to do it in a way that doesn't make athletes feel violated.

I would be curious to hear whether athletes felt that the previous rules were administered appropriately.

[erpel]

I like the overlooked option of filling up a session with 17-20 lifters (especially a B session), instead of having twice as mamy small sessions.

Current TCRR limits size to 18, but that's a worthwhile idea regardless. The A group should not be larger than 10 (presentation and flow of the televised competition).