WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING No.147
OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF INTERNATIONAL WEIGHTLIFTING FEDERATION
A WAVE OF RECORDS LAUNCHED BY THESE STARS IN 2019:
SHI ZHIYONG, CHEN LIJUN, TALAKHADZE LASHA, KUO HSING-CHUN, KASHIRINA TATIANA, DENG WEI, CALEIDOSCOPE OF CONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019 IWF YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Published by International Weightlifting Federation DR. TAMÁS AJÁN IWF President IOC Honorary Member MOHAMMED JALOOD IWF General Secretary Editor-in-Chief KORNÉL JANCSÓ Senior Editor ANIKÓ NÉMETH-MÓRA Communication Director LILLA ROZGONYI Photos JÓZSEF SZAKA Art Editor Crazy Panda Studio Graphic Design Marcell Studio (www.marcelltamas.hu) Spanish & Russian Editions DAVID COLON ARROYO MARINA SHAFIT ÁGNES LUKÁCSFALVI
CONTENTS No.147 02-03 | FOREWORD 04-10 | 2019 IWF YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – LAS VEGAS, USA
Printed by TypoNova (www.typonova.hu) All communications: world.weightlifting@iwfnet.net www.iwf.net facebook.com/iwfnet twitter.com/iwfnet instagram.com/iwfnet youtube.com/iwfmedia Any articles, results or photos published in WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING may be reproduced without the written consent of the IWF, however, reference should be made to this publication.
11 |
INTERVIEW WITH PHIL ANDREWS
12 | CONTINENTAL CALEIDOSCOPE 13-19 |
2019 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – BATUMI, GEO
20-22 | FOCUS ON CHINA 23-29 | 2019 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – NINGBO, CHN 30-35 | 2019 PAN-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – GUATEMALA CITY, GUA 36-41 | 2019 AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – CAIRO, EGY 42-43 | LIFTERS OF THE YEAR 2018 44-45 | 2019 IWF JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW 47 |
WOMEN’S PAGE
ISSN 0230-3035
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 1
› FOREWORD
FOREWORD
T
Dear Friends,
aking into consideration that we are in the middle of 2019, and the IWF has fulfilled the very last condition set by the International Olympic Committee for weightlifting to remain on the Olympic programme, this is the news I wish to open this Foreword with. The last piece of the puzzle within our complex anti-doping programme – something that the IWF intended to do anyway but the IOC also set out as an immediate provision to confirming weightlifting in the 2024 Paris Games – was to sign the agreement with the International Testing Agency (ITA) on the transfer of our Testing program. The agreement now duly signed by both parties: weightlifting shall be able to record an unbroken line as an Olympic sport since 1896. By all means, that is the main achievement of recent times! At the level of weekdays, the Olympic Qualification Events have been running at full speed towards the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. In April alone four Continental Championships of qualifying value were carried out, still within the first qualification period. At this point, we need to call attention to certain new rules and stipulations in the Olympic Qualification System. Every Olympian aspirant must register more than one participation in specified Qualification Events in each period, in order to be considered for Tokyo. What does it mean? It means that all future Olympians must be available not only for out-of-competition but also in-competition testing throughout the entire pre-Olympic period! Just another important tool in our fight for a clean sport. At the same time, I must remind everyone that the IOC keeps on monitoring our anti-doping activities, so we cannot just lay back and think our job is finished with having fulfilled their requirements. Speaking of our member federations I must give special focus to China, one of the nine countries that completed a suspension. Its Weightlifting Association has undergone complete makeover; whereby the entire Chinese sport is also experiencing a major restructuring process. The former General Secretary has been confirmed in the President’s position and he, alongside the other Federation leaders, very intelligently assess their status and situation within the sport. They do not target the IWF with criticism for its strict measures, because they clearly understand that it was not the International Federation that created the positive doping cases. China is an excellent partner and it should also be mentioned that the whole renewal and transformation process in the sport and in the CWA took place in a fully democratic manner. China has adopted and has been implementing at its own level the IWF AntiDoping Policy thus providing clear guarantees for a harmonious cooperation. I would like to put China as an example for course of action to the other federations. Without such approach and actions we shall not be able to keep weightlifting clean.
2 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
U
ndoubtedly thanks to the new Olympic Qualification System, significant competitions abound in our Calendar. In July, an Olympic Test Event will take place in Tokyo, but the immediate next major challenge is the 2019 IWF Junior World Championships. A proof that the IWF thinks globally and that we lay special emphasis on the development of the sport in Oceania: the venue is Suva, Fiji. Given that Oceania does not host too many world championships, and within the continent it will be the first one ever in the Pacific Region, the 2019 JWC on this Pacific Island is a sensation on its own. Fiji devotes exceptional attention and care to this event. The head of the Organising Committee is no lesser person than Dr. Robin Mitchell, Acting President of the ANOC, and President of ONOC the Organisation of the National Olympic Committees, a native of Fiji himself. To us it is pleasant to acknowledge that top sports leaders of the 21st Century are paying special attention to weightlifting. We look forward to a historic event in Fiji.
DR. TAMĂ S AJĂ N IWF PRESIDENT
The IWF President was welcomed in Beijing by Mr. GUO Zhongwen, NOC President and Sports Minister of China and Mr. ZHOU Jinqiang, CWA President
› 2019 IWF YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - LAS VEGAS, USA TEXT: ANIKÓ NÉMETH-MÓRA PHOTO: NAT AREM (HOOKGRIP)
YOUNG LIFTERS WINNING THE STAGE IN CASINO CITY
I
t is common saying that in America “everything is big”. Well, this axiom applied perfectly to the series of weightlifting events that took place in March 2019 in the US entertainment city, Las Vegas, Nevada. Many things were indeed enormous. Starting right away with the hotel that was the home to the weightlifting competitions, IWF meetings, Congress, and all of their participants. The Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino is huge with its about 3,000(!) rooms, adjacent more than spacious conference and convention facilities. The Westgate was built in 1969 and was home to Elvis Presley, and he sold out all 837 shows he performed there. By today a skilled organiser of big weightlifting events, USA Weightlifting chose this venue for the 2019 IWF Youth World Championships for good reason. The complex comfortably accommodated not only the international delegations and guests but the participants of the Las Vegas International Open and the US National University & U25 Championships that were running under the same room with the YWC and, in fact, by far outnumbered the latter in terms of athlete turnouts. In the large halls, competitions were held on 4 platforms at the same time, with the centre point being, of course, the stage of the 8th edition of the IWF Youth Worlds. Among the technical innovations introduced at this Youth World Championships the most significant was the Video Playback Technology (VPT). The teams quickly picked up the new possibility and several challenges were requested. Not tagged as a qualification event to any Games, the YWC attracted altogether 175 athletes (83 girls and 92 boys) from 42 countries, many of them making their international debut. For the first time in history, the youth (13-17 years) aged lifters competed in 10 female and 10 male bodyweight categories. The 2019 edition of the IWF Youth World Championships finished with double success for the host nation USA, showing the strength of next-generation US Weightlifting. This is the first time that both the male and female teams won the team classification. However, it was not only on the platform that Las Vegas proved to be the lucky charm for Team USA: the professional crew under the leadership of Ursula PAPANDREA, President and Phil ANDREWS, CEO made sure all guests went home satisfied and with a feeling of a successful event. Dwelling on the teams’ performance, besides recognising USA’s prominence, it should be added that China, Russia and North-Korea eventually decided to skip this World Championships. The absence of such nations naturally opened up winning chances to others of which Turkey, coming up again, Mexico, Chinese Taipei and Peru(!) should be mentioned. In terms of medals, the ranking showed a very different picture from the team classification. Here, among the women, Uzbekistan was most diligent in collecting 7 gold and 2 silver medals. Turkey was next best with 7 gold and 4 bronze and Mexico the third with 3 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals. In the boys’ medal tally Kazakhstan’s youth lifters collected the most medals: 9 gold, 3 silver. Bulgaria excelled as second best with its 5 and 1 medal allocation, and Vietnam came in third with 4 gold medals and 1 bronze.
40kg Medals
4 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
That the efforts at providing a level playing field are more and more successful is visibly demonstrated by the fact that among the girls 17 out of the participating 29 countries, and among the boys 19(!) out of the 33 managed to pick up medals. In both genders 9 were able to put gold medal winners on the podium. Countries with little or no previous medal record stepped forward with their youth lifters, such as Belgium, Brazil, Mongolia, Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia (!) On this occasion, IWF tested an exceptionally high ratio of athletes (65%). Las Vegas giving the first opportunity to set youth world records by exceeding the World Standards, some young lifters took the chance and managed to write their names into the record books. Out of the women, Youth Olympic champion Kumushkhon FAYZULLAEVA from Uzbekistan claimed two new youth world records in the 64kg category: 122kg in clean 55kg: Sergio MASSIDDA, ITA and jerk and 215kg in total. Turkish Dilara NARIN in 76kg was also successful setting a youth world record in clean and jerk with 129kg. In the boys’ ranks altogether 6 youth world records were born and 5 of these are written across the same name: belonging to 15-year-old Tu Tung DO of Vietnam. In the 55kg this prodigy claimed one world record in snatch (95kg), 2 in clean and jerk (117kg and 125kg) and with those 2 in total (212kg and 220kg). The only other champion who also introduced his name in the records’ register was Saikhan TAISUYEV, Kazakhstan. Now, let’s take a look at what happened on the platform during the 8 competition days of the Youth World Championships.
5 YOUTH RECORDS FALL ON FIRST DAY Vietnamese Tu Tung DO, 2018 Asian Youth Champion set the tune in the 49kg setting 5 new youth world records and assembling a whopping 40kg advantage over the second finisher, Romanian Florin Cosmin KRUPLA (180kg). In the men’s 55kg bodyweight category, Italian Sergio MASSIDDA, 2018 European Youth, and Junior bronze medallist won the Snatch with a one-kilogram advantage over Ogabek NAFASOV (UZB). Performing even stronger in the Clean and jerk, he came out to lift 125kg at his first attempt, which granted him all three gold medals (228kg). In the women’s smallest category, the 40kg, with just three competitors on the stage, two Turkish girls picked up all the gold (Cansu BEKTAS) and bronze (Zeliha ULKER) medals, while HONG Zi Yu from TPE received the three silvers. The girls’ 45kg resulted in triple crown for Vietnam’s Thi Thu Trang NGUYEN. Behind her, Chinese Taipei, Turkey and Ecuador shared the rest of the medals. The men’s 61kg again looked like a winning category for Vietnam, because Dinh Sang BUI took the snatch gold with his 113kg. In the end, however, Kazakh Sairamkez AKMOLDA stood on the top of the podium, the only one with six good lifts, totalling 257kg. Three kilograms behind him, Yusuf Fehmi GENC (TUR) became second and BUI had to settle for a 3rd position.
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 5
› 2019 IWF YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - LAS VEGAS, USA
UZBEK, KAZAKH: FAST FORWARD In the women’s 49kg bodyweight category all three gold medals went to Uzbek Nigora ABDULLAEVA, last year’s Asian Youth Champion (165kg). Second finisher, 2018 Youth Olympic Games bronze medallist and 2018 European Champion Mihaela Valentina CAMBEI (ROU) made a hard effort for a clean and jerk gold medal but could not perform a good lift at her last attempt at 91kg, meaning ABDULLAEVA remained on the top with 90kg. The 16-year old Romanian broke into tears: she wanted to take home one gold at least. The bronze medal stayed at home; American Kaiya Lashay BRYANT earned it with a 154kg total result. There was a tense fight Sairamkez AKMOLDA, KAZ – 61kg for the silver and bronze medals in men’s 67kg bodyweight category, but there was no doubt about the first place. Saikhan TAISUYEV (KAZ) had an 18kg advantage at the end over Georgian silver medallist Gurami GIORBELIDZE (288kg). TAISUYEV set a new clean and jerk youth world record with his very last lift at 161kg. Turkmen Bektimur REYIMOV became third, missing the silver with only one kilogram (269kg).
STERCKX PUTS BELGIUM ON YOUTH MAP Bronze medallist at the 2018 European Youth Championships, Belgian Nina STERCKX dominated the women’s 55kg bodyweight category, beating her competitor,
49kg: Nigora ABDULLAEVA, UZB
CHOU Yuan-Tzu (TPE) with 175kg and 172kg total results respectively, and making her coach Tom GOEGEBUER very happy. In the men’s 73kg bodyweight category, both Bulgarian Karlos May Hasan NASAR and 2018 Asian Youth Championships bronze medallist, Asadbek NARIMANOV (UZB) had eyes on the gold medal. The Uzbek had 3kg advantage in the Snatch over NASAR (133kg). Both successfully lifted 154kg in the Clean and jerk and proceeded to attempt 161kg, which proved to be too much for NARIMANOV. The gold medal went to the Bulgarian with a Total of 291kg, while the silver medallist registered at 287kg.
6 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
Best male lifter of Las Vegas: Saikhan TAISUYEV, KAZ – 67kg
Neama Said Fahmi SAID, EGY – 59kg
55kg Medal podium
73kg medallists
NEXT GENERATION: EGYPT, MEXICO Egyptian Neama Said Fahmi SAID won three gold medals in the women’s 59kg bodyweight category hands down with a total result of 195kg. We had seen her talent shine not too long before, at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, where she finished second. Two Mexican lifters were fighting for the bronze and silver medals head to head. Daphne GUILLEN VAZQUEZ could lift one kilogram more in the Snatch than her compatriot (82kg), while the advantage shifted to Mariana GARCIA GOMEZ in the clean and jerk (107kg). Both had a final result of 188kg, but GUILLEN was first to successfully finish the lift, pocketing the silver medal. The three top lifters in the men’s 81kg had a steady performance, the rankings stayed the same all along the competition. Kazakh Yessenkeldi SAPI undoubtedly stood out with his outstanding lifting, not missing a single attempt. He easily took the gold medal with a total of 299kg. The runner up was USA’s athlete, Dade Lawson STANLEY, whose result was close to SAPI’s in the snatch (133kg) but was outlifted by a significant 20kg in the clean and jerk, totalling 288kg. Peruvian Amel Karim ATENCIA PRIOU, bronze medallist at the 2018 Pan-American Youth Championships totalled 274kg, which landed him on the third place of the bodyweight category.
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 7
› 2019 IWF YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - LAS VEGAS, USA
NEWCOMERS FROM TRADITIONAL WEIGHTLIFTING NATIONS Once again two athletes claimed triple gold in their bodyweight categories on day six of the IWF Youth World Championships in Las Vegas. Turkey’s Dilara NARIN secured a golden hat-trick in the women’s 76-kilogram category. Dilara NARIN gained her first gold with a snatch of 96kg just four days shy of her 17th birthday. That saw her top the field by 4kg, before she went on the win the clean and jerk title by 13kg with a lift of 129kg. She managed lifts of 86kg and 109kg for a total of 195kg. All in all, NARIN registered a lead by 17 kilograms on triple silver medallist, Armenian Liana GYURJYAN. On the same day, Bulgaria’s Stefcho Dimitrov HRISTOV managed the same feat in the men’s 102kg. Seventeen-year-old HRISTOV gained his first gold in the snatch with a lift of 145kg, which saw him beat Georgia’s Lasha TAKTAKISHVILI by a full 15kg. Azerbaijan’s Ali SHUKURLU, who turns 16 this year, claimed the Snatch bronze with a lift of 125kg. As it turned out the top three remained the same for the clean and jerk and therefore the overall competition as well. (315-290-280kg).
Best woman lifter of the YWC: Kumushk
HAPPINESS FOR CZECH REPUBLIC ON THE LAST DAY On the last competition day of the 2019 IWF Youth Championships, the heaviest men’s and women’s bodyweight categories competed in Las Vegas. In the women’s +81kg, Spanish Irene BLANCO TARELA proved to be the best. She secured 3 gold medals with a 91kg Snatch and a 112kg Clean and jerk (203kg Total). The silver and bronze medals both stayed on home soil, Julia YUN finished second with a 199kg Total, while the other American, Nia Lielani WALKER lifted 196kg, earning the bronze. In the men’s superheavyweight, we celebrated a Czech Youth World Champion Dominik ORACKO. First, the 16-year-old giant (weighing 147kg) grabbed the gold medal in the snatch with three good lifts, 144kg being the best. Azerbaijan’s Rahman KAZIMOV stole the clean and jerk gold from ORACKO, both performing the same result, 174kg, but KAZIMOV was first to lift that weight.
Yessenkeldi SAPI, KAZ – 81kg The 76kg medallists 8 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
khon FAYZULLAEVA, UZB – 64kg
Turkmen Atajan DAYIYEV was the third in the +102kg category, with a total of 315kg. After finishing second in the Snatch (143kg), he targeted the total gold with his last clean and jerk attempt at 176kg but failed to complete it, which put him back to the fourth place (172kg) on this lift and second place overall. Ahmad ALALI (SYR) swiped three bronze medals totalling at 309kg. The winners of the Best Lifter Trophies of IWF were Kumushkhon FAYZULLAEVA, who set two world records in the women’s 64kg bodyweight category and Saikhan TAISUYEV, for his outstanding performance in the men’s 67kg category and clean and jerk world record. Thank you, Las Vegas! Thank you, USA!
Stefcho Dimitrov HRISTOV, BUL – 102kg
The medal podium in +102kg
The 81kg podium
› 2019 IWF YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - LAS VEGAS, USA WOMEN
MEN
40 KG
49 KG
1 BEKTAS CANSU
23.11.2003
TUR
39.11
54
66
120
1 DO TU TUNG
10.01.2004
VIE
48.81
95 125
220
2 HONG ZI YU 3 ULKER ZELIHA
13.07.2002
TPE
39.96
53
63
116
2 KRUPLA FLORIN COSMIN
20.11.2003
ROU
48.80
79 101
180
02.05.2002
TUR
39.79
45
62
107
3 ERDOGAN MUSTAFA
06.10.2003
TUR
48.71
82
95
177
ITA
54.99 103 125
228
45 KG
55 KG
1 NGUYEN THI THU TRANG
03.06.2003
VIE
44.84
66
75
141
1 MASSIDDA SERGIO
26.01.2002
2 SALDARRIAGA Y. A. PAOLA
21.10.2003
PER
44.75
56
74
130
2 NAFASOV OGABEK
21.01.2002
UZB
54.99 102 121
223
3 ZENG YI FAN
27.07.2002
TPE
44.78
58
70
128
3 POOX P. JOSE MANUEL
17.03.2003
MEX
54.47
95 122
217
1 ABDULLAEVA NIGORA
13.05.2004
UZB
48.81
75
90
165
1 AKMOLDA SAIRAMKEZ
18.05.2002
KAZ
60.93 112 145
257
2 CAMBEI M. VALENTINA
18.11.2002
ROU
48.62
73
86
159
2 GENC YUSUF FEHMI
23.05.2002
TUR
60.60 108 146
254
3 BRYANT KAIYA LASHAY
11.02.2005
USA
48.53
67
87
154
3 BUI DINH SANG
18.02.2002
VIE
60.54 113 130
243
49 KG
61 KG
55 KG
67 KG
1 STERCKX NINA
26.07.2002
BEL
54.70
79
96
175
1 TAISUYEV SAIKHAN
21.05.2002
KAZ
66.66 127 161
288
2 CHOU YUAN-TZU
30.01.2002
TPE
54.75
75
97
172
2 GIORBELIDZE GURAMI
17.03.2002
GEO
65.58 120 150
270
3 COTRUTA ANDREEA
11.11.2003
ROU
54.12
76
95
171
3 REYIMOV BEKTIMUR
04.12.2002
TKM
66.63 122 147
269
1 SAID NEAMA SAID FAHMI
15.11.2002
EGY
58.90
88 107
195
1 NASAR KARLOS MAY HASAN
05.12.2004
BUL
72.67 130 161
291
2 GUILLEN VAZQUEZ DAPHNE
21.03.2002
MEX
58.82
82 106
188
2 NARIMANOV ASADBEK
02.09.2002
UZB
72.69 133 154
287
3 GARCIA GOMEZ MARIANA
30.10.2003
MEX
57.86
81 107
188
3 MISAKIAN AMAGIAK
10.02.2002
GRE
72.73 118 154
272
1 FAYZULLAEVA KUMUSHKHON
20.01.2002
UZB
63.64
93 122
215
1 SAPI YESSENKELDI
24.01.2002
KAZ
80.29 134 175
309
2 ROJAS G. QUEYSI JULISSA
19.03.2002
MEX
61.77
88 107
195
2 STANLEY DADE LAWSON
30.03.2002
USA
78.17 133 155
288
3 ILIE MIHAELA
14.08.2002
ROU
63.80
84 106
190
3 ATENCIA P. AMEL KARIM
18.02.2002
PER
79.68 122 152
274
1 VELAZQUEZ R. EMMY LIZETTE
01.10.2002
MEX
68.60
93 121
214
1 ALOTHMAN ALI YOUSEF A
16.06.2002
KSA
88.29 136 171
307
2 REEVES OLIVIA LYNN
19.04.2003
USA
68.18
84 110
194
2 KARAPETYAN GARIK
06.11.2003
ARM
88.04 137 168
305
3 SALDARRIAGA D. E. BELEN
11.01.2003
PER
69.93
83 102
185
3 GHAHRAMANYAN GEVORG
25.08.2002
ARM
84.42 134 170
304
1 NARIN DILARA
17.03.2002
TUR
74.77
96 129
225
1 BEKBOLAT RAKHAT
14.01.2004
KAZ
93.60 144 179
323
2 GYURJYAN LIANA
13.06.2002
ARM
73.77
92 116
208
2 DEMIRCI ONUR
08.07.2003
TUR
95.31 145 170
315
3 PAREDES A. BELLA NANCY
25.02.2002
ECU
74.43
90 110
200
3 MIRZABAEV MIRKHOSIL
11.05.2002
UZB
95.61 143 168
311
1 PASTUKHOVA OLGA
12.02.2002
KAZ
80.73
92 123
215
1 HRISTOV S. DIMITROV
09.02.2002
BUL
96.82 145 170
315
2 JABBOROVA TURSUNOY
03.04.2002
UZB
79.61
96 118
214
2 TAKTAKISHVILI LASHA
21.02.2002
GEO
97.77 130 160
290
3 NAKAJIMA MOTOKA
02.03.2002
JPN
76.49
86 109
195
3 SHUKURLU ALI
11.09.2003
AZE
96.40 125 155
280
59 KG
73 KG
64 KG
81 KG
71 KG
89 KG
76 KG
96 KG
81 KG
102 KG
+81 KG
+102 KG
1 BLANCO TARELA IRENE
01.12.2002
ESP
84.96
91 112
203
1 ORACKO DOMINIK
07.01.2003
CZE 146.68 144 174
318
2 YUN JULIA
03.09.2004
USA
86.51
90 109
199
2 DAYIYEV ATAJAN
20.05.2002
TKM 120.76 143 172
315
3 WALKER NIA LIELANI
02.04.2002
USA
92.22
86 110
196
3 ALALI AHMAD
01.01.2002
SYR 121.25 136 173
309
10 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
› INTERVIEW TEXT: ADRIENN SZÁSZ
PHIL ANDREWS, CEO OF USA WEIGHTLIFTING
“WE ARE SERIOUS ABOUT WEIGHTLIFTING”
U
SA Weightlifting has dramatically changed in recent years, since Phil Andrews, CEO of the American national federation and his team were appointed to their positions and put under the leadership of Ursula Papandrea, President of USA Weightlifting. They reshaped weightlifting in the country and turned the organization to be one of the most active Member Federations of the IWF. Since then, USA Weightlifting organized many high priority international events, like the World Championships in 2015 and in 2017, and this year, the Youth World Championships in Las Vegas. Andrews was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of USA Weightlifting in 2016, after holding the position of Director of Events & Programs since 2013. He was born in the UK and had not much connection to weightlifting in his younger years. “I’m not a weightlifter, my sport was ice hockey while I was still living in the United Kingdom. In 2012, I met my American wife at the London Olympic Games and moved to the USA. I worked for national governing bodies before, where I fulfilled various duties, basically everything that didn’t fit in anybody else’s jobs.” "I started to work for USA Weightlifting as a Director of Events & Programs and a few years after Ursula Papandrea became President, who asked me to be the new CEO. At this time, we also hired some excellent professionals like Pedro Meloni, Events Senior Manager and Pyrros Dimas as Technical Director. We also have specific professionals in our team, like Susie Sanchez, who is a decorated athlete on her own right and is the lead of USA Weightlifting’s growth programs strategy.” “The current team is extremely effective, and Ursula Papandrea does an excellent job supporting and nurturing our efforts.” “We try to host as many large scale international events as possible because they motivate our athletes and engage our fans. Beside that, this is our way to show we are serious about weightlifting to the audience, to the athletes and, last but not least, the IWF.” “In Las Vegas, 4 competitions were running on four platforms simultaneously. We had nearly 100 barbell sets set up between UESAKA and Rogue Fitness, 16 Technical Officials working at any given time and around 850 weightlifters in the building at once, training and competing plus their coaches and staff. Over 100 Universities from all over the country represented themselves at the University Nationals. It was a great chance for us to show what we are capable of.” “In the future, we will continue to excel at hosting events and hope to attract new weightlifting stars to shine at the Olympic Games and other international events.”
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 11
CONTINENTAL CALEIDOSCOPE
BATUMI, NINGBO, GUATEMALA CITY, CAIRO
EUROPE AND ASIA IN “REMOTE DUEL” AT BREAKING WORLD RECORDS
D
estiny – in a more down-to-earth phrasing: the IWF Calendar of Events – had it so that as many as four Continental challenges were held in April, each one an important landmark on the Road to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. With these Gold Level Qualification Events – meaning most valuable at scoring qualification points – the first period was concluded. Especially for those who had never taken part in high-ranked qualification competitions since the introduction of the new bodyweight categories last November the Continental Championships 2019 carried added importance. The turnouts thus heavily influenced and the stakes raised, the Continental events attracted old and new faces alike in the month of April, and outstanding performances were also seen. Scores of highlights were registered at the Pan-American Championships held in Guatemala City, just like at the African Championships in Cairo. However, different standards characterized at the two leading Continents in the weightlifting sport: Europe and Asia. Both in Batumi, Georgia, where the European Championships, and in Ningbo, China, where the Asian Championships took place resulted in several new senior world records, not to mention the abundance of youth or junior records. Due to the closeness of their dates, the latter two championships might as well be regarded as a parallel Continental Duel: Europe and Asia fought in “remote mode” for the glory of a higher number of world records broken, while neither Africa, nor even Pan-America could interfere. On the following pages we are giving a short account of the Continents’ challenges.
› 2019 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS - BATUMI, GEO TEXT: KORNÉL JANCSÓ PHOTO: GREGOR WINTER
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS WITH SUPERHEAVY PARADE
T
he best weightlifters of Europe’s countries met between 6 and 13 April in Batumi, third largest city in Georgia after Tbilisi and Kutaisi. The famous seaside resort welcomed the guests with the warm hospitality so common for Georgians and the – by now also usual – high level organisation and presentation. No wonder at that, since the Organising Committee is under the baton of 3-times Olympic champion and Georgian Federation President Kakhi KAKHIASHVILI, and his “right hand” David KIPSHIDZE.
The 2019 Batumi European Championships proved to be another great event worthy of the just now 50-year-old European Weightlifting Federation. Altogether 325 weightlifters came from 41 countries of Europe – all inspired by the venue, its innovative stage and backdrop design or the novelties in the warmup area. Performances added to the overall success of the Championships; the result book was studded with altogether 5 world records for seniors, besides their 10 European records; complete with 16 junior and 2 youth Continental records: 33 in total. Interestingly, lighter-weight categories were less productive in terms of records; at times modest results were enough to win the medals.
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the European Weightlifting Federation, IWF recognition presented by Mohammed Jaloud, IWF General Secretary and Attila Ádámfi, IWF Director General to EWF President Antonio Urso and EWF General Secretary Hasan Akkus
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 13
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2019 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS - BATUMI, GEO - WOMEN
RUSSIAN LADIES TOOK HOME 22 MEDALS
S
pectators could applaud a new record first in the 55kg for the women. The snatch entry had to be modified here: Belgian Nina STERCKX was first to improve the youth record to 82kg, followed by Italian Lucrezia MAGISTRIS set a junior European record with 90kg. STERCKX also modified the youth European total record to 183kg. In 59kg, junior world and European champion and still just 21-year-old Rebeka KOHA (LAT), defending European champion, pocketed the three gold medals despite lagging after her own earlier best marks. In 64kg Romania had its day thanks to Loredana Elena TOMA and her compatriot Irina LEPSA together collected six medals: 3 in gold, 2 in silver and 1 in bronze. World champion two years ago and two-times European champion, TOMA captured her third continental title, while setting a new European record in snatch at 111kg.
Rebeka KOHA, LAT – 3 gold medals in 59kg
The 64kg medal podium with Romanian winner Loredana-Elena TOMA
Medals in 74kg
14 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
› 2019 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS - BATUMI, GEO - WOMEN
T
he big surprise of the 76kg was delivered by 2017 and 2018 Lifter of the Year, 3-fold Olympic medallist Spanish Lidia VALENTIN by winning only in snatch but losing to Darya NAUMAVA (BLR) in both clean and jerk and in
total. Undoubtedly, the icing on the cake for the women’s Championships was served on the last day of competition in the last category – thanks to the effective input by Tatiana KASHIRINA. In possession of the top titles in all kinds of world-level events – with the sole exception of the Olympic Games where she has a silver only – the Russian star started to throw records right at the snatch in plus 87kg. After 140kg she took 146kg and lifted it, setting a new world
record; in fact breaking her own previous best by one kilogram. In the second act she added more power: in three straight lifts she finished with 185kg, thus marking a new world record in total as well (331kg) – here again improving her own best mark. No better evidence of KASHIRINA’s excellence than the 63kg(!) difference between her and the next best’s total results. The Iron Lady heavily contributed to the supremacy of Russia in the Medal Tally at the women: 9 gold, 10 silver and 3 bronze medals put them in first place. Altogether 19 nations scored medals here, with 11 getting gold. The ranking goes: ROU (6, 3, 4), LAT (3, 0, 0), BLR (2, 2, 1), TUR (2, 1, 1), POL (2, 0, 1), GRE (2, 0, 1), ESP (1, 2, 0), ITA (1, 1, 2), BUL (1, 1, 1), BEL (1, 0, 1).
Lidia VALENTIN, ESP was best in snatch
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 15
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2019 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS - BATUMI, GEO - WOMEN
WOMEN
A new world record weight dropping after being successfully hoisted by superb Tatiana KASHIRINA, RUS (+87kg)
45 KG 1 ERDOGAN SAZIYE
23.02.1992
TUR
44.96
75
88
163
2 PETROVA IVANA GEROGIEVA
26.08.2001
BUL
45.00
69
89
158
3 ASAYONAK YULIYA
13.07.1994
BLR
44.74
69
81
150
1 ANDRIES ELENA RAMONA
21.09.1994
ROU
48.78
87 103
190
2 SOBOL KRISTINA IVANOVNA
30.11.1991
RUS
48.72
85
95
180
3 RUSSO GIORGIA
28.04.1993
ITA
48.76
75 103
178
49 KG
55 KG 1 LOCHOWSKA JOANNA
17.11.1988
POL
54.68
87 112
199
2 ERSHOVA SVETLANA
14.03.1994
RUS
54.44
90 108
198
3 NOVITSKAIA KRISTINA
22.09.1999
RUS
54.50
85 105
190
1 KOHA REBEKA
19.05.1998
LAT
58.44 101 120
221
2 ALEEVA TATIANA
01.03.1991
RUS
58.64
94 120
214
3 KOZLOVA ALEKSANDRA
24.04.1997
RUS
58.94
96 117
213
1 TOMA LOREDANA-ELENA
10.05.1995
ROU
63.86 111 128
239
2 LEPSA IRINA-LACRAMIOARA
06.06.1992
ROU
63.38 102 127
229
3 SMITH ZOE
26.04.1994
GBR
63.90
96 128
224
59 KG
64 KG
71 KG 1 ROMANOVA ANASTASIIA
02.10.1991
RUS
70.38 112 128
240
2 GODLEY EMILY VICTORIA
22.10.1989
GBR
69.74
93 123
216
3 MOLIE MADALINA-BIANCA
27.04.1996
ROU
64.96 101 114
215
1 NAUMAVA DARYA
26.08.1995
BLR
74.48 106 136
242
2 VALENTIN PEREZ LIDIA
10.02.1985
ESP
75.50 108 133
241
3 STRENIUS P. CAROLINE
23.11.1989
SWE
72.94 101 132
233
1 KONSTANTINIDI ELENI
03.02.1995
GRE
79.98
97 126
223
2 SCHROTH NINA
16.08.1991
GER
80.40 102 120
222
3 VANBELLINGHEN ANNA
10.03.1994
BEL
80.56 103 118
221
1 PASKHINA KSENIIA
19.11.1994
RUS
86.72 110 132
242
2 MSTIEVA DIANA
25.11.1994
RUS
86.64 110 130
240
3 FISCHER SARAH
09.11.2000
AUT
86.08 102 129
231
1 KASHIRINA TATIANA
24.01.1991
RUS 105.76 146 185
331
2 LYSENKO ANASTASIIA
02.12.1995
UKR 104.40 120 148
268
3 CAMPBELL EMILY JADE
06.05.1994
GBR 118.74 115 145
260
76 KG
81 KG
87 KG
+87 KG
16 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
› 2019 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS - BATUMI, GEO - MEN
WITH HIS RECORD SHOWER TALAKHADZE OUTSHONE EVERYBODY ELSE
A
t Batumi, in the men’s section Italian Mirco SCARANTINO earned his fifth consecutive European champion title in 55kg. At the same time, the most remarkable performance in the category belonged to Bulgarian Angel RUSEV. (The name sounds good in weightlifting, doesn’t it?) Just turning 18 years old in July, the young Bulgarian lifted 146kg in clean and jerk, 256kg in total, the former giving him the gold, the latter the silver medals. Needless to point out that both results were junior European records. France could celebrate their champion in 67kg, where weathered Bernardin KINGUE MATAM let his supremacy in clean and jerk help him to the final victory by 1kg on Simon BRANDHUBER from Germany. Meanwhile, snatch winner Daniyar ISMAYILOV of Turkey, Olympic silver medallist and former European champion, surprisingly bombed in the clean and jerk. In 73kg three teenagers vied for excellence and their battle produced several junior Continental records. In snatch, Marin ROBU (MDA) lifted 148kg; in clean and jerk Romanian Paul DUMITRASCU, also born in 2000,
produced 177kg. This result was further improved to 180kg by 18-year-old Turkish Furkan OZBEK. The latter two young men set junior European records in total as well: 321kg, then 325kg. No matter what, neither competitors were able to reach the medals. The total gold in this category was won by 22-year-old Bulgarian Bozhidar ANDREEV with his 345kg senior European record. Out of the 81kg field Ritvars SUHAREVS (20) from Latvia excelled with his 162, 192 and 354kg junior European records, hitting the gold in snatch and the bronze in total. The competition had many ups and downs, but in the end, in the combined ranking the first place was earned with 365kg by 22-year-old Italian Antonio PIZZOLATO, 2016 junior European champion. Georgian success in 89kg warmed up the mood of the local crowds thanks to 21-year-old Revaz DAVITADZE, who was the best in snatch (170kg). However, his “neighbour” Armenian Hakob MKRTCHYAN flashed his supremacy in two clean and jerk attempts (201, 207kg), just enough to give him the gold medal of the lift and of the total.
A crowded podium in 67kg but happiest was Bernardin KINGUE MATAM, FRA because he took the total gold medal
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 17
In 73kg Bulgarian Bozhidar ANDREEV excelled in two disciplines: weightlifting and gymnastics… Antonio PIZZOLATO delivered the total gold to Italy in 81kg thanks to his strong clean and jerk performance
18 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
I
Armenian Hakob MKRTCHYAN was supreme in clean and jerk in 89kg
n 96kg 20-year-old Yauheni TSIKHANTSOU from Belarus reached a round 400kg total, meaning a new European record, and he pocketed all the three gold medals. The 102kg went by without any particular surprises: Ukrainian Dmytro CHUMAK scored a convincing victory of 14kg difference. Even less excitement was caused by the 109kg, where – after securing a small gold on the snatch – Armenia’s prodigy, Olympic silver medallist, World champion, etc. (and still just 22 years old)Simon MARTIROSYAN started to toy with the weights in clean and jerk: 225, 235kg…. – he did not need to continue to defeat his 11 years older opponent, Andrei ARAMNAU from Belarus, who had seen better and worse days alike.However, the Batumi show was stolen by the one-andonly Lasha TALAKHADZE, the local superstar. In the +109kg, TALAKHADZE warmed up with 208kg, only to jump to 218kg for a second attempt. He snatched it successfully, breaking his own 217-kg world record from last year’s Ashgabat World Championships. He did not appear for a third time. In clean and jerk, his showing again consisted of merely two lifts: taking 245kg for an opening attempt (all too easy!) to secure the total, then having the barbell loaded to 260kg. This magnificent weight did not resist him either, so ever since 13 April 2019, the new absolute world record in weightlifting is 260kg! By the way, TALAKHADZE raised the total world record as well from his own 474kg in Ashgabat to 478kg in Batumi. To prove that the Georgian team does not only consist of TALAKHADZE, the men’s medal ranking was also won by the host country with 5 gold, 6 silver and 4 bronze medals. They are followed by: BLR (5, 5, 4), ARM (5, 3, 4), ITA (4, 1, 1), BUL (3, 1, 1), UKR (3, 0, 2), FRA (2, 0, 0), TUR (1, 5, 4), ALB (1, 2, 2), LAT (1, 1, 2). In all 15 countries shared the medals.
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2019 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS - BATUMI, GEO
20-year-old Yauheni TSIKHANTSOU, BLR rounded up the European record to 400kg and won the 96kg
MEN 55 KG 1 SCARANTINO MIRCO
16.01.1995
ITA
54.88 116 145
261
2 RUSEV ANGEL HRISKOV
13.07.2001
BUL
54.98 110 146
256
3 SAHIN MUAMMER
05.02.1994
TUR
54.88 112 135
247
1 LAPTSEU HENADZ
15.12.1998
BLR
60.60 133 153
286
2 SEZER BUNYAMI
04.07.1988
TUR
60.94 132 151
283
3 HARDAL FERDI
31.12.1996
TUR
60.94 127 155
282
1 KINGUE MATAM B. LEDOUX
20.05.1990
FRA
66.84 137 175
312
2 BRANDHUBER SIMON JOSEF
27.06.1991
GER
66.78 146 165
311
3 CHKHEIDZE GOGA
11.02.1996
GEO
66.72 139 169
308
1 ANDREEV B. DIMITROV
17.01.1997
BUL
72.84 153 192
345
2 CALJA BRIKEN
19.02.1990
ALB
72.84 156 183
339
3 LIKHARAD VADZIM
06.09.1993
BLR
72.86 153 182
335
1 PIZZOLATO ANTONINO
20.08.1996
ITA
80.92 155 201
356
2 ASAYONAK PETR
27.02.1993
BLR
80.56 159 196
355
3 SUHAREVS RITVARS
11.01.1999
LAT
80.76 162 192
354
1 MKRTCHYAN HAKOB
08.03.1997
ARM
88.82 164 207
371
2 DAVITADZE REVAZ
16.10.1998
GEO
88.22 170 200
370
3 HOVHANNISYAN DAVIT
14.01.1997
ARM
88.50 165 195
360
1 TSIKHANTSOU YAUHENI
04.11.1998
BLR
95.66 178 222
400
2 KLIMONOV EGOR
24.08.1992
RUS
95.78 168 210
378
3 PLIESNOI ANTON
17.09.1996
GEO
95.66 173 204
377
61 KG
67 KG
Every performance by Simon MARTIROSYAN, ARM brings new heights and supreme lifting (109kg)
73 KG
81 KG
89 KG
96 KG
In front of the frantic home crowd, mighty Lasha TALAKHADZE, GEO registered 3 world records including the historic 260kg clean and jerk
102 KG 1 CHUMAK DMYTRO
11.07.1990
UKR 101.42 175 216
391
2 GASPARYAN SAMVEL
24.11.1997
ARM 101.50 168 209
377
3 STRALTSOU VADZIM
30.04.1986
BLR 100.68 170 206
376
1 MARTIROSYAN SIMON
17.02.1997
ARM 108.98 192 235
427
2 ARAMNAU ANDREI
17.04.1988
BLR 108.50 190 221
411
3 BOCHKOV RODION
27.09.1993
RUS 108.96 192 218
410
1 TALAKHADZE LASHA
02.10.1993
GEO 170.10 218 260
478
2 TURMANIDZE IRAKLI
13.12.1984
GEO 139.15 206 241
447
3 ALEKSANYAN RUBEN
14.03.1990
ARM 153.10 195 245
440
109 KG
+109 KG
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 19
› INTERVIEW - FOCUS ON CHINA TEXT: BRIAN OLIVER
FOCUS ON CHINA How did China become so dominant in weightlifting? Fifteen world records, in the new bodyweight categories, have already gone to Chinese athletes, and China has won five gold medals at every Olympic Games since Sydney 2000.
C
hina’s teams have been top of the medals table at the Olympic Games and IWF World Championships every time they have competed this century except for once, when Russia outperformed them in Antalya in 2001 - the first time Russian females won world titles. China has been at the top of world weightlifting for decades, but it did not rejoin the International Olympic Committee until 1979, after a 21-year absence, so how did it manage to overtake the European nations that dominated in the 1970s and 1980s? The IWF Fuzhou World Cup in February provided a chance to ask that question, to Olympic champions, to ZHOU Jinqiang, President of the Chinese Weightlifting Association (CWA), and to one of the sport’s greatest coaches, CHEN Wenbin. The simplest answer came from DENG Wei, the 63kg Olympic champion and triple world record holder at the new weight of 64kg. “We have more people so we have more children in the sport. We start young and all the way through we have very, very good coaches." YANG Xia, China's first female Olympic gold medallist in weightlifting, at Sydney 2000, said: “The reason China is so good is step-by-step progress, and training hard at every level. It took me seven years in my province’s team to make the national team. I worked very hard.” Weightlifting and table tennis are the two sports that had an advantage over others in China, said CWA president Zhou. In 1956 weightlifter CHEN Jingkai, at a “friendship match” against the Soviet Union in Shanghai, became the first Chinese athlete in any sport to set a world record. Three years later RONG Guotuan became China’s first world champion, in table tennis. “The structure was put in place for these sports to develop from the 1950s,” said ZHOU. “Weightlifting is an important way to change your life, especially in remote areas.” Tens of thousands of children train in weightlifting at school, starting to learn technique at the age of 10. There are elementary school teams, city teams, county teams, specialist sport school teams, province teams at all age groups, and the formidable national team. There are 23 provinces, many more administrative regions – and the strongest provinces will have 80 full-time weightlifters, often based at palatial headquarters such as the IWF Fuzhou Training Center. But it was not always like this, as CHEN Wenbin knows better than anybody. Chen Chen Wenbin is his director's office at the IWF Fuzhou Training Centre describes the huge IWF Fuzhou Training Center, home to the Fujian province team and used by visiting teams from abroad, as “heaven”. But soon after he started working with the Fujian team more than 25 years ago their home was “hell”, on Chuanshi Island, a 40-minute boat ride from Fuzhou. The hard life there, the very basic conditions, the strict rules forbidding smoking, drinking alcohol and “falling in love”, were all part of a tough programme that exemplified how Chinese weightlifters became the best in the world. They had to help with cooking, dig pits to create training stations, endure typhoons, and help build a road up a mountain to their training camp. There was no entertainment, one television in their barracks-style accommodation, and one public telephone on the entire island. Anyone who broke the rules was kicked out of the team.
20 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
With the help of CHEN’s coaching, their early days on Chuanshi Island, and later the facilities at the IWF Fuzhou Training Center, weightlifters from Fujian province have won five of China’s 31 Olympic gold medals. Three of them trained on Chuanshi Island, including DENG Wei. Chen was never ranked higher than fourth when he was in the national team as a lifter, but he says he was “enriched by my own deficiencies” when he later studied coaching, focusing on ways in which he could have improved his own performance. He has trained three Olympic champions and six world champions individually, nine Olympic gold medallists as China’s head coach, and “WE START YOUNG AND ALL hundreds of other national and international winners. He was deputy head coach of China’s national men’s team for four years, and head THE WAY THROUGH WE HAVE coach for 10 years until he retired in 2016. He is now Director of the IWF Fuzhou Training Center, which he was responsible for creating. VERY, VERY GOOD COACHES.” Sitting in his palatial office he discusses, over several cups of tea, his own career in weightlifting, and China’s remarkable rise to the top. How did you get started in weightlifting? During the Cultural Revolution (which started in 1966) weightlifting and other sports were forbidden. From 1973 we started to rebuild China’s sports teams, including weightlifting. I loved sport, played volleyball in middle school and also trained for shot and discus in athletics. In the 1970s (he was born in 1956) I did strength training and loved it. My former PE teacher suggested to me that I should try to be a weightlifter and try to get into the national team. I went for trials and was accepted. I was 17 when I started training, 18 when I made the provincial team. When I graduated at middle school I went to the countryside to work with and learn from peasant farmers, as we were encouraged to do. Many of China’s best weightlifters are from rural areas. Why is that? Yes, they are mostly from a poor background. There are exceptions, a few from wealthy families, such as WU Meijin (a double world champion at 56kg and silver medallist at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games) but they are few. Those from wealthy background reach a certain level then stop; they don’t work as hard. Coming from a working-class background is important: training is very hard, very tough and also can be very boring. We need people who can cope with that. How does the development structure work? In provinces there are cities and counties – in Fujian 70 counties and six large cities. Two thirds of the counties have special sports schools with a weightlifting programme, plus all the cities. At each school children train after school, they are given one piece of bread and a carton of milk – there are 40-50 lifters per school. There are 2000-3000 schoolchildren, aged 10 upwards, who train regularly. Some will have the potential to be elite lifters, others will go their own way at the end of schooling - and they can continue in weightlifting at clubs, known as courses here, or be a coach. About 20 provinces have a weightlifting system similar to Fujian, with lower numbers. There are about 30,000-40,000 children regularly training in weightlifting at schools in China. There are more than 100 coaches in Fujian province, full-time and part-time, about half of them at county level and 30-40% of them female. And there are 70-80 full-time professional weightlifters. Around the time when China joined the IOC in 1979, weightlifting training was heavily influenced by the Soviet Union and, later, Bulgaria. China now seems to have its own system. How did that happen? From the 1950s to the 1970s weightlifting was dominated by the Soviet system, the characteristics of which were a high volume of training. In the 80s-90s the Bulgarian system emerged, which was more intense - more maximum lifts. If there is a Chinese system it is based on a combination of these two, and on scientific analysis. We took advantage of both the Soviet and Bulgarian systems, used the physics of both. Our system is mostly focused on perfecting technique – we want to be precise. That’s why we wanted a diagnostic system, to help with precision, and with injury prevention. CAO Wenyuan developed that system, and it is very important. (Cao, who studied in Budapest more than 50 years ago with the IWF President, Tamás Aján, and sat on the IWF Science and Research Committee in the 1990s, has been described as “a valuable and long-lasting partner of Chinese weightlifting” for his analytical research work with the national team).
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 21
› INTERVIEW - FOCUS ON CHINA
Deng Wei at the Fuzhou World Cup a day after breaking three world records
It is easy to be injured, so we developed ways of protecting athletes from injury. Injuries created a lot of problems for lifters after retirement; they influenced the rest of their lives. We wanted to avoid that. Over a period of 20 years when I was a national team coach, we had almost no serious injuries to national team lifters. I cannot stress enough the importance of avoiding injury. To help with that, during training, after a lift our athletes perform exercises that have nothing to do with weightlifting, exercises that will work on certain muscles and movements. Massage is essential, before a training session and after. Every time. In China the rhythm of the training is very important – the volume and intensity are very distinctive. Human strength won’t be improved much in future; we are almost at the limit. Improvement in weightlifting performance will depend more on science, technique, rehabilitation, and protection from injury.
China had three women disqualified for doping at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The nation has a fairly good record on doping other than that, and does not have to worry about losing quota places, as others do, for Tokyo 2020. What are your views on doping? Weightlifters can improve without doping. We have shown that. In the 1990s Chinese coaches tried to adopt the Bulgarian system in China and failed, it was not working and they did not know why. They found out at Sydney 2000 – you had to be doping to do it (Bulgaria’s team was sent home in a doping scandal). There was then a great focus in China to avoid doping. Our administration has always been serious about that. But there are so many coaches, and there will always be an exception; one will try to take a risk. We have different measures to protect athletes, and there is more and more internal testing. Some say Chinese lifters have a better conversion rate than their international rivals on the clean and jerk. So many others make the first part of the lift but not the second. And China seems to have more athletes who prefer the power jerk/ push jerk than the split jerk (Shi Zhiyong, Lu Xiaojun, Li Dayin for example). Why is this? If that is true – I don’t have the stats – it will be because we are more precise with technique. We study so much in detail, with the help of CAO Wenyuan’s diagnostic system: the height needed, the displacement front and back, how a lifter can use less energy but perform more. In training we use different exercises for this. In our provincial and national teams around 20% use the power jerk, and we do have quite a lot doing it who perform well at world level. The coach will decide. The coach can see what is best for them, and here again we will benefit from data analysis. The choice of technique may depend on having really good balance, and the coach can see and measure that. In the past a coach would use his or her own eye – now we can use our sophisticated analysis system too. CAO Wenyuan has been doing data analysis for more than 20 years. Feedback on an athlete’s performance is now available immediately – height trajectory, speed, movement. Looking back over your coaching career, which medal-winning performance gave you the most pleasure? The 2004 Olympic Games, when SHI Zhiyong won in 62 kg category. It was a sleepless night! All sorts of feelings on my mind. You seem happy to share your knowledge – do you want to help other nations? Weightlifting is a big family. We have a common aim to improve the potential of humans in strength and power. I like to share our system with others, which is why I would like, as a legacy to the sport, to set up an international weightlifting school here at this Training Center, for children from all over the world.
Parts of this interview appeared in the insidethegames 'Big Read' on March 10 IWF President Dr. Tamás Aján and CWA scientist Cao Wenyuan were classmates at the Budapest University of Physical Education
22 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
› 2019 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – NINGBO, CHN TEXT: KORNÉL JANCSÓ PHOTO: GREGOR WINTER
CHINESE HOSTS SWEPT NINGBO CLEAN
L
et’s start with the numbers that tell us so much: 37 internationally registered records were born at the 2019 Asian Championships held in Ningbo, China, 18-28 April. Of senior world records alone no less than 19 were set up by the best representatives of this continent. As regards the distribution of these world records, 13 were set by female lifters and 6 by the men. There was a large choice of records in the other, younger, age groups as well: the men set 17 junior (-20) world records, while one junior women’s record was also established. Youth world records (-17) were equally registered: 4 for boys, 5 for girls. Going into further details on the Asian Championships’ records, it is worth pointing out that the gentlemen rewrote the world records in two, the women in five bodyweight categories. That is a significant number even if we acknowledge that upon the introduction of the new categories last November “realistic”, “achievable” World Standards were fixed, so the basic records were not pushed too high. Altogether 226 weightlifters came to Ningbo from 28 Asian countries. To little surprise, host China took the lead in the collection of both records and medals – and in both genders. China won with a huge advantage. In men, CHN took a big share of 16 gold, 8 silver and 2 bronze medals. The following nations, who also won gold, shared the rest of the medals for men: IRI (7, 7, 3), KOR (3, 1, 3), KSA (3, 0, 0), PRK (1, 4, 5). Among the women, China was similarly dominant with its representatives keeping 28(!) medals at home: 15 in gold, 11 in silver and 2 in bronze colour. The further ranking includes PRK (6, 6, 8), VIE (3, 2, 3), TPE (3, 0, 0), KOR (2, 1, 4), KAZ (1, 1, 1).
The 89kg medallists with Korean YU Dongju being the overall gold medal winner
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 23
› 2019 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – NINGBO, CHN
TIAN Tao, CHN (96kg)
The Chinese tandem pushed PAK Jong Ju, PRK into third p
SAUDI SUCCESS AS AN OPENING
A
lthough not entirely unexpected, yet not “by the book”, the winner of the lightest men’s category, the 55kg, became a lifter from Saudi Arabia: Mansour AL SALEEM. The 31-year-old, whose best achievement was an 8th position at the 2012 Asian Championships and a 6th place at last year’s Asian Games in the lowest category, scored an unambiguous victory in the Ningbo Youngor Gymnasium by winning snatch, clean and jerk and total – the latter by an advantage of 14 kilograms. It should be noted that there was no Chinese competitor in this category. The Chinese arrived only in the next, 61kg category – but with doubled forces. LI Fabin and QIN Fulin dominated the field and kept the most precious medals on home turf.
Relieved after the successful lift that confirmed YANG Zhe, CHN in the overall winner’s position
24 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
Record record-breaker of the 2019 Asian Championships: Akbar DJURAEV, 19, UZB set nine (!) junior world records in the 109
› 2019 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – NINGBO, CHN
Ali DAVOUDI’s 432kg performance in +109kg was worth the Asian Champion title, but he needs to progress to face the European competition. True that at 20 years he has the time…
place (67kg)
CHEN SET THE TUNE
A
nother tandem of the host nation mounted the stage in 67kg, where CHEN Lijun was the better competitor and delivered the first world record of the men’s Asian challenge. Better to say the first world records, because he did not stop before setting three of those. At first in snatch, lifting 154kg, he “gave a name” to the previous World Standard of 153kg. In clean and jerk CHEN Lijun was again the first to register records: 185kg on the lift and 339kg in total – whereby the 26-year-old Chinese improved his own previous mark of 331kg set in Ashgabat. It should be noted that the sensation of the category in the “teenage” age group was served by a sixteen-year-old Indian boy, Lalrinnunga JEREMY. Boasting the title of Youth Olympic Champion, JEREMY set youth world records with 134kg in snatch, 163kg in clean and jerk and 291, then 297kg in total. In the same competition the junior world records were also improved: Adkhamjon ERGASHEV (20) from Uzbekistan modified the records four times in clean and jerk and total. Speaking of juniors, Iranian Ali DAVOUDI in the +109kg – by the way the absolute winner of this superheavy category in Ningbo – also registered four new junior world records. All of the above, however, were outscored by the biggest recordbreaker of the 2019 Asian Championships: Akbar DJURAEV. At 19 years of age from Uzbekistan, DJURAEV in the 109kg category set nothing less than (the maximum of) nine (!) junior world records. His splendid performance earned him three silver medals.
CHEN Lijun, CHN in 67kg started the “record factory” and set three world records at one shot
9kg
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 25
MEN 55 KG 1 AL SALEEM M. ABDULRAHIM M
16.03.1988
KSA
54.74 122 140
262
2 MUHAMMAD A. HAZALWAFIE
04.04.1994
MAS
54.90 112 136
248
3 CHONTEY ARLI
01.07.1992
KAZ
54.96 113 133
246
1 LI FABIN
15.01.1993
CHN
60.87 141 171
312
2 QIN FULIN
12.01.1994
CHN
60.96 136 166
302
3 IRAWAN EKO YULI
24.07.1989
INA
60.84 133 166
299
1 CHEN LIJUN
08.02.1993
CHN
66.92 154 185
339
2 FENG LVDONG
23.10.1991
CHN
66.96 152 178
330
3 PAK JONG JU
14.03.1997
PRK
66.98 143 179
322
1 SHI ZHIYONG
10.10.1993
CHN
72.96 168 194
362
2 YUAN CHENGFEI
14.07.1995
CHN
72.81 156 193
349
3 O KANG CHOL
16.09.1993
PRK
72.87 150 188
338
1 LI DAYIN
12.02.1998
CHN
80.87 168 195
363
2 CHOE JON WI
29.06.1993
PRK
80.23 162 197
359
3 ULANOV DENIS
28.10.1993
KAZ
80.95 160 196
356
1 YU DONGJU
19.08.1993
KOR
88.40 160 207
367
2 MIRI ALI
01.08.1995
IRI
89.00 161 205
366
3 YAMAMOTO TOSHIKI
08.09.1991
JPN
88.91 155 203
358
1 TIAN TAO
08.04.1994
CHN
94.81 181 220
401
2 MOUSAVIJARAHI SEYEDAYOOB
21.04.1995
IRI
95.67 166 207
373
3 HAN JUNGHOON
28.08.1990
KOR
95.79 160 206
366
1 BEIRALVAND REZA
01.04.1997
IRI
101.14 173 216
389
2 HOGHOUGHIOSGOUEI AMIR
17.02.1994
IRI
99.34 169 215
384
3 TANAKA TARO
22.01.1994
JPN 101.92 170 194
364
1 YANG ZHE
14.07.1991
CHN 108.57 192 225
417
2 DJURAEV AKBAR
08.10.1999
UZB 108.01 185 225
410
3 HASHEMI ALI
01.11.1991
IRI
108.08 180 225
405
1 DAVOUDI ALI
22.03.1999
IRI
163.99 195 237
432
2 CHEN SHIH-CHIEH
27.11.1989
TPE 157.42 187 235
422
3 TOYCHYYEV HOJAMUHAMMET
16.01.1992
TKM 150.33 187 234
421
61 KG
67 KG
Rio Olympic champion SHI Zhiyong, after giving the goose bumps to the Chinese by missing two attempts in clean and jerk finally saved this one and with it pinned a new world record of 362kg in total (73kg), his 3rd in this competition
73 KG
SHI ALMOST BOMBED, FINALLY CLOSED WITH WORLD RECORD
B
etween two categories the hosts did not have to wait long for another Chinese winner: 73kg SHI Zhiyong snatched two new world records and set one in total. But how!... In the first lift, the 25-year-old Olympic and multiple world champion lifted 165, then in his third attempt 168kg – pushing his own previous best marks into the past. In clean and jerk, however, he was very close to coming to grief: he missed his opening 194kg twice and was on the brink of getting eliminated. Alas, for the third time he managed to hoist the weight and thus not only saved a total but added two kilograms to his own Ashgabat world record total to make it 362kg.
81 KG
89 KG
96 KG
102 KG
109 KG
+109 KG
Host Chinese Association President Mr. ZHOU Jinqian lifting the barbell at the IWF Anti-Doping Outreach (Courtesy CWA)
26 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
› 2019 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – NINGBO, CHN
RECORDS ABOUND IN WOMEN
A
fter a Vietnamese (VUONG Thi Huyen) winner in 45kg the first Chinese woman to win was HOU Zhihui in 49kg. However, the production of world records was launched in 55kg by favour of LIAO Qiuyun. The Chinese, 23, who had been her nation’s best in 2017, lifted the new mark of 128kg in clean and jerk. In the next category of 59kg, Chinese Taipei’s superstar KUO Hsing-Chun excelled and made the scoreboard announce in a flashing sign “NEW RECORD!” as many as three times. Bronze medallist of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, KUO fixed 106kg in snatch and 137kg in clean and jerk, and in the process modified the total world record twice: to 240, then to 243kg. She was again in excellent shape and increased her previous world record from the 2018 World Championships by 6 kilos. Following 2013 and 2017, KUO made the Asian hat trick for the third time.
LIAO Qiuyun, CHN set the first world record of the women’s meet in 55kg (128kg clean and jerk)
At full speed, KUO Hsing-Chuo, TPE did not disappoint and pinned 3 world records in the 59kg category
2-times Olympic champion North-Korean RIM Jong Sim starting her world record sequence in 76kg
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 27
› 2019 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – NINGBO, CHN
DENG WEI IS THE BEST
T
he gold medals and the world records were recaptured by the host nation in the 64kg category. 26-yearold megastar DENG Wei, 2016 Olympic champion and by the way 4 times world champion was irresistible once again. Although North-Korean KIM Hyo Sim, DENG’s strongest rival set a short-lived world record of 114kg in snatch, the Chinese quickly overwrote it with 115kg and continued this routine in the clean and jerk: improving her world record from 141 to 142kg and pinning a new total of 257kg. The next two categories – 71kg and 76kg – were in the hands of DPR Korea. Both “RIMs”, i.e. RIM Un Sim and RIM Jong Sim dominated their respective classes and the latter, double Olympic champion RIM Jong Sim swept the field with new world records in snatch (123kg) and total (first 275, then 278kg).
China’s DENG Wei continues to be supreme. Her road to the gold was studded with records
28 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
› 2019 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – NINGBO, CHN
KASHIRINA WILL FACE NEW CHALLENGE
T
he 81kg was won by Korean KANG Yeounhee and the 87kg by Chinese WANG Zhouyu – both women outlifting the opponents by significant vantage. The Asian Championships of the women, however, could not finish without a last world record and that was offered in the +87kg category – by nobody else but the Chinese competitor, LI Wenwen. Born in 2000, at just 18 years of age, China’s new prodigy defeated her Olympic champion compatriot MENG Suping pocketing all the three gold medals and reaching a new senior world best mark with 147kg in snatch. That was exactly one kilogram more than what Russia’s Iron Lady Tatiana KASHIRINA had recorded a fortnight earlier in Batumi at the European Championships. We wonder what Tatiana has to say on this partial dethronement… We might get an answer at the World Championships this fall.
WOMEN 45 KG 1 VUONG THI HUYEN
22.06.1992
VIE
44.66
76
92
168
2 DALABEHERA JHILLI
03.02.1999
IND
44.93
71
91
162
3 DIAZ MARY FLOR
04.05.1999
PHI
44.90
69
89
158
1 HOU ZHIHUI
18.03.1997
CHN
48.63
92 116
208
2 RI SONG GUM
17.10.1997
PRK
48.88
86 114
200
3 ZHANG RONG
31.10.1993
CHN
48.94
88 111
199
1 LIAO QIUYUN
13.07.1995
CHN
54.59
96 128
224
2 DIAZ HIDILYN
20.02.1991
PHI
54.97
94 115
209
3 NABIEVA MUATTAR
02.06.1996
UZB
54.89
91 113
204
1 KUO HSING-CHUN
26.11.1993
TPE
58.98 106 137
243
2 CHEN GUIMING
03.01.1994
CHN
58.57 102 131
233
3 ANDOH MIKIKO
30.09.1992
JPN
58.73
97 128
225
1 DENG WEI
14.02.1993
CHN
63.74 115 142
257
2 KIM HYO SIM
29.03.1994
PRK
63.88 114 135
249
3 CHOE HYO SIM
05.12.1993
PRK
61.08 104 134
238
1 RIM UN SIM
05.07.1996
PRK
65.40 111 130
241
2 NGUYEN THI VAN
16.12.1998
VIE
70.69
95 121
216
3 MITSUKE ERI
30.10.1992
JPN
68.17
97 118
215
1 RIM JONG SIM
05.02.1993
PRK
75.47 123 155
278
2 ZHANG WANGLI
27.05.1996
CHN
72.97 118 146
264
3 KIM SUHYEON
06.02.1995
KOR
73.77 107 137
244
49 KG
55 KG
59 KG
64 KG
71 KG
76 KG
81 KG 1 KANG YEOUNHEE
15.10.1992
KOR
77.13
97 123
220
2 MUNKHJANTSAN ANKHTSETSEG
25.12.1997
MGL
80.94
93 113
206
3 MESHITKHANOVA RAUSHAN
24.11.1995
KAZ
78.84
98 107
205
1 WANG ZHOUYU
13.05.1994
CHN
81.38 125 155
280
2 KIM UN JU
11.11.1989
PRK
86.05 114 152
266
3 AO HUI
20.04.1997
CHN
85.69 110 152
262
1 LI WENWEN
05.03.2000
CHN 149.84 147 175
322
2 MENG SUPING
17.07.1989
CHN 120.19 130 175
305
3 KIM KUK HYANG
20.04.1993
PRK
293
87 KG
+87 KG
LI Wenwen, CHN: she beat MENG Suping and broke the 2-weeks-old world record. Can she challenge KASHIRINA?
98.44 126 167
› PAN-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – GUATEMALA CITY, GUA TEXT: KORNÉL JANCSÓ PHOTO: NAT AREM (HOOKGRIP)
ONLY COLOMBIA TO KEEP ABREAST OF USA
I
t was the 28th edition of the Pan-American Championships taking place between 21 and 28 April in the capital city of Guatemala. The challenge was hallmarked by a special battle between the best of the United States and those of Colombia. Besides both strongest nations of the continent several representatives of other Pan-American countries also managed to get in a word, but the team classification and the medal table were undoubtedly monopolized by the USA-COL tandem. In terms of team points the USA scored historic victories in both genders. In the women’s events 10 competitors from the USA collected a mass of 750 points, whereas 9 lifters representing Colombia gathered 658 points. Third in this ranking was Ecuador (550 points/8 competitors). Further ranked were: GUA (452/10), CUB (437/7), CAN (468/8), MEX (402/6), PER (379/7). Of the male teams the best was again the US squad who took home the largest trophy with 726 points / 10 lifters on Colombia (661/9) and the host Guatemala (568/10). Next best teams in succession: MEX (468/7), CAN (468/8), DOM (391/6), CUB (341/5), CHI (298/5).
The Pan-American Confederation Congress elected Enrique Montero (BRA) to General Secretary and Luis Seijas (VEN) to Executive Board Member
30 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
The fact that women are “taking over” – at least in Pan-America – could not be better proven than by the ladies outnumbering the gentlemen (96 – 91). In the medal ranking the outstanding performance of the American women’s team manifested in 25 medals – 12 golds, 7 silvers, 6 bronzes – as opposed to Colombia’s 19 medals (8, 7, 4). On the third step of this podium of medals was standing Ecuador (4, 4, 5) and the rest of the medals were picked up by MEX (3, 1, 4), DOM (2, 6, 1), CHI (1, 2, 0) PER (0, 3, 0), CAN (0, 0, 4), CUB (0, 0, 4), BRA (0, 0, 1) and NCA (0, 0, 1). The only variety in this monotony was introduced by Colombia which country managed to finish in the leading position of the medal ranking for men winning 10 gold, 5 silver and 8 bronze medals. The USA team pocketed exactly the same number of gold and silver medals but 5 bronze medals less than Colombia. Mexico excelled with 4, 1, 0 and the rest of the medals were shared as follows: CHI (3, 0, 0), CUB (1, 3, 4), ECU (1, 3, 1), VEN (1, 3, 1), DOM (0, 6, 2), GUA (0, 3, 2), BRA (0, 1, 0), HAI (0, 1, 0), PER (0, 0, 3), CAN (0, 0, 3), HON (0, 0, 1).
Local entry Edgar PINEDA collected a bronze in total and a silver in clean and jerk (67kg)
›
PAN-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – GUATEMALA CITY, GUA
Clarence CUMMINGS JR, USA sparkled in 73kg: 5 junior world records
Medals in 81kg
Four medallists in 96kg of which Jhonatan RIVAS MOSQUERA, COL was the best
Arley MENDEZ, CHI was 32 kilograms better than the runner up in 89kg
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 31
›
PAN-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – GUATEMALA CITY, GUA
CONTINENTAL RECORDS ABOUND – CUMMINGS SET WORLD’S AS WELL
I
n a comparison between the Continental Championships certainly one of the key ranking factors is the number of records established. Well, in contrast to the European and the Asian Championships, no senior world records were born in Guatemala City, but a good number of other age-groups’ and Pan-American records were seen. Here again, we should praise the USA team, of which in particular youth and junior world champion Clarence CUMMINGS JR stood out. Still in his teenage years (turning 19 this coming June), CUMMINGS set up no less than five new junior world records in the men’s 73kg category. These were: 150 and 153kg in snatch; 191kg in clean and jerk (5 kgs short of the senior world record of SHI Zhiyong…) then 340 and 344kg in total. Needless to say all these records are at the same time junior records for Pan-America and his final scores in snatch, jerk and total mark senior continental records as well. As for the other men’s categories: in 81kg Guatemala City was home to further Pan-American records. In snatch Zacarias BONNAT (DOM) was first to lift 160kg, followed by Colombian Brayan RODALLEGAS who increased this mark to 161kg. The same RODALLEGAS then went on to improve the clean and jerk Pan-American record to 202kg, the total to 363kg. Originally Cuban, but Chilean-turned Arley MENDEZ, who wrote history in 2017 winning Chile’s first ever world champion title, was true to his class and rewrote the list of records in the 89kg category. He set Pan-American records in snatch and total. The new entries in the books are: 170 and 375kg, respectively. MENDEZ represents a class of his own: he outlifted the second best by 32 kilos.
New Pan-American record in total: 399kg by Wesley KITTS, USA, 109kg category
On the 96kg Jhonatan RIVAS left a great impact. This young man (20) from Colombia set new PanAmerican records in snatch and in total – just like MENDEZ before him. The new records are 180kg and 386, then 391kg. Continental records did not fail to highlight the 109kg either: overall Pan-American champion, Wesley Brian KITTS set a new total record with 399kg.
USA doubled in +109kg: Caine WILKES as best, Keiser WITTE as third best among the medallists
32 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
›
PAN-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – GUATEMALA CITY, GUA
The happy medallists of 49kg
Sweeping success by Manuela BERRIO, COL in 45kg
Colombian Rosive SILGADO took 2 gold medals in 59kg
Mercedes PEREZ TIGRERO won the total gold medal for Colombia in 64kg
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 33
›
PAN-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – GUATEMALA CITY, GUA
WOMEN TAKING OVER PAN-AMERICA
A
mong the women no world records fell, however, many of the PanAmerican marks were rewritten in the register – especially the junior ones. Here are the statistics: junior Pan-American records were broken in six out of the ten bodyweight categories, altogether 26 times. As regards the senior records, these were improved in five categories: 19 records in all. The lightest women started the record-making process: in 45kg Manuela BERRIO (COL), who pocketed all the three gold medals, established a new Pan-American record in clean and jerk of 95kg. Her winning total of 167kg equalled the existing continental maximum. Another triple-crown-winner, 49kg American Alyssa Lynn RITCHEY set three records of which two in clean and jerk (104, 107kg) and one in total (190kg). In the 55kg category Jourdan DELACRUZ (USA) “merely” matched the clean and jerk continental record (116kg). In contrast, the next higher class, 59kg, saw a real shower of records thanks to Rosive SILGADO (COL). Her efforts were supported by teammate Maria LOBON, who broke the first record when winning the snatch with 95kg. In the clean and jerk SILGADO took over her baton and went on to claim three Pan-American records – 120, 121 and 125kg – in addition to sharing 2:2 total records with LOBON (210, 215kg – Silgado: 216, 220kg). In 64kg women continued improving the continental best marks: twice in clean and jerk. The Pan-American champion of the category, Mercedes PEREZ (COL), who earned the overall title after two silver medals on the two lifts, lifted 128kg – this record only to be outlifted immediately by US lifter Mathlynn SASSER (129kg), who took home the bronze in the total. The 71kg turned out to be the last competition with new records. The authors were Katherine NYE (USA), 20 years old – meaning that she registered the junior records as well – with her 104, 107 and 110kg in snatch; next was her US colleague Martha Ann ROGERS with her 106kg. Then NYE equalled the Pan-American record in clean and jerk (135kg) and pinned two new marks in total: 241, followed by 245kg. 76kg: Although finishing without any new records and lagging behind her own former records, the continent’s “Princess”, 20-year-old Neisi DAJOMES (ECU), multiple youth and junior world champion emerged victorious from a great fight with Jenny Lyvette ARTHUR (USA) who had to settle for the 3 silver medals. In 87kg Dominican Crismery SANTANA won with an advantage of 4kg she acquired in the snatch on Maria VALDES from Chile. Both lifted 141kg in clean and jerk so SANTANA kept the lead and took the total gold medal. In the +87kg category world and Pan-American champion Sarah Elizabeth ROBLES (USA) did not panic when being cornered in the snatch. As always, the strongest American woman could rely on her powerful clean and jerk, and rightly she used her supremacy to collect the remaining two gold medals for a final victory.
USA-USA-COL-MEX medal winners in 71kg
34 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING
Ecuador’s splendid Neisi DAJOMES never to disappoint her supporters (76kg)
Overall winner of the 87kg: Crismery SANTANA, DOM
The mighty world and Pan-American champion of the +87kg: Sarah ROBLES, USA
›
PAN-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – GUATEMALA CITY, GUA
WOMEN
MEN
45 KG
55 KG
1 BERRIO Z. M.A ANDREA
18.06.2000
COL
44.20
72
95
167
1 GARCIA PEREZ JAIRO LUIS
02.08.2000
COL
54.95 108 135
243
2 CUEVA U. F. FRANCESCA
04.02.1998
PER
44.70
69
90
159
2 ICAL S. JOSE FERNANDO
16.05.1999
GUA
54.75
215
143
- JOSEPH EDOUARD
24.12.1989
HAI
55.00 100
---
---
3 BENAVIDES Z. M. DEL CISNE
06.04.1996
ECU
44.85
68
75
49 KG 1 RITCHEY ALYSSA LYNN
95 120
61 KG 14.04.1989
USA
49.00
83 107
190
1 VAZQUEZ MENDEZ ANTONIO
12.08.1993
MEX
60.85 118 164
282
19.04.1995
DOM
60.75 123 158
281
10.02.1998
ECU
61.00 124 148
272
MEX
66.50 134 170
304
2 PIRON C. B. ELIZABETH
27.02.1995
DOM
48.80
82 102
184
2 GARCIA B. LUIS ALBERTO
3 KING MORGHAN WHITNEY
08.10.1985
USA
48.85
78 102
180
3 ZURITA V. CRISTHIAN DAVID
1 DELACRUZ J. ELIZABETH
20.05.1998
USA
54.25
91 116
207
1 MUNOZ M. J. ANTONIO
10.11.1995
2 ESCOBAR G. M. ALEXANDRA
17.07.1980
ECU
54.85
90 113
203
2 OSORIO H. JOSE LUIS
04.03.2000
COL
65.10 135 160
295
202
3 PINEDA ZETA E. ISMAEL
17.08.1997
GUA
65.15 125 165
291
55 KG
3 LOPEZ F. ANA GABRIELA
67 KG
22.09.1994
MEX
54.65
92 110
59 KG
73 KG
1 SILGADO A. ROSIVE ANDREA
30.06.1995
COL
58.85
95 125
220
1 CUMMINGS JR CLARENCE
06.06.2000
USA
72.95 153 191
344
2 LOBON V. MARIA CAMILA
30.09.1995
COL
58.75
95 120
215
2 MOSQUERA L. LUIS JAVIER
27.03.1995
COL
72.50 147 175
322
3 LUCERO JESSICA MARIE
26.09.1989
USA
58.90
94 113
207
3 MENA M. JOSE GAVINO
08.03.1994
COL
72.60 142 177
319
64 KG
81 KG COL
63.95 101 128
229
1 RODALLEGAS C. B. SANTIAGO
15.11.1997
COL
80.90 161 202
363
14.06.1997
COL
63.60 102 125
227
2 BONNAT MICHEL ZACARIAS
27.02.1996
DOM
80.80 160 191
351
25.12.1996
USA
63.65
227
3 SOLIS A. JUAN FELIPE
05.03.1999
COL
81.00 155 196
351
1 PEREZ T. MERCEDES ISABEL
07.08.1987
2 LLAMOSA M. NATHALIA 3 SASSER M. LANGTOR
98 129
71 KG
89 KG
1 VIBERT K. ELIZABETH
05.01.1999
USA
70.15 110 135
245
1 MENDEZ PEREZ ARLEY
31.12.1993
CHI
88.75 170 205
375
2 ROGERS MARTHA ANN
23.08.1995
USA
70.40 106 132
238
2 CANTRELL JORDAN WARREN
16.08.1996
USA
89.00 153 190
343
3 ESCOBAR A. H. ANDREA
07.03.1999
COL
70.50
219
3 ANDICA A. Y. ALEXANDER
26.08.1987
COL
81.70 153 185
338
COL
95.45 180 211
391
98 121
76 KG
96 KG ECU
76.00 109 136
245
1 RIVAS M. JHONATAN
11.07.1998
11.12.1993
USA
75.80 108 135
243
2 LUNA MARIN ANGEL JOSE
13.10.1994
VEN
90.95 162 210
372
20.07.1995
CAN
75.25
228
3 SANTAVY BOADY ROBERT
22.05.1997
CAN
95.10 169 201
370
1 DAJOMES B. NEISI PATRICIA
12.05.1998
2 ARTHUR JENNY LYVETTE 3 NGARLEM KRISTEL
95 133
81 KG
102 KG
1 TORRES WONG ANACARMEN
27.11.1995
MEX
79.80 102 131
233
1 OSORIO D. ANTOINNE
13.10.1993
USA 102.00 159 205
364
2 MINA TORRES D. LUCIA
02.04.1998
ECU
80.75 103 129
232
2 FERRIN A. P. ALEXANDER
20.10.1995
ECU
98.70 155 196
351
3 VIERA E. HERNAN MOISES
16.01.1993
PER 101.45 150 195
345
3 CESAR HURTADO TAILA
28.07.1999
CUB
78.65
93 121
214
1 SANTANA P. C. DOMINGA
20.04.1995
DOM
86.75 112 141
253
1 KITTS WESLEY BRIAN
22.05.1990
USA 108.70 176 223
399
2 VALDES P. M. FERNANDA
17.03.1992
CHI
86.70 108 141
249
2 GONZALEZ B. J. ABRAHAN
22.04.1991
VEN 107.65 177 205
382
3 SALAZAR A. T. YAJAIRA
09.08.1997
ECU
83.00 105 138
243
3 COLUMBIE JUAN
24.01.1995
CUB 107.00 174 206
380
1 ROBLES SARAH ELIZABETH
01.08.1988
USA 144.35 124 155
279
1 WILKES CAINE MORGAN
10.07.1987
USA 145.95 182 219
401
2 SALADIN T. V. ESTELA
21.05.1992
DOM 130.30 123 147
270
2 LAURET R. LUIS MANUEL
20.01.1997
CUB 118.00 183 217
400
3 MASCORRO O. T. GUADALUPE
24.11.1988
MEX 109.75 120 144
264
3 WITTE KEISER ANDREW
15.03.1995
USA 141.60 175 212
387
87 KG
109 KG
+109 KG
+87 KG
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 35
› 2019 AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – CAIRO, EGY TEXT: TÍMEA HORVÁTH PHOTO: EGYPTIAN FEDERATION
EGYPT MASSIVELY DOMINANT ON HOME SOIL BUT 11 NATIONS SHARE MEDALS
T
he 2019 African Senior Weightlifting Qualification Championships, an event of crucial importance for the Continent regarding 2020 Olympic qualification, was hosted by the capital of Egypt, Cairo between 23 and 29 April 2019. Egypt is undoubtedly the Continent’s leading nation – not only in terms of success through its competitors but also the most experienced as a host to major events. Last year, for instance, they organised the Youth and Junior African Championships. Before the competitions the Weightlifting Federation of Africa (WFA) held its Executive Board meeting and Congress. During the event WFA conducted Educational Seminars, including Anti-Doping, Technical Officials’ and Coaching Seminars.
Altogether 112 athletes from 14 African Member Federations competed for the title of “African Champion” and – even more importantly - for the valuable qualification points with a view to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Out of the 14 countries 12 competed with both male and female teams. No bodyweight category remained void: each had a minimum of one lifter in both genders. Naturally, the Olympic bodyweight categories attracted more participants. After the lowest women’s category, 45kg, which saw only two lifters, Egypt could celebrate home success on the first day. Heba AHMED claimed gold at the Cairo Stadium in the women’s 49 kilogram competition. Second place went to Roilya Hanitra RANAIVOSOA from Mauritius, while Ghana celebrated a bronze medal by Winnifred NTUMI. Next day the women’s competitions brought the victory for Nigerian athletes. Nigeria took the gold both in 55 kilograms and 59 kilograms. Men’s competitions were dominated by Tunisian and Libyan weightlifters who won several medals in 3 bodyweight categories. The home crowd did not remain without local triumph, as Egyptian Ahmed SAAD claimed gold medal in men’s 67 kg with a total of 302 kg. He finished ahead of Madagascar’s Tojonirina Alain ANDRIATSITOHAINA with only 2 kg. Ehsan SHALABI from Libya could step on the podium’s third stage.
WFA and Egyptian Federation leaders awarded the Best Lifter trophy to Sara AHMED, Egypt, 76kg African champion
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The winning team of the Championships: Egypt
Women’s 64 kg ended with the success of North African countries; first two places went to Egypt, while the bronze medal was taken by Chaima RAHMOUNI from Tunisia. The struggle between the two home athletes was tight in the clean and jerk, Esraa RASHED was one kilogram behind her team mate, Neama FAHMI, however, RASHED won the overall title with her good result in snatch. The host nation enjoyed further great results, as Mohamed Ihab MAHMOUD, bronze medallist in Rio 2016 Olympic Games took the gold in the men’s 81 kg category which was the most populous event. Ramzi BAHLOUL from Tunisia placed second, whilst Mahmoud’s fellow member from Egypt, Ahmed ALSAYED became third. Another Egyptian Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist, Sara Mohamed AHMED secured her gold medal with 6 good lifts, 66 kg (!) ahead of Alison SUNEE from Mauritius and 67 kg on Egypt’s Fatma AHMED in the women’s 76 kg bodyweight category. In 81 kg, Nigeria added a third gold medal to the collection, thanks to the great result of Bilikis Abiodun OTUNLA. Local athlete, Ahmed ALI achieved first place in the men’s 89 kg at the Cairo Stadium. He beat Tunisian Wajih TLILI and Christian AMOAH from Ghana, who acquired Ghana’s second bronze medal at this Championships. All in all, Egypt showed an outstanding performance on home soil. However, it is great to mention that as many as 11 countries have won a medal from the participating 14 at the African Senior Weightlifting Championships.
The medallists of 45kg
Marie RANAIVOSOA, MRI, 49kg
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› 2019 AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – CAIRO, EGY
49kg winner: Heba Saleh AHMED, EGY
The 67kg podium: EGY-MAD-LBA
Mona PRETORIUS, RSA in 64kg
Sara AHMED, EGY was supreme once again
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Kyle PIERCE as Ghana’s coach
› 2019 AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – CAIRO, EGY
Another Egyptian victory in 81kg: Mohamed MAHMOUD
The 55kg podium
Karem BEN HNIA, TUN remains the best in 73kg
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› 2019 AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS – CAIRO, EGY WOMEN
MEN
45 KG
55 KG
1 RANDAFIARISON ROSINA
29.12.1999
MAD
44.00
70
80
150
1 ANDRIANTSITOHAINA E. HERMAN
21.07.1991
MAD
54.90 102 120
222
2 FAJRESLAM MAHA
04.07.2003
MAR
44.47
50
62
112
2 HARFI ISSAM
02.12.1997
MAR
54.40
90 100
190
TUN
59.87 116 142
258
49 KG
61 KG
1 AHMED H. SALEH MAHMOUD
03.07.1996
EGY
48.96
73
95
168
1 BOUHIJBHA AMINE
28.02.1996
2 RANAIVOSOA M. H. ROILYA
14.11.1990
MRI
48.66
71
93
164
2 BOUSHEEHAH ABDULLAH
12.01.1992
LBA
60.85 108 136
244
124
3 BEN HADJ MOHAMED AZIZ
14.01.2002
TUN
60.85 102 125
227
3 NTUMI WINNIFRED
28.09.2002
GHA
47.76
57
67
55 KG
67 KG
1 AMALAHA CHIKA JOY
28.10.1997
NGR
54.63
95 110
205
1 SAAD AHMED A. MOHAMED
01.11.1986
EGY
66.84 134 168
302
2 LANDOULSI NOUHA
05.05.1998
TUN
54.69
92 107
199
2 ANDRIATSITOHAINA T. ALAIN
26.02.1995
MAD
65.95 133 167
300
3 IBRAHIM B. E. G. MOHAMED
27.06.1995
EGY
54.89
85 100
185
3 SHALABI EHSAN ALI ELHADI
22.03.1997
LBA
66.90 126 155
281
1 FEDELIS CHINEYE SILVER
28.10.1993
NGR
58.66
88 115
203
1 BEN HNIA KAREM
13.11.1994
TUN
70.20 152 186
338
2 TALJAARD JOHANNI
19.08.1984
RSA
58.78
83 102
185
2 IBRAHIM M. W. SHAABAN
01.12.1996
EGY
72.95 145 185
330
3 BENMILOUD MERYEM NADA
26.09.1997
ALG
58.27
70
160
3 TUBAL OMER MARAJ S.
10.01.1994
LBA
72.92 141 166
307
59 KG
73 KG
90
64 KG
81 KG
1 RASHED ESRAA E. AHMED
21.11.1998
EGY
63.20
98 110
208
1 MAHMOUD M. IHAB Y. AHMED
21.11.1989
EGY
80.70 160 191
351
2 SAID NEAMA SAID FAHMI
15.11.2002
EGY
61.70
91 111
202
2 BAHLOUL RAMZI
18.10.1989
TUN
80.10 151 180
331
3 RAHMOUNI CHAIMA
25.03.2001
TUN
60.93
89 110
19
3 ELSAYED AHMED
10.07.1997
EGY
79.80 144 185
329
71 KG 1 MAHMOUD RANIA M. EZZAT
89 KG 10.09.2001
EGY
69.44
97 122
219
1 ALI AHMED SAYED ASHOUR
10.01.1999
EGY
88.85 163 200
363
07.03.1999
TUN
88.10 149 173
322
25.07.1999
GHA
86.60 148 172
320
2 LAABIDI YOSRA
02.08.1998
TUN
64.17
81 105
186
2 TLILI WAJIH
3 CHERRARA IKRAM
06.06.1998
ALG
67.88
82 101
183
3 AMOAH CHRISTIAN
76 KG
96 KG
1 AHMED S. S. E. MOHAMED
01.01.1998
EGY
74.38 112 145
257
1 MAHMOUD SELIM MOHAMED
29.12.1997
EGY
94.15 170 200
370
2 SUNEE A. MARIE LEROY
20.07.1999
MRI
73.35
86 105
191
2 ABDALLA RAGAB A. SAAD A.
04.03.1991
EGY
94.75 161 201
362
3 AHMED FATMA M. SADEK
07.07.2003
EGY
73.25
85 105
190
3 MESSAOUI SADDAM
24.07.1991
ALG
94.50 161 193
354
22.01.2001
MAR
98.30 123 145
268
81 KG
102 KG
1 OTUNLA BILIKIS ABIODUN
12.06.1994
NGR
76.70
93 125
218
2 FARAG SALMA A. M. AWAD
11.09.2002
EGY
77.68
90 111
201
3 HIRECH B. FATIMA ZOHRA
22.08.2000
ALG
79.95
86 106
192
87 KG
1 EZZOHARI BADREDDINE
109 KG
1 HUSSEIN S. SAID H. AHMED
20.09.1995
EGY
83.09 103 125
228
1 MOHAMED G. A. FARHAN
01.09.1985
EGY 107.10 165 202
367
2 MEUKEUGNI N. CLEMENTINE
01.10.1990
CMR
86.46
85 115
200
2 ABDELAZIZ M. ABDELRAHMAN M
07.04.1998
EGY 108.70 160 207
367
3 BEN MOUSSA AMENI
24.03.1999
TUN
84.87
86 100
186
3 BACHA AYMEN
26.10.1999
TUN 106.50 173 193
366
+109 KG
+87 KG 1 ABBAS HALIMA A SEDKY
05.05.1995
EGY 136.70 120 145
265
1 BIDANI WALID
11.06.1994
ALG 147.20 187 226
413
2 VALAYDON SHALINEE
13.04.1986
MRI 114.41
210
2 GABER AHMED M. A. MOHAMED
18.01.1996
EGY 136.80 175 230
405
3 BERTALI ZAKARIA
07.10.1985
MAR 109.20 130 160
290
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95 115
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 41
› 2018 IWF LIFTERS OF THE YEAR PHOTO: JÓZSEF SZAKA
2018 IWF LIFTERS OF THE YEAR ENCORE BY LIDIA AND LASHA
W
ORLD WEIGHTLIFTING had its annual online vote for the 2018 Lifters of the Year titles. Just like in the year before, Lidia VALENTIN and Lasha TALAKHADZE won the hearts of the fans and voters. The awarding ceremony of the Jenő Boskovics Lifter of the Year 2018 trophies will take place on 20 May 2019 in Kobuleti, Georgia. We shall report in our next issue.
Lidia VALENTIN, ESP
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Lasha TALAKHADZE, GEO
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› IWF JWC PREVIEW TEXT: ATTILA ÁDÁMFI, MÁTYÁS LENCSÉR
JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN FIJI IS READY TO MAKE HISTORY
T
his year’s Junior World Championships is the first time an IWF Junior World Championship is taking place on a Pacific island. Fiji is not unknown to the weightlifting Family, as they already successfully hosted Oceania Championships in 2004, 2010 and 2016. During our Technical visit, we had the privilege to meet with various stakeholders and saw the progress made to host an event of this calibre. The JWC competition venue, the FMF Gymnasium is prepared to host the Championships and the warmup areas, while the National Fitness Centre will serve as the training venue, both prepared accordingly by the Fiji Sports Council. The venues are in the same area, just a short walk away from each other. Also, the distance between the venues and the various hotels is just about 10 minutes providing ideal conditions for the athletes to perform at their best - especially considering that this event is a significant milestone in the Olympic Qualification, on the “Road to Tokyo 2020”. Being a Gold Level Qualification Event, it is important to highlight that the sports equipment is provided by the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games supplier, the Chinese ZKC company.
The local Organizing Committee showed unprecedented cooperation in engaging the different stakeholders in organizing this event. We were impressed by the collaboration that is being shown by the whole of Government, Fiji Sports Council, Fiji National Sports Commission, ONOC, FASANOC, ORADO, Media Partners (especially Fiji TV), sponsors in delivering this Championships. We are grateful to Dr. Robin MITCHELL, the Chair of the Organising Committee and to Mr. Atma MAHARAJ, President of Weightlifting Fiji for the tireless work they are putting into delivering this Junior World Championships. About 300 athletes from more than 50 countries are expected to participate at the 2019 IWF Junior World Championships as follows:
• • • • •
Africa: 4 MFs, Asia: 13 MFs Europe: 18 MFs Oceania: 6 MFs Pan America: 10 MFs
We are also impressed by the support of Fiji’s people, and we are confident that every delegation will enjoy warm hospitality in Suva!
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Technical visit by the IWF Director General and Competition Manager. Far left: Mr. Robin MITCHELL, ANOC President, Chair of the OC
WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 45
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› WOMEN’S PAGE TEXT: URSULA GARZA PAPANDREA, IWF VICE PRESIDENT, IWF CHAIR OF WOMEN’S COMMISSION, USA WEIGHTLIFTING PRESIDENT
GENDER EQUALITY IN FOREFRONT OF IOC
O
n May 12, 2019 the 4th International Federations Gender Equality Forum was held in Lausanne, and with the support of the International Weightlifting Federation and President Aján, I was able to participate along with 49 other women in leadership positions of their international federations. This year’s topics included funding allocations, mechanisms to increase the pipeline of women for decision-making positions, governance, tracking and monitoring, coaches and technical officials at the Games and the collaboration between IFs, National Federations and National Olympic Committees.
These were the main formal topics discussed at the Forum but there was also quite a bit of valuable informal exchanges. The Forum was organized by the International Olympic Committee in partnership with the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) and, for the first time, the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (AIOWF) was also in attendance. The focus of my participation was on the Governance Leadership Pipeline (Recommendation 18), methods and strategic plans for Implementing the Gender Equality Recommendations and Linking with National Sporting Federations. I selected these topics because these are some of the areas which the IWF Women’s Commission needs to address to encourage long term and sustainable progress in our sport. Kit McConnell, the IOC Sports Director was also in attendance and I was able to have fruitful discussion with him as well. The IOC leadership has made it clear that the gender equality project is at the forefront of their concerns. I will work with the IWF Women’s Commission to create and submit a long term strategic plan for increasing specifically the leadership pipeline and leadership positions worldwide as there is a notable deficiency in comparison with many other sports. I look forward to presenting the plan and its metrics in Thailand later this year.
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