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Right here’s the way it could have an effect on their athletes’ qualification for the upcoming Olympic Video games in Paris.
Final up to date on January 18th, 2024
The Chinese language weightlifting staff — the world’s most dominant contingent within the sport — has deserted considered one of its two remaining 2024 Paris Olympic Video games qualification alternatives by withdrawing from the upcoming 2024 Asian Weightlifting Championships (AWC).
The 2024 AWC can be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from Feb. 3 to 10. It is among the last remaining Worldwide Weightlifting Federation (IWF) competitions athletes can attend to qualify for Paris.
[Related: The Weightlifting Qualification Process for the Paris 2024 Olympics]
Whereas China actually retains sufficient high-performing athletes to ship a stronger staff to Paris than another nation, forfeiting an look at a continental championships could have an effect on their placings throughout the IWF’s leaderboards and, consequently, which athletes can be chosen to journey to Paris this summer time.
What It Means
The Chinese language weightlifting staff was on the listing of preliminary entries for Tashkent however has indicated that they’ll as an alternative concentrate on the ultimate Olympic qualifying occasion, the 2024 IWF World Cup. The Cup happens from March 31 to April 11, 2024, in Phuket, Thailand.
On the 2023 Asian Weightlifting Championships, China gained extra total gold medals than another nation (together with seven greater than the second-placed host nation, South Korea). They’ve been the highest performer in weightlifting at each Olympic Video games within the twenty first century.
The Chinese language weightlifting staff’s absence from Tashkent will permit different nations to excel. The Democratic Individuals’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or PRK), which withdrew from IWF-sanctioned occasions in 2019 solely to return in drive in 2023, is more likely to fill the gaps on the rostrum left by Group China.
[Related: The 10 Best Weightlifters of 2023]
Group DPRK completed forward of China (by total medal depend) on the 2023 Asian Video games in October and on the 2023 IWF Grand Prix II in December. Nonetheless, on account of their aforementioned absence, Group DPRK is ineligible to attend Paris.
Past North Korea, athletes from the Asian area can have considered one of their last possibilities to climb the IWF’s top-10 leaderboard, the first metric that determines choice for the upcoming Olympics. At present, China leads all 5 girls’s Video games weight lessons and three males’s.
Who Advantages?
Regardless of their absence, it’s unlikely that the occasions of the upcoming AWC will alter China’s plans considerably, a minimum of concerning their feminine athletes. Chinese language girls collectively lead their nearest challengers by 74 kilograms altogether. There’s not the identical certainty for the boys.
China could solely ship three male weightlifters (and three girls) to compete in Paris. Presently, 61-kilogram Li Fabin and 102-kilogram Liu Huanhua are their strongest contenders. 89-kilogram duo Li Dayin and Tian Tao are more likely to battle for the ultimate slot, however they face stiff competitors from:
All of those lifters have alternatives to succeed in the highest of the 89-kilo leaderboard within the coming months.
73-kilogram two-time Olympic Champion Shi Zhiyong additionally faces an uphill battle. An ongoing again damage had sidelined Zhiyong from competitors for 862 days. His efficiency on the Grand Prix II final month was 24 kilograms under his finest, and he declined his final two clear & jerks as a result of he was in ache.
Not solely does Zhiyong have to point out gold-medal potential within the last qualifier, however he should additionally persuade the Group China selectors that he’s a greater last choice for Paris than both 89-kilogram athlete.
What About Group USA?
The occasions of the 2024 AWC could have an effect on the People’ placings within the total leaderboard. Overtaking Chinese language athletes is an enormous ask, however lifters like Hampton Morris (61 kilograms), Olivia Reeves (71 kilograms), and Mary Theisen-Lappen (+87 kilograms) could inadvertently profit from China’s absence in Tashkent.
Group USA will partake within the upcoming European Weightlifting Championships (EWC) in Sofia, Bulgaria, slightly than attend this 12 months’s Pan American Championships on account of security issues.
- Morris is 22 kilograms behind 61-kilo chief Li Fabin of China however will compete earlier than Fabin at Europeans in February and will make it up into the highest 4 in that class.
- Reeves is up 17 kilograms within the Complete in comparison with 2022. That momentum could assist her inch nearer to the highest slot held by China’s Liao Guifang.
- Theisen-Lappen has overtaken teammate Sarah Robles, who is not going to raise on the EWC. Theisen-Lappen presently sits in fourth place total within the girls’s super-heavyweights.
Editor’s Be aware: Brian Oliver is an impartial correspondent for BarBend. The views and opinions expressed on this web site don’t essentially replicate his personal. Oliver just isn’t instantly affiliated with any of BarBend’s current media partnerships.
Featured Picture: William Johnson / @barbellstories
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