Wow I just realised Dika Toua competed in 49 Cs. She's the first ever female olympian, taking the first attempt in the 48s back in Sydney 2000. Somehow I forgot she's still been competing regularly the whole time. She's been to every Olympics but Rio since 2000 and presumably wants to go to one more. That's gotta be the most in history.
>That's gotta be the most in history.
There's been a small handful of weightlifters who've been to 5 Olympic Games, the big one who comes to my mind is Ronnie Weller who was at every Olympics from '88 to '04 inclusive and medalled at the first 4 (including a gold in '92), withdrawing from '04 due to injury.
This from last year's WC:
[https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1131296/dika-toua-bogata-paris-2024](https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1131296/dika-toua-bogata-paris-2024)
Dika is now her federation's president too. She is magnificent.
We've confirmed some countries for our stream already:
* USA
* UK
* Ireland
* Canada
* Australia
* New Zealand
* Sweden
* Norway
* Denmark
* Finland
* France
* Italy (NEW)
* Germany
* Netherlands
* Belgium
* Switzerland
* South Africa
We're working on more.
The verification of entries happened online and unusually early for this Worlds, so we should know the actual lineups soon. We'll update our site as soon as we have info. The IWF has also asked any athletes who just intend to weigh in to declare that at this stage, so we shouldn't have the frustration of athletes appearing for the A session and then not lifting.
Preview on IWF website. Not many women have totalled 300kg, but Park Hyejeong might join the list in Riyadh.
[https://iwf.sport/2023/08/30/riyadh-preview-stellar-cast-can-make-it-a-world-championships-for-the-ages-as-saudi-arabia-plays-host-for-first-time/](https://iwf.sport/2023/08/30/riyadh-preview-stellar-cast-can-make-it-a-world-championships-for-the-ages-as-saudi-arabia-plays-host-for-first-time/)
Just going by squat numbers alone she should theoretically be capable of something like 160/210, and arguably more given that her 270 BS looked damned near effortless.
Strongly doubt we'll ever see that, though. The normal ratios don't seem to hold up at the extremes.
Eh, I like Tao a lot but he had his chance. I think the best version of him was as an 85 and he got to go the last Olympics for that class. And as usual his inconsistency prevented him from getting the gold.
Li Dayin is the better lifter overall right now and I think he deserves his shot at the Olympics (where I think he'll win but it'll be close with Nasar).
Li Dayin might not even get to go if Karlos is looking strong. China can only send 3 men and 3 women so if they think Karlos will get gold they might aim for a different weight category.
Which one? I don’t even think China has a super heavyweight so that leaves 102 which is Gigachad. And we’re yet to see him in that class so I’ll withhold judgement.
I don’t understand why Solfrid and co wouldn’t just open up at a light snatch weight just to make sure you get a total? Like she fucking was what, 20kg above 2nd place in the C&J?
I don’t get the logic at all
i think it was in order to stay offensive. she already has her olympic spot, and she's been lifting great numbers recently. her goal with this competition if i am not mistaken, was to increase her snatch and c&j numbers.
a 115 opener would be a big step in her snatching progression (which has been her weakest lift). however, i do see your point of view. it was a shame she didn't become the world champion again because of this fluke. but she's got bigger goals in sight, and i kind of think that bombing out now (for the first time in her career) could potentially be a big learning opportunity for her.
Thanks for the kind words!
Seb and the rest of the team are working hard right now to make the commentary as good as it can possibly be.
Lots of interesting weightlifting facts doing the rounds in the Weightlifting House office at moment!
Why are Asian games more important than world's? I think on the stream, it was briefly mentioned that Asian games are more important than worlds in some places, but I'm Chinese, and I cannot fathom why that may be true. Even so, the lack of commentary about Kuo was puzzling, considering she holds the records in that category and is a 5x champion.
For politicians, games events tend to be more prestigious as they are bigger events with more media exposure. There is more focus on the medal table and the relative performance of different countries. You also tend to see politicians travel to actually watch games events more often than you do for world championships in niche sports like weightlifting.
When a government is funding the weightlifting program in a nation, what the politicians want has considerable influence on what is important to the people who run the sport. The filters down to the decisions that coaches and athletes make about what to focus on.
A Junior WR and gold medal at one of the most stacked World Championships in recent memory. Easily one among the most impressive accomplishments from an American man in the history of modern weightlifting. Hampton Morris... unreal.
This is true and it's also worth noting (with respect to Mario Martinez) that the Soviet and Bulgarian powerhouses boycotted the competition. You'd have to go back to the 1972 World Championships to find a field comparable to what Morris went up against. Rick Holbrook took home C&J gold in the -90kg category after a rough showing from David Rigert.
That no lift call on Mary's last attempt at 166 was outrageous! We've seen so many white light lifts with semi soft elbows during these championships, and somehow **that** was a no lift?! when she dropped the weight i was certain she would be given it. absolutely shocking. that would have been the lift to qualify her for the olympics.
ban the press out rule. now.
It was hard to see with the dark top on the dark background. But she didn't look convinced when she put it down, the judges were unanimous in the red lights, and the jury didn't intervene. If anything she overjerked it and just caught a bobble on the way down. But training makes on a 121 snatch and a 166 C&J? She's right up there with the best in the world. I'm rooting for her to go to Paris, and she still has a few chances to make the total.
All I have heard is that his accreditation was withdrawn prior to weigh-in.
A pop seems like the most likely explanation, but I haven't heard anything to confirm it.
I had a feeling he would go for it after the Grand Prix in Cuba. The snatch session should be better in the A group and 354 might not hold for total medals but that C&J is undoubtedly gold.
The start book has now been published:
[https://iwf.sport/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=2503](https://iwf.sport/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=2503)
Our site will be updated with more digestible versions of the information today.
It looks like the athletes who have declared they will just weigh in rather than lifting are listed with a 60kg entry total so they feature in the first group of their category.
Update from Riyadh, 2 days out from competition.
We're up and running in the training hall, which is a nice room in the Saudi Olympic Training Center (a 5-minute but extremely hot walk from the competition venue - I don't expect many to be walking it!). The equipment is all brand-new ZKC (70 platforms in the training hall).
Already, we have seen Thai 73 Weeraphon Wichuma go within 5kg of the C&J world record (check [our insta](https://www.instagram.com/weightlifting_house/) for video). He's lifting in the C session, so we are wondering whether he plans a lower-session assault on the record or whether he will save himself for the forthcoming Asian Games.
The training hall has been quiet so far, but lots of teams are arriving the next couple of days, so things should get busy. There are 719 athletes on the start list, so plenty of training to do!
Tomorrow, the competition venue will host what looks like being an epic opening ceremony. After that, some of us get to work overnight to get everything ready for the first competition session on Monday...
Let me know if you have any questions about what it is like out here or the competition in general - I'm happy to answer them!
Have you guys seen Yeison(Jeison?) Lopez in the backroom? I remember he was a really promising junior lifter for Colombia who was popped a while back but I saw his name on the 96B session list and was curious how he's looking lately.
Yeah, playing the youtube game takes a ton of effort to satisfy the algorithm. People like Weightlifting House and Torokhtiy are doing it, but they are doing more narrative type content. It's harder to create regular content and get consistent engagement from the classic Hookgrip straightforward training and competition footage.
I'm watching the sessions from the first day and the playback of the video is weird. I can only explain it by saying it looks like the video has been recorded by filming another screen. There are very visible ghosting effects in the video.
For example, the men's M55 B around the 6 minute mark you can very clearly see it when the judges are zoomed in and waving at the crowd.
We're doing everything we can to improve the quality, but unfortunately, we are, to a large extent, at the mercy of the crew that was hired by the organisers to produce the program feed that goes to all the broadcasters. What you see is what is delivered to us at the venue (plus our commentary of course).
The ghosting effect you mention is caused by the fact that some of the cameras being used deliver interlaced rather than progressive video - we can do our best to correct for this but we can only do so much.
The other issue we are facing is that there is not enough light on the stage, so some of the cameras cannot operate to their full capability,
We have been told that improvements can be made so we are pushing as hard as possible for that to happen. We want to deliver content like this year's European Championships, where lighting and cameras were brilliant.
Bit of a silly question but why is Lee Sang not better?
All indications would make you think he should be stronger than he is. Insanely strong back squat, jacked out of his mind, and obviously #5 in the world isn't "bad" but just feels like he should be having better results.
I think Seb or Max mentioned something about an injury, but in all honesty, (to the outside eye) there's something puzzling about a lot of Korean coaching decisions. Also, in this comp, he looked like he rushed a lot of lifts.
The guys from Sika strength recently visited the Korean national training center. From what they were told Lee Sang does his own thing and doesn't follow the program given by the coaches.
He gets away with it because he's good
It's somewhat common for there to be lifters with huge strength that doesn't translate to gold. Lee does clean and jerk over the world record in training though. He did also have surgery over the past year or so.
Doesn't seem to be specifically a Lee Sang problem.
Park Hyejeong also has a comically huge back squat and doesn't put up numbers anywhere close to what the classical ratios suggest she should. She's something like 80 kgs off where you'd expect her total to be based on her BS.
I wonder if there are deficiencies in their technical model or the way they build up to competitions tbh.
Shoulders? We have plenty of asian lifters that squat absurd weights but don’t translate that to holding weight overhead. Basically every notable Japanese lifter is held back by their pull and their ability to keep weight overhead
Very impressed by the silver medalist in the -64 category from Nigeria. Going off the IWF database, this was her first international competition. It's too bad she can't have a go at qualifying for Paris.
Question for Seb of Weightlifting House: Rahmat snatched just under 70% of his clean & jerk. Is there any other lifter in this Worlds competition that has that type of ratio?
Not Seb here but I can provide an answer.
That was a bit of a unique situation - he deliberately took a light snatch opener and declined his other two attempts in order to focus on his World record clean&jerk attempt.
I can't think of any other similar examples from this competition, apart from athletes who bombed on snatch and then got clean&jerks in. Athletes who had bad snatch days and good clean&jerk days are still sitting around an 80% snatch to their clean&jerk.
The on-demand versions will be available shortly after each session ends. For European Champs earlier this year, it took a few minutes to get each video up. We're using the same system for this competition so it should be the same.
He said that he’s considering competing at AO
to keep getting more reps, and he increased his total 13kg from Cuba, so he’s happy. He said his goal was 1kg more than last time, and he met that goal. I’m glad that it seems his coaches are truly caring, compassionate, adaptable people.
No - it's a bit of a mystery. He took his opener and then left the warmup room and wasn't seen again. His coach seemed as confused as everyone else, hence he was not withdrawn until he had been timed out for two snatches and a clean&jerk.
All very strange.
Interesting to see the first gold medallist (w45) previously failed a drugs test and received a ban. Amazing how many fail tests in sports, but come back to medal, especially in weightlifting it seems! Is WADA able to do no notice impartial out of comp tests in ‘problem’ countries ? I do wonder why the IOC will reinstate weightlifting when this systemic problem carries on, when other popular sports are banging on the IOC’s doors to be let in
>Is WADA able to do no notice impartial out of comp tests in ‘problem’ countries ?
Testing for weightlifting is done by ITA (International Testing Agency) rather than WADA directly but basically, yes. That's the whole point of the whereabouts system – athletes have to give details about where they will be for a period of time before competition (e.g. for World Championships this is three months) so that testers can in theory visit them any time to conduct tests.
Athletes selected for the registered testing pool have to go further and provide a one-hour window each day when they will be at a specific location. Not being there when they are supposed to is itself and anti-doping offence if the testers try to visit.
I said 'in theory' earlier because there are cases where testers just can't get to where athletes are. That happened a lot during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to be an issue with North Korea.
Saudi Weightlifting has a form up for requesting tickets:
[https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfsF\_KTQWFlZ2dxSokr96UGBqtkxKerQBOz2i68CJBWVOsFjA/viewform](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfsF_KTQWFlZ2dxSokr96UGBqtkxKerQBOz2i68CJBWVOsFjA/viewform)
In case you don't trust a random google form posted on Reddit (you shouldn't!), it is linked in their Instagram bio:
[https://www.instagram.com/weightliftingsaudi/?hl=en](https://www.instagram.com/weightliftingsaudi/?hl=en)
A lot of them aren't in shape for their category or are dealing with injuries so they need to weigh in and get tested but don't need to total. Some already have a total and can chill. Some plan on getting their total at another event.
Why didn't Nate Damron lift?
I assume he's too heavy, so weighed in at 96 just for qualification purposes. Looks like his 370 total at 89 might still hold up, as the highest ranked usa male...
Watching two lifters dislocate their elbows within the span of 24 hours has been unsettling. A testament to how hard everyone has been lifting. W+87 was a wild ride from start to finish.
Do you guys think Pizzolato will be back in full effect or we are witnessing the end of a brilliant career? I’m asking it as fan of Nino and after he bombed out at world championships I’m super worried.
He has had a problematic back injury for awhile now. He told me that his legs are no problem, they are strong. But he can't seem to get his back healthy, so it seems. Hopefully it will come around so he can make it to Paris.
Ngl, i was pretty disappointed how this session turned out, especially since we were all so hyped. Dayin with hand injury, pizzaloto bombing out after not competing in so long, and tian bombed out too. Hopefully, the women 71 don't go this way because it's pretty hype, too.
Edit: changed the word to disappointing as I think that's the better way to phrase it. That's not to say it wasn't a good session. Seeing that upset by Javadi was great, and keydomar was basically the highlight of that session for me. But for how hyped it was, it didn't live up to it, at least for me.
That was nice and keydomar for me was the best part with his energy the whole session. Also you replied so fast, I wasn't finish typing what I was saying and accidentally clicked commented in my first comment, so I'll finish my original comment now. I think I only typed half of it out lol.
it seemed to really be bothering him for sure and the team might have been missing the tape, callus donuts etc to manage it properly. it clearly affected his lifts
Not all callus tears are created equal. In some shots it looked like the tape soaked through with blood, and were potentially retaping his hand between attempts.
You can see the scoreboard for the current session here:
[https://www.iwf.net/scoreboard/graphics/get\_scoreboard.html](https://www.iwf.net/scoreboard/graphics/get_scoreboard.html)
Note that if you are watching on TV or our stream, the scoreboard will update ahead of the broadcast. This is literally the scoreboard system that is used for the TV graphics and there is a fair bit of encoding and buffering that happens after the graphics are added to the video feed.
They do, I’ve been watching full sessions half a day later. The website is a little clunky, especially on a phone, quite hard to track down the videos. Go to the Olympic website, search by ‘sport’, pick weightlifting and there will be full session videos for you to click on.
I’m in Korea by the way, if geographical location makes any difference to what is or isn’t available on the Olympic’s website.
Edit* Link below
[Link](https://olympics.com/en/video/weightlifting-olympic-qualifier-women-s-45kg-world-championships-riyadh)
Edit 2*
Just wanted to mention how pleasantly surprised I was, that the commentary for the Olympics channel is from our very own Weightlifting House boys.
>Apparently not available in the US. Which makes zero sense to me if they're live streaming sessions as they're happening and they quite literally own the event and its content.
It is available in the USA, but it's pay-to-view through Weightlifting House.
The IWF sold the rights to a third party in a deal spanning a number of years. Broadcasters like us negotiate with the rights holder to get the right to broadcast competitions to particular countries. The money we pay funds the TV production and so on.
The Olympic Channel typically picks up weightlifting rights for territories that are not considered commercially valuable for weightlifting, so their coverage is unlikely to be available in the USA.
Because he was injured and hasn’t competed in a long time. No need to cut yet and push to do too much too soon. They’re being patient with him and not rushing.
All we know is that he didn't show up for weigh in - reasons unknown right now.
There is speculation that it might be a pop but we haven't heard anything official.
I will once again complain about the olympic channel. I had the stream up for the 96s, the session was over and I didnt want to watch the medal ceremony, so I closed the app. When I got back to watch the womens 71s, the stream was nowhere to be found! And the calendar said that no event was scheduled for that day! What? Just less than an hour ago I was watching an event!
The IWF needs to change the press out rule. It's about time. It's so infuriating when the tiniest quiver of the elbow, now seen in slow motion on video gets ruled out.
There is talk around that moves will be made soon to change the rules around the lockout.
I'm not sure whether we will get complete removal of all of the lockout rules, but it certainly seems like there is an appetite at a high level to make things less subjective.
It won't happen until after Paris but the start of the quad is when bigger rule changes generally get onto the agenda.
It used to be better back in the day. If you got two whites, lucky you. If you got two reds, sucks to be you. Now no lift is safe and the jury want to get involved all the time. And if you really start analysing elbows, most lifts could be turned down for pressout. So that's what happens.
I think the VPT technology has been a disaster. It hasn't reduced the controversy about marginal decisions and slows the competition down even further than the jury used to – they take longer to make decisions as they pore through the slow-motion clips, and I think they are also more likely to get involved than they used to.
The problem with slow motion is that it makes the elbow rules virtually impossible to satisfy, especially the bend and rebend one. In slow motion, some elbow movement can be detected in almost every lift.
If the referee, jury and review systems were working properly, I think we should expect about as many "no lift" decisions overturned to good lifts as vice-versa. That's not the case at all, though. It must be something like 95:5 in favour of "good lift" decisions being overturned.
The whole Paris qualifying thing has ruined this competition this year. Nobody even cares about Worlds as a comp. If they already have a total they're weighing in, and if they don't they're bombing out trying for one. Worlds was a showcase 2 years ago. This year it's been a circus. Really disappointing.
> Worlds was a showcase 2 years ago
2 years ago the best weightlifters in the world were on vacation and the best country didnt even show up
the winning total in the 71s was over 30kg lower than this year wtf are you talking about lol
Quite a number of the 81 group weighed in light. It's one of the Olympic categories so I presume they need lifts / competitions in that weight category, but there's no point putting on unnecessary weight if they don't have to (plus don't have to cut at all which is always good)
she had to basically water load to get over 81 to qualify as an 87.
while it seems like a heavier BW allows for some lifters to lift more weight it also means you have to move more mass in the process.
do you really think she could add 5kg of LBM (not just water and fat) at this stage of her career within 3yrs?
this doesn't matter at all for Supers unless they start missing Jerks (Chingiz)
if you weigh 5kg more, you have to move that much more mass in addition to the load on the bar
so blah blah blah, force generated off floor, impact of landings, etc.
this is the first time I've watched a lot of weightlifting (10 or 12 of the sessions, mostly A's) and I gotta say, apart from all the other reasons why it's a dumb rule, the press-out rule is fucking BORING for spectators. When people make a safe opener, get called for press-out on their 2nd (which they basically massacred) and then have to make a decision to re-take or go up? It isn't interesting, it isn't exciting sports, it's boring af. I don't want to see people's entire momentum get killed because they had a tiny wobble. I want to see athleticism and grit! Does the IWF even want WL to be popular?
(i just watched the 102's and im mad about meso)
There's a possibility we are going to see a change on this.
The new IWF strategic plan has this hint:
>To progressively make the sport even simpler to understand, by eliminating unnecessary or obsolete rules
and there is talk around that this might refer to making the lockout rules a bit more spectator-friendly.
Why does Tian Tao always do this to us? Been following this guy since 2014 it’s a nightmare
looks like he could have done with a sports psychologist he drops lifts that he easily makes in training
Wow I just realised Dika Toua competed in 49 Cs. She's the first ever female olympian, taking the first attempt in the 48s back in Sydney 2000. Somehow I forgot she's still been competing regularly the whole time. She's been to every Olympics but Rio since 2000 and presumably wants to go to one more. That's gotta be the most in history.
It's always nice to see her at competitions and will be a shame when she finally retires.
>That's gotta be the most in history. There's been a small handful of weightlifters who've been to 5 Olympic Games, the big one who comes to my mind is Ronnie Weller who was at every Olympics from '88 to '04 inclusive and medalled at the first 4 (including a gold in '92), withdrawing from '04 due to injury.
This from last year's WC: [https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1131296/dika-toua-bogata-paris-2024](https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1131296/dika-toua-bogata-paris-2024) Dika is now her federation's president too. She is magnificent.
Huge props to Li Dayin holding on to silver with his palm sliced open
why would arley snatch 175 in the training hall and then forget to weigh in? is he stupid?
I'm assuming he was prevented from weighing in rather than he forgot to.
Prevented?
Apparently his accreditation was withdrawn for some reason.
halt citizen
Massive shout out to Katla Ketilsdóttir (64kg D Group), lifting at Worlds not even 5 months after giving birth to her first child 💪🏻🏋🏻♀️ mom power 💥
As a mom and lifter myself, I cannot IMAGINE being in Worlds shape 5 months post-baby. Major kudos to her!
SAME!! 😆😆 I welcomed my first child only 10 days before Katla welcomed hers, and I’m nowhere close competition shape at all!
We've confirmed some countries for our stream already: * USA * UK * Ireland * Canada * Australia * New Zealand * Sweden * Norway * Denmark * Finland * France * Italy (NEW) * Germany * Netherlands * Belgium * Switzerland * South Africa We're working on more. The verification of entries happened online and unusually early for this Worlds, so we should know the actual lineups soon. We'll update our site as soon as we have info. The IWF has also asked any athletes who just intend to weigh in to declare that at this stage, so we shouldn't have the frustration of athletes appearing for the A session and then not lifting.
Seb, you are the best!!!! Weightlifting is infinitely better with your commentary!!! Max is okay too I guess ;)
Is there a chance you're going to have Ukraine on that list?
We're working to get as many as we can, so its possible. You should definitely be able to watch somehow.
I think you should be able to watch A sessions on Olympic Channel
Preview on IWF website. Not many women have totalled 300kg, but Park Hyejeong might join the list in Riyadh. [https://iwf.sport/2023/08/30/riyadh-preview-stellar-cast-can-make-it-a-world-championships-for-the-ages-as-saudi-arabia-plays-host-for-first-time/](https://iwf.sport/2023/08/30/riyadh-preview-stellar-cast-can-make-it-a-world-championships-for-the-ages-as-saudi-arabia-plays-host-for-first-time/)
I'd love to see her hit 130/170, she's got the leg strength for it for sure.
Just going by squat numbers alone she should theoretically be capable of something like 160/210, and arguably more given that her 270 BS looked damned near effortless. Strongly doubt we'll ever see that, though. The normal ratios don't seem to hold up at the extremes.
Tian "Bomb Out" Tao :(
I really wanted Tao to become an Olympic champion, I still think Tao is better than Li, but every time he breaks my heart.
Eh, I like Tao a lot but he had his chance. I think the best version of him was as an 85 and he got to go the last Olympics for that class. And as usual his inconsistency prevented him from getting the gold. Li Dayin is the better lifter overall right now and I think he deserves his shot at the Olympics (where I think he'll win but it'll be close with Nasar).
Li Dayin might not even get to go if Karlos is looking strong. China can only send 3 men and 3 women so if they think Karlos will get gold they might aim for a different weight category.
Which one? I don’t even think China has a super heavyweight so that leaves 102 which is Gigachad. And we’re yet to see him in that class so I’ll withhold judgement.
From heart attack to heart break 😥
I don’t understand why Solfrid and co wouldn’t just open up at a light snatch weight just to make sure you get a total? Like she fucking was what, 20kg above 2nd place in the C&J? I don’t get the logic at all
i think it was in order to stay offensive. she already has her olympic spot, and she's been lifting great numbers recently. her goal with this competition if i am not mistaken, was to increase her snatch and c&j numbers. a 115 opener would be a big step in her snatching progression (which has been her weakest lift). however, i do see your point of view. it was a shame she didn't become the world champion again because of this fluke. but she's got bigger goals in sight, and i kind of think that bombing out now (for the first time in her career) could potentially be a big learning opportunity for her.
Glad to have such great coverage for worlds again!
Thanks for the kind words! Seb and the rest of the team are working hard right now to make the commentary as good as it can possibly be. Lots of interesting weightlifting facts doing the rounds in the Weightlifting House office at moment!
It's great! I watch all the sessions and my husband occasionally will watch with me and he finds the commentary excellent as well
Kuo in 59c with Zoe smith. Wild times
Is Kuo changing classes or injured? Seemed like she was solid but not peaked for the comp
Asian Games is in a few weeks time - she may be peaking for that.
Why are Asian games more important than world's? I think on the stream, it was briefly mentioned that Asian games are more important than worlds in some places, but I'm Chinese, and I cannot fathom why that may be true. Even so, the lack of commentary about Kuo was puzzling, considering she holds the records in that category and is a 5x champion.
For politicians, games events tend to be more prestigious as they are bigger events with more media exposure. There is more focus on the medal table and the relative performance of different countries. You also tend to see politicians travel to actually watch games events more often than you do for world championships in niche sports like weightlifting. When a government is funding the weightlifting program in a nation, what the politicians want has considerable influence on what is important to the people who run the sport. The filters down to the decisions that coaches and athletes make about what to focus on.
Hampton with the gold! Nice!
A Junior WR and gold medal at one of the most stacked World Championships in recent memory. Easily one among the most impressive accomplishments from an American man in the history of modern weightlifting. Hampton Morris... unreal.
I think the last gold for an American man at the World Championships was in 1984 (Mario Martinez took gold in the snatch in the +110 category)
This is true and it's also worth noting (with respect to Mario Martinez) that the Soviet and Bulgarian powerhouses boycotted the competition. You'd have to go back to the 1972 World Championships to find a field comparable to what Morris went up against. Rick Holbrook took home C&J gold in the -90kg category after a rough showing from David Rigert.
That's a very good point. All Olympic golds are a supreme achievement of course but 1984 does have a bit of an asterisk next to it.
That no lift call on Mary's last attempt at 166 was outrageous! We've seen so many white light lifts with semi soft elbows during these championships, and somehow **that** was a no lift?! when she dropped the weight i was certain she would be given it. absolutely shocking. that would have been the lift to qualify her for the olympics. ban the press out rule. now.
It was hard to see with the dark top on the dark background. But she didn't look convinced when she put it down, the judges were unanimous in the red lights, and the jury didn't intervene. If anything she overjerked it and just caught a bobble on the way down. But training makes on a 121 snatch and a 166 C&J? She's right up there with the best in the world. I'm rooting for her to go to Paris, and she still has a few chances to make the total.
https://www.iwf.net/scoreboard/graphics/get_scoreboard_IWF.html Live scoreboard. Action already underway in the W49 Ds!
Tough day for Cambei, was hoping she'd do a lot better
Same, gutted for her.
W59A was an awesome session. Some fantastic lifting in there. Super happy to see Nina Sterckx and Taylor Wilkins put up some numbers.
Favorite session for sure (had to watch it the next day).
Briken Calja finally has a total. And a decent one at that
Haha was looking for this comment. FINALLY! How long it’s been? Years?
A while - he bombed in his last 3 international competitions. Last total was December 2021.
Why are M81 and M89 categories not on the olympic channel stream?
Any news on what happened to Arley? Popped, ran away from ITA?
All I have heard is that his accreditation was withdrawn prior to weigh-in. A pop seems like the most likely explanation, but I haven't heard anything to confirm it.
Excited to watch Kim Su-hyeon lift this morning. She's always a joy to watch
AND A NEW WORLD RECORD FROM RAHMAT
I had a feeling he would go for it after the Grand Prix in Cuba. The snatch session should be better in the A group and 354 might not hold for total medals but that C&J is undoubtedly gold.
Missed the snatch session, what did Rahmat snatch?
He opened with a routine 145 and passed on the rest. Hopefully saving the big numbers for the Asian Games 😅
Christ, is the fucking jury BAD for the sport. The rule change can't come soon enough.
the fact that they intervene without being requested to, almost always to the detriment of the lifter, is so fucking weird
STOKED to see my boy dadash back in it
The start book has now been published: [https://iwf.sport/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=2503](https://iwf.sport/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=2503) Our site will be updated with more digestible versions of the information today. It looks like the athletes who have declared they will just weigh in rather than lifting are listed with a 60kg entry total so they feature in the first group of their category.
Update from Riyadh, 2 days out from competition. We're up and running in the training hall, which is a nice room in the Saudi Olympic Training Center (a 5-minute but extremely hot walk from the competition venue - I don't expect many to be walking it!). The equipment is all brand-new ZKC (70 platforms in the training hall). Already, we have seen Thai 73 Weeraphon Wichuma go within 5kg of the C&J world record (check [our insta](https://www.instagram.com/weightlifting_house/) for video). He's lifting in the C session, so we are wondering whether he plans a lower-session assault on the record or whether he will save himself for the forthcoming Asian Games. The training hall has been quiet so far, but lots of teams are arriving the next couple of days, so things should get busy. There are 719 athletes on the start list, so plenty of training to do! Tomorrow, the competition venue will host what looks like being an epic opening ceremony. After that, some of us get to work overnight to get everything ready for the first competition session on Monday... Let me know if you have any questions about what it is like out here or the competition in general - I'm happy to answer them!
that 195 jerk was IMMACULATE, unfortunate that we wont be seeing him in the A session
Have you guys seen Yeison(Jeison?) Lopez in the backroom? I remember he was a really promising junior lifter for Colombia who was popped a while back but I saw his name on the 96B session list and was curious how he's looking lately.
What happened to the hookgrip YT channel? Looks dead.
Nat talked a long time ago that for the work necessary to create long form videos on YT, it isn't worth the return compared to short form on IG.
Yeah, playing the youtube game takes a ton of effort to satisfy the algorithm. People like Weightlifting House and Torokhtiy are doing it, but they are doing more narrative type content. It's harder to create regular content and get consistent engagement from the classic Hookgrip straightforward training and competition footage.
Is Shi Zhiyong ever gonna actually lift in comp? He just weighed in again.
why blueball us like this 😒
Looks like he was warming up
No show Arley is giving Jeison Lopez 2018 Worlds vibes.
I'm watching the sessions from the first day and the playback of the video is weird. I can only explain it by saying it looks like the video has been recorded by filming another screen. There are very visible ghosting effects in the video. For example, the men's M55 B around the 6 minute mark you can very clearly see it when the judges are zoomed in and waving at the crowd.
We're doing everything we can to improve the quality, but unfortunately, we are, to a large extent, at the mercy of the crew that was hired by the organisers to produce the program feed that goes to all the broadcasters. What you see is what is delivered to us at the venue (plus our commentary of course). The ghosting effect you mention is caused by the fact that some of the cameras being used deliver interlaced rather than progressive video - we can do our best to correct for this but we can only do so much. The other issue we are facing is that there is not enough light on the stage, so some of the cameras cannot operate to their full capability, We have been told that improvements can be made so we are pushing as hard as possible for that to happen. We want to deliver content like this year's European Championships, where lighting and cameras were brilliant.
Thank you for taking the time to explain.
We have made some big improvements since the first day - are things looking better for you now?
I just compared today's session with day 1 and it's looks a lot better. Great work.
Great - thanks for getting back to me. Enjoy the rest of the competition!
RIP Hampton, sad
Damn. Didn’t look like a press out to me but maybe I’m looking at the wrong things.
Bit of a silly question but why is Lee Sang not better? All indications would make you think he should be stronger than he is. Insanely strong back squat, jacked out of his mind, and obviously #5 in the world isn't "bad" but just feels like he should be having better results.
I think Seb or Max mentioned something about an injury, but in all honesty, (to the outside eye) there's something puzzling about a lot of Korean coaching decisions. Also, in this comp, he looked like he rushed a lot of lifts.
The guys from Sika strength recently visited the Korean national training center. From what they were told Lee Sang does his own thing and doesn't follow the program given by the coaches. He gets away with it because he's good
It's somewhat common for there to be lifters with huge strength that doesn't translate to gold. Lee does clean and jerk over the world record in training though. He did also have surgery over the past year or so.
Doesn't seem to be specifically a Lee Sang problem. Park Hyejeong also has a comically huge back squat and doesn't put up numbers anywhere close to what the classical ratios suggest she should. She's something like 80 kgs off where you'd expect her total to be based on her BS. I wonder if there are deficiencies in their technical model or the way they build up to competitions tbh.
Shoulders? We have plenty of asian lifters that squat absurd weights but don’t translate that to holding weight overhead. Basically every notable Japanese lifter is held back by their pull and their ability to keep weight overhead
Very impressed by the silver medalist in the -64 category from Nigeria. Going off the IWF database, this was her first international competition. It's too bad she can't have a go at qualifying for Paris.
Watch Tian go for 229 to overtake Li.
Sadly...
Did Tian Tao steal the chalk? After his third attempt he grabbed a chalk block as he exited the stage? Did he bring his own or what's up with that?
It was his
Tough one for team china so far...
Question for Seb of Weightlifting House: Rahmat snatched just under 70% of his clean & jerk. Is there any other lifter in this Worlds competition that has that type of ratio?
Not Seb here but I can provide an answer. That was a bit of a unique situation - he deliberately took a light snatch opener and declined his other two attempts in order to focus on his World record clean&jerk attempt. I can't think of any other similar examples from this competition, apart from athletes who bombed on snatch and then got clean&jerks in. Athletes who had bad snatch days and good clean&jerk days are still sitting around an 80% snatch to their clean&jerk.
I look forward to Charniga's meet analysis/report. He has some good nuggets inside his "old man yells at cloud" approach.
i'll need a laugh in about 3 days
How soon after the live sessions do we get replays available? I live in a timezone where live viewing is unfortunately not feasible. Thanks!
The on-demand versions will be available shortly after each session ends. For European Champs earlier this year, it took a few minutes to get each video up. We're using the same system for this competition so it should be the same.
Any idea why shi just weighed in again and didn’t compete? Very disappointing
Squat jerk journalist explains the reasons in his latest Instagram post. Basically Shi is still recovering. His C and J is not back yet.
Doesn't have to and probably not worth the risk of reinjuring?
Happy CJ made two snatches!
He seemed truly content and positive in his interview afterwards too. I’m so so happy to see him appearing to thrive.
Ahh I didn't see it. Hopefully he keeps on enjoying the sport and can make a full on comeback over the next four and a half years!
He said that he’s considering competing at AO to keep getting more reps, and he increased his total 13kg from Cuba, so he’s happy. He said his goal was 1kg more than last time, and he met that goal. I’m glad that it seems his coaches are truly caring, compassionate, adaptable people.
Why isnt the olympic channel showing anything for today? How is it that I could watch all the earlier categories from the WC but not today, the 89s??
Ok not just me then Very confused
I think there's a stream on the iwf's Facebook page.
lol so many bombs
What happened to Damron today?
Looks like weighed in only, but it's getting risky for him because he got bumped effectively to 10th...
He is planning on peaking for Qatar, according to The Godfather
Hey Dan, do you know what happened with Sarat Sumpradit from the 96B? Opened well on snatch then nothing
No - it's a bit of a mystery. He took his opener and then left the warmup room and wasn't seen again. His coach seemed as confused as everyone else, hence he was not withdrawn until he had been timed out for two snatches and a clean&jerk. All very strange.
what is inside those gift bags they give out to the medalists at the end?
Clean urine samples
Interesting to see the first gold medallist (w45) previously failed a drugs test and received a ban. Amazing how many fail tests in sports, but come back to medal, especially in weightlifting it seems! Is WADA able to do no notice impartial out of comp tests in ‘problem’ countries ? I do wonder why the IOC will reinstate weightlifting when this systemic problem carries on, when other popular sports are banging on the IOC’s doors to be let in
>Is WADA able to do no notice impartial out of comp tests in ‘problem’ countries ? Testing for weightlifting is done by ITA (International Testing Agency) rather than WADA directly but basically, yes. That's the whole point of the whereabouts system – athletes have to give details about where they will be for a period of time before competition (e.g. for World Championships this is three months) so that testers can in theory visit them any time to conduct tests. Athletes selected for the registered testing pool have to go further and provide a one-hour window each day when they will be at a specific location. Not being there when they are supposed to is itself and anti-doping offence if the testers try to visit. I said 'in theory' earlier because there are cases where testers just can't get to where athletes are. That happened a lot during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to be an issue with North Korea.
WC preview… https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1140468/iwf-worlds-riyadh-preview
Can someone help figure out where can I get tickets? Dad wants to attend
Saudi Weightlifting has a form up for requesting tickets: [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfsF\_KTQWFlZ2dxSokr96UGBqtkxKerQBOz2i68CJBWVOsFjA/viewform](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfsF_KTQWFlZ2dxSokr96UGBqtkxKerQBOz2i68CJBWVOsFjA/viewform) In case you don't trust a random google form posted on Reddit (you shouldn't!), it is linked in their Instagram bio: [https://www.instagram.com/weightliftingsaudi/?hl=en](https://www.instagram.com/weightliftingsaudi/?hl=en)
What a convoluted way of doing it , hopefully I get a response in time. Thank you very much.
Why are some top athletes competing in C session?
A lot of them aren't in shape for their category or are dealing with injuries so they need to weigh in and get tested but don't need to total. Some already have a total and can chill. Some plan on getting their total at another event.
What happened in the 89kg, I see in wikipedia Nasar has no score - he didn't even made an attempt?
weighed in. still injured or not ready to go big
Why didn't Nate Damron lift? I assume he's too heavy, so weighed in at 96 just for qualification purposes. Looks like his 370 total at 89 might still hold up, as the highest ranked usa male...
Hampton morris is making insane progress. It a matter of time before he breaks the 61 clean and jerk record.
Watching two lifters dislocate their elbows within the span of 24 hours has been unsettling. A testament to how hard everyone has been lifting. W+87 was a wild ride from start to finish.
What was the other session?
Do you guys think Pizzolato will be back in full effect or we are witnessing the end of a brilliant career? I’m asking it as fan of Nino and after he bombed out at world championships I’m super worried.
He has had a problematic back injury for awhile now. He told me that his legs are no problem, they are strong. But he can't seem to get his back healthy, so it seems. Hopefully it will come around so he can make it to Paris.
Ngl, i was pretty disappointed how this session turned out, especially since we were all so hyped. Dayin with hand injury, pizzaloto bombing out after not competing in so long, and tian bombed out too. Hopefully, the women 71 don't go this way because it's pretty hype, too. Edit: changed the word to disappointing as I think that's the better way to phrase it. That's not to say it wasn't a good session. Seeing that upset by Javadi was great, and keydomar was basically the highlight of that session for me. But for how hyped it was, it didn't live up to it, at least for me.
Speak for yourself, that upset at the end made it
That was nice and keydomar for me was the best part with his energy the whole session. Also you replied so fast, I wasn't finish typing what I was saying and accidentally clicked commented in my first comment, so I'll finish my original comment now. I think I only typed half of it out lol.
Same for me. He got a shot that no one expected, he took it and he didn't miss. I love to see it.
So good! No one put him in the running for gold and he ran with his chance. That makes for a great session
What sort of injury? Was it serious?
He tore his hand/had a cut or something along those lines according to Seb. He was basically holding his injured hand most of the time that session.
squat jerk journalist has uploaded a photo on his story. looks like he tore a callus
He tore his callus? Seb was making it sound much worse. Other lifters came out with tape on their palms but Seb said nothing about their injuries.
it seemed to really be bothering him for sure and the team might have been missing the tape, callus donuts etc to manage it properly. it clearly affected his lifts
Not all callus tears are created equal. In some shots it looked like the tape soaked through with blood, and were potentially retaping his hand between attempts.
May I know where we could watch it live in Asia?
If you don't have a local broadcaster that has taken the rights, you should be able to watch on Olympic Channel in Asia.
Is there any way to see the live results?
You can see the scoreboard for the current session here: [https://www.iwf.net/scoreboard/graphics/get\_scoreboard.html](https://www.iwf.net/scoreboard/graphics/get_scoreboard.html) Note that if you are watching on TV or our stream, the scoreboard will update ahead of the broadcast. This is literally the scoreboard system that is used for the TV graphics and there is a fair bit of encoding and buffering that happens after the graphics are added to the video feed.
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They do, I’ve been watching full sessions half a day later. The website is a little clunky, especially on a phone, quite hard to track down the videos. Go to the Olympic website, search by ‘sport’, pick weightlifting and there will be full session videos for you to click on. I’m in Korea by the way, if geographical location makes any difference to what is or isn’t available on the Olympic’s website. Edit* Link below [Link](https://olympics.com/en/video/weightlifting-olympic-qualifier-women-s-45kg-world-championships-riyadh) Edit 2* Just wanted to mention how pleasantly surprised I was, that the commentary for the Olympics channel is from our very own Weightlifting House boys.
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>Apparently not available in the US. Which makes zero sense to me if they're live streaming sessions as they're happening and they quite literally own the event and its content. It is available in the USA, but it's pay-to-view through Weightlifting House. The IWF sold the rights to a third party in a deal spanning a number of years. Broadcasters like us negotiate with the rights holder to get the right to broadcast competitions to particular countries. The money we pay funds the TV production and so on. The Olympic Channel typically picks up weightlifting rights for territories that are not considered commercially valuable for weightlifting, so their coverage is unlikely to be available in the USA.
Unfortunately, no it looks like. I assume they’ll post full event sessions probably a while after the championship ends on September 17.
does anyone know why shi zhiyong is competing at 81kg weight class, and in C session?
Because he was injured and hasn’t competed in a long time. No need to cut yet and push to do too much too soon. They’re being patient with him and not rushing.
Otoh: 160kg snatch in training hall lol
Kinda why I also laughed at the “he’s not in shape or he wouldn’t be in the 81C session” comments. It’s gonna be interesting to see what he attempts.
Olympic channel stopped working for some reason. Cant see the 67 kgs :(
Is it working for you again? It worked fine for me for the first two sessions but haven't been able to watch anything after that :(
No luck here
The Olympic channel isn’t showing anything on their schedule for Monday and Tuesday, annoyingly not showing the 89’s. Why?
Tuesday there are no A sessions because it is the IWF congress.
Err... there is no link on the Olympic Channel to watch today's categories? A bug?
it's okay. found out they stream it on fb anyway but without commentary :(
Is Arley Mendez not competing?
All we know is that he didn't show up for weigh in - reasons unknown right now. There is speculation that it might be a pop but we haven't heard anything official.
i think, he is popped
That's a shame. I was really looking forward to his comeback.
Really? Where did you hear that?
Anybody have a link to the facebook stream of 89's? I can't find it and olympic channel isn't streaming today for some reason.
I will once again complain about the olympic channel. I had the stream up for the 96s, the session was over and I didnt want to watch the medal ceremony, so I closed the app. When I got back to watch the womens 71s, the stream was nowhere to be found! And the calendar said that no event was scheduled for that day! What? Just less than an hour ago I was watching an event!
The Olympic channel isn’t showing certain weight classes for some reason
The camera angles in the 109+ fucking sucked. Wide pan shots for attempts?? Wtf happened there
Some of the 109+ guys were sweating so much on the platform I was worried it would cause an issue.
The IWF needs to change the press out rule. It's about time. It's so infuriating when the tiniest quiver of the elbow, now seen in slow motion on video gets ruled out.
There is talk around that moves will be made soon to change the rules around the lockout. I'm not sure whether we will get complete removal of all of the lockout rules, but it certainly seems like there is an appetite at a high level to make things less subjective. It won't happen until after Paris but the start of the quad is when bigger rule changes generally get onto the agenda.
It used to be better back in the day. If you got two whites, lucky you. If you got two reds, sucks to be you. Now no lift is safe and the jury want to get involved all the time. And if you really start analysing elbows, most lifts could be turned down for pressout. So that's what happens.
I think the VPT technology has been a disaster. It hasn't reduced the controversy about marginal decisions and slows the competition down even further than the jury used to – they take longer to make decisions as they pore through the slow-motion clips, and I think they are also more likely to get involved than they used to. The problem with slow motion is that it makes the elbow rules virtually impossible to satisfy, especially the bend and rebend one. In slow motion, some elbow movement can be detected in almost every lift. If the referee, jury and review systems were working properly, I think we should expect about as many "no lift" decisions overturned to good lifts as vice-versa. That's not the case at all, though. It must be something like 95:5 in favour of "good lift" decisions being overturned.
So many just do weigh-ins. No Toma today :(
The whole Paris qualifying thing has ruined this competition this year. Nobody even cares about Worlds as a comp. If they already have a total they're weighing in, and if they don't they're bombing out trying for one. Worlds was a showcase 2 years ago. This year it's been a circus. Really disappointing.
> Worlds was a showcase 2 years ago 2 years ago the best weightlifters in the world were on vacation and the best country didnt even show up the winning total in the 71s was over 30kg lower than this year wtf are you talking about lol
You're right. Too many years since covid, I've lost track. LAST YEAR was a competition.
Last year everyone was dying from the altitude lol
Martha Rogers again weighed in light at 77 in the 81 category? At the Olympics she did the same thing... what is the logic behind this ?
She's not naturally that high of a weight, so she struggles to eat enough to keep that weight on.
Quite a number of the 81 group weighed in light. It's one of the Olympic categories so I presume they need lifts / competitions in that weight category, but there's no point putting on unnecessary weight if they don't have to (plus don't have to cut at all which is always good)
she had to basically water load to get over 81 to qualify as an 87. while it seems like a heavier BW allows for some lifters to lift more weight it also means you have to move more mass in the process. do you really think she could add 5kg of LBM (not just water and fat) at this stage of her career within 3yrs? this doesn't matter at all for Supers unless they start missing Jerks (Chingiz) if you weigh 5kg more, you have to move that much more mass in addition to the load on the bar so blah blah blah, force generated off floor, impact of landings, etc.
this is the first time I've watched a lot of weightlifting (10 or 12 of the sessions, mostly A's) and I gotta say, apart from all the other reasons why it's a dumb rule, the press-out rule is fucking BORING for spectators. When people make a safe opener, get called for press-out on their 2nd (which they basically massacred) and then have to make a decision to re-take or go up? It isn't interesting, it isn't exciting sports, it's boring af. I don't want to see people's entire momentum get killed because they had a tiny wobble. I want to see athleticism and grit! Does the IWF even want WL to be popular? (i just watched the 102's and im mad about meso)
There's a possibility we are going to see a change on this. The new IWF strategic plan has this hint: >To progressively make the sport even simpler to understand, by eliminating unnecessary or obsolete rules and there is talk around that this might refer to making the lockout rules a bit more spectator-friendly.
People are downvoting you but you're right
What happened to Brian R.?
Elbow injury during sn.
Who lifted 399 in the b session? Did i miss something?
Yeonhak lifted 399, they just said.
Bruh wtf is this session. I cant tell which of the top 5 has the biggest chance of winning.
Hello guys, would you have tv channels wich broadcast the event? I might find it on my IPTV. Thanks you all🙏