Chit-chat thread

[brian.degennaro]

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.

We place youth/junior/u25/senior nationals all within the same 2 weeks. If you wanted a lower level, more open world level competition (with essentially entries and NGOs footing the bill for venue/media/staff/etc) alongside the main world championship consisting of just A (maybe B) session lifters with greater stakes. IWF should bring back the tiered event system in this case, making Worlds a gold standard event qualifier while the other being a silver/bronze.

[Hawkpeter]

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.

We place youth/junior/u25/senior nationals all within the same 2 weeks. If you wanted a lower level, more open world level competition (with essentially entries and NGOs footing the bill for venue/media/staff/etc) alongside the main world championship consisting of just A (maybe B) session lifters with greater stakes. IWF should bring back the tiered event system in this case, making Worlds a gold standard event qualifier while the other being a silver/bronze.

I like the idea, though I am wondering how this would be viewed culturally within the IWF member base. My perception is that there is a deep view that the sport 'should' be funded by government sport ministries and that any divergence from that 'just isn't weightlifting'. What we dont know is what they think once that funding stream dries up.

[brian.degennaro]

The general impression I had during Ajan's final days was that some of IWF board thought that the revenue stream from "fees" (read: bribes) would never dry up amidst any shakeup. I am curious how many will abandon their positions as the sport is further cleaned up.

[erpel]

A world championships gold medal which is not retained the next year is a better achievement than a world record which gets eventually overtaken.

Discuss.

[Hawkpeter]

A world championships gold medal which is not retained the next year is a better achievement than a world record which gets eventually overtaken.

Discuss.

This becomes more complicated when changes in weight class is factored in, and on top of that, changes in Olympic classes that draw the better lifters.

We still dont have a 102kg record beyond the world standard, given Tian Tao yeeted that 231 at the Tokyo warm up event as a 96, I thought we would have seen a 102 C&J record at least by now.

In the short term, its nice to have a record, in the long term I'd prefer the World Championship.

[strapping]

A world championships gold medal which is not retained the next year is a better achievement than a world record which gets eventually overtaken.
Discuss.

As a weightlifting fan, Stefan Topurov's WR 180kg clean and jerk overshadowed the 1983 60kg gold medal by Sarkisian.

The context for a WR is typically more stable than a WWC gold - see non-Olympic categories, Olympic year WWC competitions (and continentals for that matter) and so on. You have to be a top level lifter to break world records, the same is not true of medals.

However if weightlifting is your job, WWC or OG gold will typically make a bigger difference to your life.

[Hawkpeter]

There's 446 competitors in the final start list for the World Cup.

The vast majority are out of the running for Paris contention and we just had continental championships. What does this say about the popularity of the sport and financial situation of federations and athletes?

This competition being this large seems like a larger chunk out of the weightlifting economy than many would have expected - bigger than 2022 Worlds?

Perhaps because 2024 Worlds is late in the year and Paris is the end of the 'quad' this World Cup represents the end of many people's career hence the high attendance.

[erpel]

Realistically they are, but maaaybe they can PB by 5kg and then be #1 in the continental rankings!!11

Having D groups for Olympic classes this late leads me to believe HOPE is the only motivation needed.

[strapping]

There's 446 competitors in the final start list for the World Cup.

The vast majority are out of the running for Paris contention and we just had continental championships. What does this say about the popularity of the sport and financial situation of federations and athletes?

This competition being this large seems like a larger chunk out of the weightlifting economy than many would have expected - bigger than 2022 Worlds?

Perhaps because 2024 Worlds is late in the year and Paris is the end of the 'quad' this World Cup represents the end of many people's career hence the high attendance.

Realistically they are, but maaaybe they can PB by 5kg and then be #1 in the continental rankings!!11

Having D groups for Olympic classes this late leads me to believe HOPE is the only motivation needed.

There is no logic/evidence for many of these decisions.

People with a firm grip on reality/probability often have major depressive disorder, most people who are mentally healthy are much less concerned with realistic understandings of probability.

The only thing that you can tenuously argue (with regards to qualification) is that some of these athletes are looking to increase their chances of acquiring a Universality slot.

However, I don't think it's necessarily the athletes who are making unwise decisions here. If the athlete is state funded, why not go? You get to travel and compete on the federation's dime. I think quite a few lifters are just competing for fun, not with the expectation of qualification. From the federation's perspective, it might be considered bad politics not to fund a lifter who may have a slight chance of qualification.

For those who are self funded, I agree that hopes and dreams often outweigh any logic.

[Guima73]

Updated Paris Ranking :

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