WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING No.140

OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF INTERNATIONAL WEIGHTLIFTING FEDERATION

IWF President Dr. Tamás Aján with WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING’s Jenő Boskovics Lifter of the Year Trophy 2016” winners TANASAN Sopita, THA and ROSTAMI Kianoush, IRI 2016 WORLD RANKING LISTS

2017 YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017 EUROPEAN AND ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

PHOTO: JÓZSEF SZAKA, IWF

BEST OF 2016

Published by International Weightlifting Federation DR. TAMÁS AJÁN IWF President IOC Honorary Member MA WENGUANG 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

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 reproduces without the written consent of the IWF, however, reference should be made to this publication.

CONTENTS No. 140 02-03 | Foreword 04-07 | Lifters of the Year 2016 and 2015 08-17 | 2016 World Ranking Lists 18-29 | 2017 IWF Youth World Championships, Bangkok 30-36 | 2017 European Championships, Split 27-40 | 2017 Asian Championships, Ashgabat 41

| The 8th Women’s Category before the IOC

42

| Obituary: Imre Földi

44-45 | Women’s Page 46-47 | Technical Corner

ISSN 0230-3035

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 1

› FOREWORD

FOREWORD

F

Dear Readers, Dear Friends

our years have passed since the 2013 Congress in Moscow and here we are again, at the end of May 2017, facing the most important managerial congregation of the IWF, the election of the senior officers of the Federation.

This time, Thailand will host this prestigious event in Bangkok. We have just been there, a short while ago, to celebrate the annual edition of the IWF Youth World Championships and we shall now return to the same place. That is, however, by no mere chance: the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association (TAWA) is one of the world’s most active national federations conducted by two persons none less important than IWF Vice President Major General Intarat Yodbangtoey and his wife, the President of TAWA, Mrs. Boossaba Yodbangtoey. This couple has done an amazing job in Thailand’s weightlifting. Thanks to them, the country boasts Olympic and world champions and a huge talent pool in all age groups. Madam Boossaba is like a mother to all weightlifters and has an attachment to each of them. I am glad that Bangkok will host our Electoral Congress and I am glad that two people like them are main contributors to our sport.

Now, let us speak of the elections! The IWF has come a long way, it has covered a remarkable path in the last thirty-forty years. We started from an awfully low level and have reached today’s top notch standard. Huge progress has been recorded and I have been lucky to be part of this change. The IWF today is one of the most recognised organisations of international sport and the Olympic Movement. Not only is weightlifting a core sport on the Olympic Games’ program, but the IWF activities are universally praised as exemplary from the points of view of good governance, management, finances, antidoping control, administration and a number of other aspects. In these achievements a significant role has been assigned to my immediate colleagues, the staff at

2 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

the IWF offices, who work at top level and with a high degree of dedication. Our Federation can boast an efficient, well-structured Secretariat whose members are all professionals and experts in their own relevant jobs.

The fact that we now have seven candidates to the President’s and six to the General Secretary’s position and altogether 119 candidates are running in the race for the different officers’ posts demonstrates the wide recognition of the sport. It is natural for people that they like to be where everything works well. To give you an example: nobody wants to be the captain on a sinking boat; but it is good to work on a luxury ship cruising the world, which is lavishly outfitted, boasts an efficient system and up-to-the standard facilities.

Dr. Tamás Aján with Mrs. and Mr. Yodbangtoey

IWF Executive Board That is how I could describe the IWF today: a wellorganised, efficient Federation – and we made it like that. It is perfectly humane and normal to have the ambition to get promoted to a higher level, be part of the decision-making process. On the other hand, it is less acceptable if someone wants to fill a position ‘per se’, just for the rank itself, and is not attracted by the task, the job concerned. I believe in work and I support anyone wanting to get a higher position while being ready to do the hard work that comes with it.

Nowadays sport is a gigantic industry where large monies are at stake. At the same time, it is a huge attraction and demands more and more skilled professionals. From this aspect the IWF – if only on its modest scale – keeps the pace, but new challenges keep arising and you must be ready to meet them not year by year but day by day, hour by hour. The fact that we have been ranked in a higher, more favourable group regarding the Olympic revenues is the feedback that we are able to fulfil these very tough conditions as well. The election is a challenge, too. It is a challenge for all and for me as well. But I am convinced that one must take it in a fair way. I want to underline: this is not a war –certain candidates see it that way – but a fair competition. I am a sportsman and keep Fair Play on my mind as a priority – while my level of adrenalin is naturally also rising. I confirm that I am running for President of the

IWF. I have submitted my candidature because I want to keep on serving the Federation and weightlifting. I have a lot of ideas and projects that I could and would like to realize – with your support – in every field of activity.

For instance in management, governance, financial support to the sport. The doping controls, the fight for a clean weightlifting must be continued but it is important to realize that what happened was not by fault of the IWF! In the anti-doping battle the IWF is a good example, referred to as such by WADA, IOC. I want to pursue the battle on the same grounds at an ever-increasing standard. There are many other opportunities for development, e.g. in the World Cup or Grand Prix series. We need a more concentrated ‘star-producing’ program, because the sport does not exist without stars and we must help promoting them. I hope I shall be surrounded by colleagues in the leading bodies who are ready to support the ideas needed to further elevate weightlifting.

Finally, I would like to say thanks to the IWF Executive Board, to the Committees but most importantly to the Member Federations for your support, because without your support we could not have come to where we are now.

DR. TAMÁS AJÁN IWF PRESIDENT

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 3

› 2016 LIFTERS OF THE YEAR TEXT: KORNÉL JANCSÓ & ANIKÓ NÉMETH-MÓRA

2016 LIFTERS OF THE YEAR TANASAN AND ROSTAMI VOTED TO RECEIVE THE ‘JENŐ BOSKOVICS’ TROPHY

A

n unprecedented number of ballots – nearly 38,000(!) – was cast on the IWF website in the traditional annual voting for the ‘2016 Lifter of the Year’ titles in both genders. WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING – since the inauguration of the election of the Lifter of the Year in 1982 for men and 1991 for women – has never seen such interest. Thank you!

For both genders Olympic champions were elected.

Among the ladies TANASAN Sopita (Thailand) became the winner with a good 1,200 votes ahead of the second best DENG Wei (China) and 2015 best HSU SHU-Ching (Chinese Taipei). A mere 55 votes decided between the latter two.

As Best Lifter in 2016 among men the most ballots were cast on ROSTAMI Kianoush (Iran) who drew an overwhelming 20,000 plus votes, three times more than runner up TALAKHADZE Lasha (Georgia). In third place RAHIMOV Nijat (Kazakhstan) landed with significantly less votes.

Sopita Tanasan, Kianoush Rostami with WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING Editor-in-Chief Kornél Jancsó

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› INTERVIEW

BEST WOMAN LIFTER OF 2016: SOPITA TANASAN, THAILAND • • • • • •

Born: 23 December 1994 2011 to 2015 she participated in 53kg, at the 2016 Olympic Games in 48kg Asian junior champion: 2012, 2013, 2014 Junior World Championships medals: 2012 silver, 2013 bronze, 2014 silver World Championships: 2013 silver medal, 2014 and 2014 4th place Olympic Games: 2016 Rio gold medal in 48kg – 200kg (92, 108)

WW: How do you feel about being voted the best female Lifter of the Year 2016? How was it to receive this Award?

ST: I’m so proud of being voted and really much thankful for every vote sent for me. I feel all my hard work being rewarded with this amazing award.

WW: What is your next competition? What about Tokyo 2020? Can you defend your title?

ST: It will be up to my federation and the coaches to decide about any future competitions. My task is to train and be ready anyhow.

So, I don’t know and Tokyo is too far ahead for me to think about it.

But if I am lucky to be there, I will do my best.

WW: Were you expecting such recognition? How does your family feel about your career and achievements? Can you tell us more about you and your family?

ST: Please believe me that I didn’t expect it because I was sure there were many good lifters around much greater and better than me. But now my family is definitely very proud of me. In my family I have my dearest mother and younger sister; my father passed away many years ago.

WW: Did you expect to win the gold medal at the Rio Olympic Games? Has your life changed since you became Olympic Champion?

ST: I didn’t expect to be the gold medallist in the Rio Olympic Games. At that time I was only aware of doing my best and making it happen for my beloved country in the Olympic Games. Of course, ever since Rio my life has changed a lot – to the better. And not only for me but also for my family, what makes me really happy and grateful. I am happy to be much more well-known; I feel almost like a sport idol for youngsters in Thailand.

After Rio I couldn’t rest for long, because I had to realize that I am now a public figure of Thais and it included a lot of shows and interviews. Fortunately, lately this has lessened a bit so I could get back to practice step by step, according to my head coach’s advice.

Sopita Tanasan, THA

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 5

› INTERVIEW

BEST MALE LIFTER OF 2016: KIANOUSH ROSTAMI, IRAN • • • • • • • •

Born: 23 July 1991 Junior world champion in 77kg first time in 2010, then continued in 85kg Junior World Championships: gold medals in 2010 and 2011 World Championships: gold in 2011 and 2014, silver in 2015 Asian Championships: silver in 2011 and 2012 Asian Games: silver in 2014 Olympic Games: 2012 in 85kg silver medal with 380kg; 2016 gold medal in 85kg with 396kg World records: several, currently holder of the record in clean and jerk (220kg) and total (396kg)

WW: We have seen you on stage but please tell us more about you offstage, about your origins, your family and your first steps in the sport.

KR: My family lives in Kermanshah (525km from Tehran to the West). My dad is a retired policeman and we have quite a big family: we are 4 sisters and 4 brothers, of which I am the youngest.

I was 10 years old and my brother was a good lifter and a good coach, and I looked up on him as my idol. He taught me how to use my body. Our city is built on the slopes of a mountain and many

light training, maximum 220kg in back squat, for instance. But when I am in competition, I only have one focus and that’s on the lifting. I went to Rio without a coach. Everybody said it was impossible but I did it. Usually I train without a coach, but I have friends.

Good friends.

WW: What do you think of the new rule, we mean that bodyweight doesn’t give you advantage anymore?

KR: It’s good but it’s also very hard. But weightlifting is hard, so the competition must also be hard.

“WEIGHTLIFTING IS HARD. THE COMPETITION MUST ALSO BE HARD.”

times I had to run up and down, up and down and if I did well he rewarded me. First I started with water polo and gymnastics – I even got medals in this sport. But later I was attracted to weightlifting and stayed there.

WW: Did you dream of the Olympic medal right away?

KR: You see it is funny, because now that I have two of the Olympic gold medals, I set a new goal. I want to win gold medal – not in three, but in four Olympic Games! I get a lot of support from the public. I have 125,000 followers on Istagram and about 1,820,000 people have visited my page.

WW: We understand that you have quite a peculiar way of training and competing.

KR: I have this capability and habit to drain the knowledge from everybody and use it to my own benefit. I can say that I know everything about the weightlifting sport and especially I know what works for me. For instance, I don’t do the 4-times-a-day routine like they usually do in the Iranian team. That’s killing! I do quite

6 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

Kianoush Rostami, IRI

› 2016 LIFTERS OF THE YEAR TEXT: TEXT: ANIKÓ NÉMETH-MÓRA, SENIOR EDITOR

INTERVIEW WITH HSU SHU-CHING, 2015 LIFTER OF THE YEAR “THE BARBELL IS MY BOYFRIEND…”

E

arly last year, as usual, our Readers and the world’s weightlifting fans voted as usual for the recipient of the annual “Jenő Boskovics Lifter of the Year Trophy”, and for 2015 HSU SHU-CHING of Chinese Taipei received the most votes among the women. Then, during the year, various technical obstacles arose preventing the due presentation of the crystal barbell to its merited winner. Finally, the Universiade Test Event held in Taipei early this year provided an excellent opportunity to present the Trophy to the outstanding Taiwanese who had meanwhile become double Olympic Champion. IWF Honorary Vice President Chang Chao-Kuo and myself, WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING’s Senior Editor Aniko NemethMora handed over the prestigious prize to HSU. I took the chance of asking her a few questions.pionships, in the presence of the top dignitaries of the IWF, TAWA and the Editorial Board of WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING.

for it and never give up! Nothing, even an injury should ever stop you. My role model is Liu Chunhong of China.

WW: Do you have a boyfriend? Any hobbies? How do you relax?

HSC: The barbell is my boyfriend… But seriously: as long as I compete I devote myself 100% to the sport – and studying, of course.

My hobby is catching shrimps and sometimes I play basketball, the old love.

WW: What’s your next target? Any plans reaching to 2020?

HSC: I want to excel here, in Taipei in August, at the Universiade. That’s my priority for 2017 and I don’t know about the World Championships yet – let alone about Tokyo. Maybe…

Hsu Shu-Ching was awarded the Jenő Boskovics Trophy by Senior Editor Anikó Németh-Móra in the presence of Mr. Chang Chao-Kuo, IWF Honorary Vice President, Mrs. Chang, CTWA President and her coach WW: When you were a young girl, did you start with the weights right away?

HSC: Oh no, I was playing basketball but when I was about 13 years old at the Lu-Bai Junior High School, Wu Mei-Yi saw me and thought that I had good balance, so I was suggested to go to weightlifting. Not that I’ve ever regretted this move…

WW: Have you had many coaches since? Who is training you now and where?

HSC: I’ve had four coaches in all, including my present one, Mr. Tsai Wen-Yi. Actually, I am training at the National Training Centre in Kaoshiung, while pursuing my academic studies. I already have a Bachelor Degree and now I am studying for a PhD at the National Sports University. Actually, my Professor does the curtesy of moving to Kaoshiung to teach me…

WW: You have two Olympic titles and won countless major competitions. What is your secret?

HSC: It’s nothing special: you must concentrate on the sport; go

Hsu Shu-Ching: Best Lifter of 2015 WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 7

› WORLD RANKING LISTS - 2016 TEXT: KORNÉL JANCSÓ, EDITOR IN CHIEF

WORLD RANKING LISTS - 2016 OLYMPIC GOLD NEEDED IN MOST CATEGORIES FOR A POLE POSITION

T

he highlight of last year, the Olympic Games in Rio, left its strongest mark on the 2016 World Ranking Lists for both men’s and women’s weightlifting. So pivotal was this impact that hardly any result other than Olympic was able to rank its owner in either one of the top three positions. The Rio domination was especially prevalent in the male fields: Olympians reserved 22 out of the 24 podium positions of the eight categories, leaving only two third places to other major event participants. In particular, an outstanding total achieved at the Junior World Championships in Tbilisi and another one scored at the European Championships in Forde positioned their achievers as virtual “bronze medallists” in the ranking. In the women, Rio de Janeiro’s dominance was slightly less overwhelming with just one category having a non-Rio ranking leader: the best of 53kg was the Asian champion of 2016, who triumphed in Tashkent (Uzbekistan). Six of the runner-up or third positions were attained through performances prior to the Olympic Games. As for the nationality breakdown of the world ranking leaders, China was the most successful nation in both genders. Among the men, Chinese lifters took the pole position in three bodyweight categories – of which in the 77kg tying with Kazakhstan - , while in the women China had four top-ranked athletes. Iran was second best represented among the men with two world’s bests; whereas in the female categories Thailand was most successful behind China with their two pole positions. DPR Korea completes the countries’ roster. Remarkably, a junior-aged lifter was able to make it to the top ranks: in the men’s 105kg Armenian MARTIROSYAN Simon, born in 1997, junior European champion of 2016, ranked second best. A last statistical curio: our magazine, WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING is publishing its 38 th World Ranking List for men and its 31st for women. By this summary we wish to looks back on the year left behind and make a retrospective assessment of its performances. We must note that we considered the 2-lifters- per-nation- per-category ranking lists for our article.

48KG – TANASAN PRECEDING TAN

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ormerly dominating the category, in 2016 Chinese TAN Yayun finally met someone even stronger than her. TANASAN Sopita of Thailand was the one defeating the former champion and ranking leader.

TANASAN did not only become the category’s best but was also elected “2016 Lifter of the Year” in the voting of WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING. In August, 20-year old TANASAN took the Olympic gold in the lightest category with a total of 200kg and this result promoted her into the pole position of the world classification. In the years before, TAN Yayun had sored winning results below 200kg when sweeping the 2013 or the 2014 world championships, or even the 2016 Asian Championships, whereas the Thai woman (in the higher category of 53kg) had registered totals like 208kg in 2014 or 210kg in 2015. For the sake of Rio she slimmed down to fit into 48kg and the reward came all right: Olympic gold with 200kg. TAN is second best in 48kg with her Asian Championships result of 198kg, and the world ranking “bronze” was earned by Asian runner-up PRK lifter RYANG Chun Hwa.

8 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

TANASAN Sopita – THA

› WORLD RANKING LISTS - 2016 - WOMEN

1 TANASAN SOPITA

23.12.1994

THA

47.91 92 108

200 RIO

08.2016

2 TAN YAYUN

18.11.1992

CHN 47.55 88 110

198 TASHKENT 04.2016

3 RYANG CHUN HWA

12.06.1991

PRK

47.75 85 111

196 TASHKENT 04.2016

47.45 84 110

4 KHAMSRI PANIDA

13.01.1989

THA

5 JIANG HUIHUA

22.01.1998

CHN 47.16 86 107

193 TBILISI

06.2016

6 AGUSTIANI SRI W.

13.08.1994

INA

47.25 85 107

192 RIO

08.2016

NGUYEN THI THUY

23.08.1990

VIE

47.75 82 110

192 TASHKENT 04.2016

04.01.1982

TPE

47.20 85 106

191 TASHKENT 04.2016

9 MIRABAI CHANU S. 08.08.1994

IND

47.55 84 106

190 TASHKENT 04.2016

JPN

47.95 81 107

188 RIO

8 CHEN WEI-LING

10 MIYAKE HIROMI

18.11.1985

194 TASHKENT 04.2016

TAN Yayun – CHN

08.2016

53KG – CHEN PUT AN END TO THE TIE

I

n 2015, Chinese CHEN Xiaoting and HSU ShuChing of Chinese Taipei had been unable to decide who was best and tied in the leading position with 221kg to both. In 2015 the situation changed: CHEN repeated the 221kg total winning the Asian Championships in Tashkent but HSU could only lift 212kg at the Games. It is true that she did not need more to take the Olympic gold medal. HSU, by the way, made an encore, since she was the defending Olympic 96

1 CHEN XIAOTING

11.01.1991 CHN 52.70

221 TASHKENT

04.2016

2 HSU SHU-CHING

09.05.1991 TPE 52.60 100 112

212 RIO

08.2016

3 ZHANG WANQIONG

21.01.1994 CHN 52.50

211 TASHKENT

04.2016

95

125

champion from 2012 London; besides she was world champion in 2015, the year she was voted “Lifter of the Year” of WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING. She still owns the total world record, 233kg. In 2010 CHEN was world champion but two years ago she had to settle for a silver medal, defeated by HSU. Trailing the leading duo, in third place we find another Chinese, ZHANG Wangqiong, for her silver-medal winning 211kg at the continental championships in Tashkent.

116

4 IOVU CRISTINA

08.11.1992 ROU 52.56

90

120

210 FORDE

04.2016

5 DIAZ HIDILYN

20.02.1991

90

118

208 TASHKENT

04.2016

PHI 52.80

6 PAKKARATHA RATTANAPHON 14.06.1997 THA 52.65

88

115

203 TASHKENT

04.2016

7 PARATOVA IULIIA

07.11.1986 UKR 52.51

94

108

202 FORDE

04.2016

8 PIRON CANDELARIO B. E.

27.02.1995 DOM 49.80

91

108

199 CARTAGENA 06.2016

04.08.1986 KOR 52.59

88

111

199 RIO

08.2016

19.05.1998

90

108

198 FORDE

04.2016

YOON JIN HEE 10 KOHA REBEKA

LAT 52.19

HSU Shu-Ching – TPE

CHEN Xiaoting – CHN

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 9

› WORLD RANKING LISTS - 2016 - WOMEN

58KG - SRISURAT: A FOURTH TURNS FIRST

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ere is another category led by a Thai athlete: SRISURAT Sukanya (22). In 2014, bronze medallist of the world championships, she was merely fourth best of the year with 230kg to her credit, but in 2016 she produced 240kg, a total that gave her the Olympic laurels and at the same time the top position in the ranking. The category’s runner-up athlete, KUO Hsing-Chun (TPE) also had a promotion since 2013 when she was the world champion. KUO took bronze at the Rio Olympics, but earned her second best place in the annual ranking with her Asian-Championship winning result of 238kg.

By the way, the athlete from Chinese Taipei had already been the ranking leader in her prime year 2013, when she was the absolute best in 58kg with an impressive 241kg total output. Third in 2016: Azerbaijan’s KOSTOVA

Boyanka Minkova, owing to her 235kg at the European Championships in Forde. – (KOSTOVA had been the category leader the year before in 2015 – with a world record of 252kg…)

1 SRISURAT SUKANYA

03.05.1995

THA

110

130

240 RIO

08.2016

2 KUO HSING-CHUN

26.11.1993

TPE

58.00

103

135

238 TASHKENT

04.2016

3 KOSTOVA BOYANKA M.

10.05.1993

AZE

57.41

105

130

235 FORDE

04.2016

4 ZHOU JUN

27.02.1995

CHN 57.40

103

130

233 TASHKENT

04.2016

5 SIRIKAEW PIMSIRI

25.04.1990

THA

57.40

102

130

232 RIO

08.2016

6 LI PING

15.09.1988

CHN 56.70

100

130

230 TASHKENT

04.2016

7 ALVAREZ CAICEDO YENNY F.

24.05.1995

COL

57.61

100

124

224 CARTAGENA 06.2016

8 ESCOBAR GUERRERO M. A.

17.07.1980

ECU

57.23

100

123

223 RIO

08.2016

9 ANDOH MIKIKO

30.09.1992

JPN

57.56

94

124

218 RIO

08.2016

24.04.1990

COL

57.79

99

119

218 CARTAGENA 06.2016

RIVAS ORDONEZ LINA M.

KUO Hsing-Chun – TPE

SRISURAT Sukanya – THA

CHOE Hyo Sim – PRK 10 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

56.89

› WORLD RANKING LISTS - 2016 - WOMEN

63KG – DENG, THE ONLY WOMAN TO MAKE WORLD RECORD IN RIO LEADS

A

s opposed to the seven world records for men, two were scored for women at the Rio Olympic Games and we must thank both to DENG Wei of China. Like in 2015, DENG Wei dominated the 63kg and duly occupied the place #1 for the second consecutive time. DENG, 24, was world’s best in the 58kg category earlier, besides winning Youth Olympic, junior and two senior world champion titles (the last one in 2015, with 259kg), and she produced unprecedented results in Rio in clean and jerk (147) and in Total (262). Next best in 2016 were the medallists of the Olympic Games: double bronze medal winner CHOE Hyo Sim (PRK) and two times world junior medallist GORICHEVA Karina (KAZ), with their 248 and 243kg results, respectively.

1 DENG WEI

14.02.1993

CHN 62.34 115 147

262 RIO

08.2016

2 CHOE HYO SIM

05.12.1993

PRK

248 RIO

08.2016

62.17 105 143

3 GORICHEVA KARINA

08.04.1993

KAZ

62.66 111 132

243 RIO

08.2016

4 RIM UN SIM

05.07.1996

PRK

62.66 105 135

240 TBILISI

06.2016

5 GULNOI SIRIPUCH

17.07.1993

THA

60.60 103 131

234 TASHKENT

04.2016

COL

62.74 104 130

234 RIO

08.2016

PEREZ TIGRERO M. I.

07.08.1987

7 GURROLA ORTIZ EVA A. 17.05.1994 HUANG TING

MEX 62.85

98

125

223 CARTAGENA 06.2016

16.01.1999

CHN 62.88

98

125

223 TOKYO

11.2016

9 KHLESTKINA NATALIA

23.04.1992

RUS

60.75

99

123

222 FORDE

04.2016

TOMA LOREDANA-E.

10.05.1995

ROU

62.70 102 120

222 DOHA

12.2016

69KG – XIANG MEANS CONTINUITY

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fixture in the pole positions of the 69kg for recent years, Chinese XIANG Yanmei continued to dominate in 2016. Still merely 24 years old, this outstanding athlete came to Rio as double world champion (2014 and 2015). At the Games she left no doubt about her superiority in the category. Her final result was 261kg, two kilograms more than the total achieved by ZHAPPARKUL Zhazira (KAZ), second both in Rio and in the ranking list. The year before, ZHAPPARKUL had been third in line with her 256kg and got a promotion in 2016.

The third best ranked competitor, AHMED Sara Samir Elsayed Mohamed, made even more progress: she was upgraded from a previous seventh position. Egypt’s junior world champion fought successfully for a bronze medal at the Olympic Games registering 255kg.

DENG Wei – CHN

1 XIANG YANMEI

13.06.1992 CHN 68.78 116 145

261 RIO

08.2016

2 ZHAPPARKUL ZHAZIRA

22.12.1993 KAZ

259 RIO

08.2016

69.00 115 144

3 AHMED SARA SAMIR E. M.

01.01.1998 EGY

68.00 112 143

255 RIO

08.2016

4 SOLIS ARBOLEDA L. Y.

17.02.1990 COL

68.61 110 143

253 RIO

08.2016

5 ZHANG WANGLI

27.05.1996 CHN 66.25 110 135

245 TASHKENT

04.2016

6 AVDALYAN NAZIK

31.10.1986 ARM 68.55 107 135

242 RIO

08.2016

7 ROGERS MARTHA ANN

23.08.1995 USA

239 CARTAGENA 06.2016

8 PACHABUT DARYA DAJOMES BARRERA N. P.

68.19 106 133

31.12.1994 BLR

66.88 105 132

237 RIO

08.2016

12.05.1998 ECU

68.83 107 130

237 RIO

08.2016

BEAUCHEMIN-NADEAU M.-E. 13.10.1988 CAN 68.90 103 134

237 CARTAGENA 06.2016

MUNKHJANTSAN A.

237 RIO

25.12.1997 MGL 68.97 106 131

08.2016

XIANG Yanmei – CHN

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 11

› WORLD RANKING LISTS - 2016 - WOMEN

75KG – RIM PROMOTED FROM RUNNER-UP TO FIRST

B

y now two-times Olympic champion – London, 69kg and Rio, 75kg – North Korean RIM Jong Sim took the honours in the field of 75kg.

Second best in the previous year, 24-year old RIM made a serious 274kg total in Brazil’s metropolis and although she had registered higher results before (e.g. 276kg for a bronze in 2014 or 280kg for a silver in 2015), this output was just sufficient for her to secure the pole position in the annual classification.

Moreover, her result at the Olympic Games outclassed 2016 second best DEKHA Iryna’s 260kg by 14 kilograms, a result the Ukrainian won the Junior European Championships in Israel with. Third best was Olympic silver medallist NAUMAVA Darya of Belarus. It should be mentioned that Spain’s superstar lifter,

VALENTIN PEREZ Lidia, Olympic bronze medallist, occupies the fourth position in the world ranking of 2016 with her 257kg product.

1 RIM JONG SIM

05.02.1993 PRK 74.47 121 153

274 RIO

08.2016

2 DEKHA IRYNA

14.05.1996 UKR 74.48 119 141

260 EILAT

12.2016

3 NAUMAVA DARYA

26.08.1995 BLR 74.63 116 142

258 RIO

08.2016

4 VALENTIN PEREZ LIDIA

10.02.1985 ESP 74.00 116 141

257 RIO

08.2016

5 MUNKHJANTSAN A.

25.12.1997 MGL 73.82 115 138

253 TBILISI

06.2016

6 VALOYES CUESTA U.

06.07.1982 COL 74.28 111 136

247 RIO

08.2016

7 LIANG XIAOMEI

20.09.1997 CHN 74.98 109 136

245 TBILISI

06.2016

8 VALDES PARIS M. F.

17.03.1992 CHI 74.61 107 137

244 CARTAGENA 06.2016

9 NAYO KETCHANKE G. V.

20.04.1988 FRA 73.87 110 132

242 FORDE

04.2016

242 RIO

08.2016

ARTHUR JENNY LYVETTE 11.12.1993 USA 74.65 107 135

+75KG – MENG TOOK OVER KASHIRINA’S HERITAGE

A

RIM Jong Sim – PRK

1 MENG SUPING

17.07.1989 CHN 120.27 130 177

307 RIO

08.2016

2 KIM KUK HYANG

20.04.1993 PRK 100.34 131 175

306 RIO

08.2016

3 PULSABSAKUL C.

04.11.1993 THA 120.20 132 155

287 TASHKENT

04.2016

4 ROBLES SARAH E.

01.08.1988 USA 143.30 126 160

286 RIO

08.2016

5 HARIDY SHAIMAA A. K.

01.01.1991 EGY 123.75 117 161

278 RIO

08.2016

6 LEE HUISOL

27.08.1989 KOR 119.49 122 153

275 RIO

08.2016

7 SON YOUNGHEE

24.04.1993 KOR 109.58 118 155

273 RIO

08.2016

05.12.1986 VEN 114.08 121 152

273 RIO

08.2016

09.11.1990 NGR 127.63 120 150

270 YAOUNDE

05.2016

24.11.1988 MEX 109.49 119 146

265 CARTAGENA 06.2016

ESPINOSA YANIUSKA I. 9 USMAN MARYAM 10 MASCORRO OSUNA T. G.

CHAIDEE DUANGAKSORN 11.08.1997 THA 111.48 115 150

265 TBILISI

06,2016

AANEI ANDREEA

265 RIO

08,2016

18.11.1993 ROU 120.01 120 145

12 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

s the category’s “All-Time Champion Lady”, dominant for all these last years, KASHIRINA Tatiana of Russia was not given the right to participate in Rio (as a member of the Russian team) and did not compete either before or after the Games, the top position became vacant in the – hitherto – highest category of the women. The vacancy was eventually filled by MENG Suping who won at the Rio Olympic Games with 307kg. The 27-year old Chinese, who had collected world championship silvers in 2010, 2014 and in 2015, was able to win even with a – for her – somewhat moderate total result of 307kg. The ranking’s runner-up position is taken by the Olympic silver medallist from PRK, KIM Kuk Hyang with her 306kg and the third place is occupied by Thailand’s strongest woman weightlifter. Two-fold world championships bronze medallist, PULSABSAKUL Chitchanok secured her rank by a total of 287kg earning for her a silver medal at the Asian Championships in Tashkent. If we take a look back at the ranking in 2015, what happened last year was that with KASHIRINA being absent each of the three competitors behind her were upgraded by one step.

MENG Suping – CHN

› WORLD RANKING LISTS - 2016 - MEN

56KG – THIS TIME LONG WAS BETTER

T

he prolonged duel between both top-notch, both Olympic champion competitors, Chinese LONG Qingquan and North-Korean OM Yun Chol continued in the lightest category. This time Rio’s hero LONG managed to outclass his ancient foe, taking revenge on London’s Olympic gold medallist OM and stealing the show in Brazil by setting a new total world record of 307kg. Still the world record holder in clean and jerk, OM also performed at his best on the Olympic platform, but his 303kg was merely good for the silver medal and the same position in the world ranking.

Bronze medallist in Rio, Thailand’s KRUAITONG Sinphet trails the leading duo from a great distance with his 289kg. This rank, however, means a huge leap for the Thai champion as in the year before he was only 8th in the list.

1 LONG QINGQUAN

03.12.1990

CHN 55.68 137 170

307 RIO

08.2016

2 OM YUN CHOL

18.11.1991

PRK

55.57 134 169

303 RIO

08.2016

3 KRUAITHONG SINPHET

22.08.1995

THA

55.43 132 157

289 RIO

08.2016

4 MENG CHENG

18.11.1997

CHN 55.70 126 159

285 TASHKENT

04.2016

5 CHONTEY ARLI

01.07.1992

KAZ

55.64 130 148

278 RIO

08.2016

6 TRAN LE QUOC TOAN

05.04.1989

VIE

55.85 121 154

275 RIO

08.2016

7 COLONIA NESTOR

16.02.1992

PHI

55.50 120 148

268 TASHKENT

04.2016

19.04.1987

COL

55.85 118 150

268 CARTAGENA 06.2016

9 MINGMOON WITOON

10.02.1996

THA

55.50 115 150

265 TBILISI

06.2016

10 SCARANTINO MIRCO

16.01.1995

ITA

55.54 120 144

264 FORDE

04.2016

08.09.1992

ESP

55.73 121 143

264 FORDE

04.2016

DE LAS SALAS DE LA R. H.

BRACHI GARCIA JOSUE

LONG Qingquan – CHN

62KG – FIGUEROA SAID GOODBYE WITH OLYMPIC GOLD AND POLE POSITION

I

f you say goodbye you should do it in style and possibly while on top – this could be the philosophy of FIGUEROA MOSQUERA Oscar Albeiro, who made a perfect closure of his competitive career at the age of 34, walking off with an Olympic gold and as world ranking leader.

Runner-up in the previous year, the Colombian superman was an Olympian already at the 2004 Games (!) – finishing in the respectable fifth place – and in 2012 he earned the silver medal, only to finally make it to the top of the dais in Rio de Janeiro thanks to a 318kg total. Second best of the category in both the ranking and on the Olympic stage was another long-time protagonist, IRAWAN Eko Yuli.

Third in London 2012 and a constant member of the top trio since 2009, the Indonesian is still just 27 years old and has a strong grip on the category.

Last year he took silver in Brazil for his 312kg output. The Chinese came out with a new promising talent, 21-year old MO Yongxiang.

The Rio podium with FIGUERA MOSQUERA Oscar Albeiro – COL, IRAWAN Eko Yuli – INA and KHARKHI Farkhad – KAZ 1 FIGUEROA MOSQUERA O. A.

27.04.1983

COL

61.86 142 176

318 RIO

08.2016

2 IRAWAN EKO YULI 3 MO YONGXIANG

24.07.1989

INA

61.91 142 170

312 RIO

08.2016

10.04.1996

CHN 61.64 137 170

307 TBILISI

06.2016

4 KHARKI FARKHAD

20.04.1991

KAZ

61.60 135 170

305 RIO

08.2016

01.04.1992

COL

61.93 135 170

305 CARTAGENA 06.2016

6 ITOKAZU YOICHI

24.05.1991

JPN

61.87 133 169

302 RIO

08.2016

7 ATAK HURSIT

24.05.1991

TUR

61.68 126 170

296 FORDE

04.2016

8 SAAD AHMED AHMED M.

01.11.1986

EGY

62.00 133 161

294 RIO

08.2016

9 QIN FULIN

12.01.1994

CHN 61.48 133 158

291 MERIDA

11.2016

14.03.1997

PRK

291 TBILISI

06.2016

MOSQUERA VALENCIA F. A.

PAK JONG JU

61.94 131 160

› WORLD RANKING LISTS - 2016 - MEN

69KG – SHI SAVED HIS LEAD

F

our kilos improvement: that is what SHI Zhiyong produced in a year’s span. In 2015 he took the world’s top rank with 348kg, in 2016 with 352kg in the 69kg category. 23 years of age, the reigning world champion preserved his lead by winning the Olympic title and outclassing everyone else in 2016. His advantage at the Games was not too much, one kilogram only, but just enough to defeat 18 months older ISMAYLOV Daniyar.

Thus, Olympic silver medal winner, two-times European champion Turkish ISMAYLOV reached his life’s best in Rio with 351kg in total, eight kilograms on his own result one year before.

Third best in 2016 in this category was Olympic bronze medallist MOSQUERA LOZANO Luis Javier (335kg) just having turned 22 years old this March. The Colombian made a progress by two grades, from fifth to third.

1 SHI ZHIYONG

10.10.1993

CHN 68.72 162 190

352 RIO

08.2016

2 ISMAYILOV DANIYAR

03.02.1992

TUR

68.59 163 188

351 RIO

08.2016

3 MOSQUERA LOZANO L. J.

27.03.1995

COL

68.54 155 183

338 RIO

08.2016

68.55 150 188

338 TASHKENT

04.2016

08.09.1993

KGZ

5 ROQUE MENDOZA BREDNI

ARTYKOV IZZAT

11.11.1987

MEX 68.85 148 188

336 CARTAGENA 06.2016

6 YUAN CHENGFEI

14.07.1995

CHN 68.75 150 185

335 TASHKENT

04.2016

7 CALJA BRIKEN

19.02.1990

ALB

68.84 145 181

326 RIO

08.2016

8 MOSQUERA ROA EDWIN O.

26.07.1985

COL

68.87 148 175

323 CARTAGENA 06.2016

9 KWON YONG GWANG

14.01.1996

PRK

68.55 141 181

322 TASHKENT

04.2016

PETROV SERGEY

17.02.1994

RUS

68.58 147 175

322 FORDE

04.2016

CECHIR SERGHEI

15.10.1990

MDA 68.75 144 178

322 RIO

08.2016

SHI Zhiyong – CHN

77KG – LYU AND RAHIMOV TIE ON THE TOP

A

RAHIMOV Nijat – KAZ

LYU Xiaojun – CHN

1 RAHIMOV NIJAT

13.08.1993

KAZ

76.19 165 214

379 RIO

08.2016

LYU XIAOJUN

27.07.1984

CHN 76.83 177 202

379 RIO

08.2016

15.12.1995

ARM 76.55 170 197

367 FORDE

04.2016

3 KARAPETYAN ANDRANIK 4 MAHMOUD MOHAMED I. Y. A.

21.11.1989

EGY

76.69 165 196

361 RIO

08.2016

5 CHINNAWONG CHATUPHUM

19.07.1993

THA

76.52 165 191

356 RIO

08.2016

6 MARTIROSYAN TIGRAN

09.06.1988

ARM 76.44 160 192

352 FORDE

04.2016

7 LOPEZ LOPEZ YEISON

09.01.1999

COL

351 PENANG

10.2016

10.10.1993

CHN 72.40 157 191

348 TASHKENT

04.2016

12.07.1989

ROU

76.62 156 192

348 FORDE

04.2016

15.08.1997

COL

76.41 156 191

21.11.1989

MDA 76.52 155 192

8 SHI ZHIYONG CAPTARI DUMITRU 10 CAICEDO PIEDRAHITA A. M. SPAC ALEXANDR

75.73 160 191

347 CARTAGENA 06.2016 347 RIO

08.2016

solid grasp on his winning position by LYU Xiaojun – with the only change being that he has to share the top shelf with RAHIMOV Nijat of Kazakhstan.

Though in the world ranking the two champions tie on top, at the Olympic Games lower bodyweight favoured RAHIMOV and gave him the gold medal beating LYU who also recorded a 379kg total. Interesting to note that at the year’s highlight event the defending Olympic champion and 3-fold world champion Chinese set a new world record in snatch, 177kg.

Yet it was not enough for him to retain the title since RAHIMOV answered with a world record jerk of 214kg stealing the total gold under LYU’s nose. Third place winner in the 77kg for 2016 is world championship bronze medal winner Armenian KARAPETYAN Andranik, thanks to his 367kg total that gave him the European gold in Forde, Norway.

› WORLD RANKING LISTS - 2016 - MEN

85KG – ROSTAMI RECAPTURED THE LEAD AND BECAME LIFTER OF THE YEAR

F

ormerly junior and senior world champion ROSTAMI Kianoush of Iran had more than one reason in 2016 to feel happy. Following the disqualification of Russian AUKHADOV Apti, he was promoted from bronze to silver medallist of the 2012 London Olympic Games. In Rio he changed this silver for gold with a wonderful performance. As if he had wanted to make up for that runner-up place at the 2015 WWC, he was irresistible in Rio de Janeiro leaving no doubt that he was still the best of the category, like back in 2014. After having pinned a 220kg world record in clean and jerk at the beginning of the year, he rewrote the record in total at the Olympic Games with 396kg. This figure proved to be the highest of 2016 and ROSTAMI became the best of the category. As a bonus, he received the highest number of votes in the Lifter of the Year election of our magazine. Behind him, in the same setup as in Rio, 23-year old Chinese TIAN Tao is next in rank with his 395kg, whereas the third position went to 2016 Asian champion Kazakh ULANOV Denis, third also at the Rio Olympic Games.

1 ROSTAMI KIANOUSH

23.07.1991

IRI

84.26

179

217

396 RIO

08.2016

2 TIAN TAO

08.04.1994

CHN

84.85

178

217

395 RIO

08.2016

3 ULANOV DENIS

28.10.1993

KAZ

84.95

175

215

390 RIO

08.2016

4 PIELIESHENKO O.

07.01.1994

UKR

84.73

175

210

385 RIO

08.2016

5 ASAYONAK PETR

27.02.1993

BLR

84.24

170

207

377 RIO

08.2016

6 YUFKIN ALEXEY

11.01.1986

RUS

84.65

168

205

373 TEHRAN

05.2016

7 SINCRAIAN GABRIEL

21.12.1988

ROU

84.37

169

202

371 FORDE

04.2016

8 KHADASEVICH PAVEL LIU JIAWEN 10 MOUSAVIJARAHI S.

16.07.1993

BLR

84.47

170

195

365 RIO

08.2016

23.08.1996

CHN

84.48

165

200

365 TBILISI

06.2016

21.04.1995

IRI

84.84

166

196

362 TEHRAN

05.2016

ROSTAMI Kianoush – IRI

94KG – RIO MEDALLISTS IN THE LEADING TRIO

T

he same three weightlifters occupy the top positions in the world ranking as the ones who had been standing on the podium of Rio de Janeiro, in the medal ceremony of the 94kg. Then, in Brazil, Iran’s MORADI Sohrab totalled 403kg, securing a comfortable lead on his challengers both representing ex-Soviet Republics. MORADI, who had scored his previous best result when taking the Asian title, was not listed in 2015, so the defending leader of the category to beat was STRALTSOU Vadim of Belarus. As a consequence of the Iranian’s supremacy, he finished in second place and the former runner-up, DIDZBALIS Aurimas of Lithuania landed in third position. As per their Rio results, STRALTSOU stands with 395kg and – former European Champion – registers 392kg this time.

1 MORADI SOHRAB

22.09.1988

IRI

93.64 182 221

403 RIO

08.2016

2 STRALTSOU VADZIM

30.04.1986

BLR

93.70 175 220

395 RIO

08.2016

3 DIDZBALIS AURIMAS

13.06.1991

LTU

92.42 177 215

392 RIO

08.2016

4 SUMPRADIT SARAT

17.04.1994

THA 34090 177 213

390 RIO

08.2016

5 ABDALLA RAGAB A. SAAD A.

04.03.1991

EGY

93.45 174 213

387 RIO

08.2016

CHUMAK DMYTRO

11.07.1990

UKR

93.66 174 213

387 RIO

08.2016

ZIELINSKI TOMASZ B.

29.10.1990

POL

93.70 176 211

387 FORDE

04.2016

03.02.1988

KAZ

93.80 175 211

386 TASHKENT 04.2016

8 SEDOV VLADIMIR 9 HASHEMI ALI 10 BERSANAU ALIAKSANDR

MORADI Sohrab – IRI

STANULIS ZYGIMANTAS

01.11.1991

IRI

93.65 173 212

385 TEHRAN

05.2016

01.09.1992

BLR

93.57 173 208

381 RIO

08.2016

11.01.1993

LTU

93.57 175 206

381 FORDE

04.2016

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 15

› WORLD RANKING LISTS - 2016 - MEN

105KG – NURUDINOV BEST BY ALL STANDARDS

N

URUDINOV Ruslan first secured a primary position in the ranking of the 105kg lifters in 2013.

Now, three years later, the Uzbek recaptured this honour – in addition to his own merit also because Kazakhstan’s ILYA Ilyin, deprived of both Olympic titles and suspended, disappeared from the ranks of eligible competitors. This, however, does not diminish the value of NURUDINOV’s efforts to become the best of the category. Having paid a brief visit to the +105kg (finishing 4th in that category at the 2016 Asian Games) he continued his career “normally” in the 105kg, in which he was 2012 Olympic fourth, 2013 world champion, 2014 silver medallist (behind Ilyin) with 432kg, reaching the pinnacle at the Olympic Games in Rio and winning the gold with 431kg. His closest challenger was Armenian MARTIROSYAN Simon (20), Junior European champion who totalled 417kg in Rio. Third in the world ranking – like at the Games - is ZAICHIKOV Alexandr of Kazakhstan, 2015 world champion, this time with 416kg.

NURUDINOV Ruslan – UZB

MARTIROSYAN Simon – ARM

1 NURUDINOV RUSLAN

24.11.1991

UZB 104.96 194 237

431 RIO

08.2016

2 MARTIROSYAN SIMON

17.02.1997

ARM 104.63 190 227

417 RIO

08.2016

3 ZAICHIKOV ALEXANDR

17.08.1992

KAZ 104.51 193 223

416 RIO

08.2016

4 YANG ZHE

14.07.1991

CHN 104.59 190 225

415 RIO

08.2016

5 EFREMOV IVAN

09.03.1986

UZB 104.90 194 220

414 RIO

08.2016

6 BARARI MOHAMMADREZA

31.03.1988

IRI

406 RIO

08.2016

7 PLESNIEKS ARTURS

21.01.1992

LAT 104.25 177 226

403 FORDE

04.2016

MICHALSKI ARKADIUSZ

07.01.1990

POL 104.92 177 226

403 FORDE

04.2016

9 SAMORAJ JAROSLAW P.

16.06.1994

POL 104.54 180 220

400 KAZAN 03.2016

27.09.1993

RUS 104.54 182 215

397 FORDE

10 BOCHKOV RODION

+105KG – WITH WORLD RECORDS ABSOLUTELY THE BEST: TALAKHADZE

C

onsidering all the men’s categories, the most significant advantage – 22 kilograms – is registered by the superheavy category’s winner, TALAKHADZE Lasha. Undoubtedly, the young Georgian giant counts as the supreme ruler in the +105kg. Back in Rio he opened with a superb 215kg new world record in snatch.

Momentarily, he lost that record to the King of recent years, SALIMIKORDASIABI Behdad, who answered with 216kg. However, TALAKHADZE was undisturbed by this (or by the incident in clean and jerk as a matter of fact) and continued with a splendid clean and jerk finishing with a 473kg new total world record, the absolute best result in weightlifting so far. The Olympic gold medal was now turned into a lead in the world ranking and the next two ranked athletes are also the same as the Rio medal winners: second is MINASYAN Gor of Armenia (451kg) and third is the other Georgian, TURMANIDZE Irakli (448kg). (We might add as a post scriptum: Talakhadze picked up the thread in 2017 which he dropped in 2016: at the European Championships in April he snatched 217kg and took back the world record from Salimikordasiabi. See our interview with the Georgian hero.)

1 TALAKHADZE LASHA

02.10.1993

GEO 157.34 215 258

473 RIO

08.2016

2 MINASYAN GOR

25.10.1994

ARM 143.67 210 241

451 RIO

08.2016

3 TURMANIDZE IRAKLI

13.12.1984

GEO 135.58 207 241

448 RIO

08.2016

4 ALEKSANYAN RUBEN

14.03.1990

ARM 151.64 195 245

440 RIO

08.2016

5 SARAIVA REIS FERNANDO

10.03.1990

BRA 154.58 195 240

435 RIO

08.2016

6 DJANGABAEV RUSTAM

25.08.1993

UZB 145.88 195 237

432 RIO

08.2016

27.11.1989

TPE 152.40 191 241

432 TASHKENT 04.2016

24.10.1990

EST 149.10 187 243

430 RIO

08.2016

08.12.1989

IRI

430 TEHRAN

05.2016

CHEN SHIH-CHIEH 8 SEIM MART SALIMIKORDASIABI BEHDAD

10 TOYCHYYEV HOJAMUHAMMET 16.01.1992 MOULAEI BAHADOR

16 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

21.03.1992

168.00 205 225

TKM 144.50 190 237 IRI

146.55 180 247

104.65 186 220

427 TASHKENT 04.2016 427 TASHKENT 04.2016

TAKHADZE Lasha – GEO

04.2016

› INTERVIEW TEXT: BRIAN OLIVER

INTERVIEW WITH LASHA TALAKHADZE Lasha Talakhadze finished off his marvellous year with another gold medal at the European Under-23 and looked forward to winning many more in the future, including three more at the Olympic Games.

The awesome Georgian’s long-term target is to become the first man in history to win more than two Olympic gold medals in weightlifting’s heaviest weight category.

“I feel deep inside that weightlifting is in my genes, and I am looking forward to achieving more,” he said. “I know that nobody has won three gold medals in super-heavyweights and that is not my aim – I want four!”

“The heavier lifters have more stability, we don’t have to worry about making the weight and that gives us an advantage over the lower categories, so I can keep training and competing for many years.” - The 23-year-old Georgian weighed in at 158kg at his most recent event in Split.

Talakhadze has the habit of treating himself to tattoos to celebrate his triumphs.

On his right arm he has ‘Georgian’ inked in the ancient language of his homeland, on his left ankle he has the Olympic motto ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’ and on his right wrist he has the latest, a map of Georgia.

There have been other consequences of his Olympic triumph.

Talakhadze was named Georgia’s sportsman of the year for 2016, and has already been presented with the Order of Excellence by his nation’s President, Giorgi Margvelashvili.

“Since the Olympics there has been a big increase in the popularity of weightlifting, and the number of people doing it,” he said.

“The recent national championships had a much higher entry than usual.”

An estimated two million of Georgia’s 4.7m population watched the broadcast from Rio and in his home town of Sachkhere a giant screen was erected in the square, where thousands saw his latenight win.

Talakhadze was a useful sprinter in his youth – “I’m still quite fast now” – and also played rugby, which is very popular in Georgia, but he took up weightlifting seriously because his father, Koba, his first coach, was an international competitor.

His current coach, Avtandil Gakhokidze, first predicted that Talakhadze would go on to great things when he totalled more than 400kg at the 2011 European Junior Championships.

His family’s support was desperately needed when, in 2013, Talakhadze tested positive for stanozolol and was banned for two years. He lost his place in the national squad, his funding and his coach, yet when he returned to action in 2015 he had improved his performance by about 12%.

How did he manage that?

“It was very difficult, no training camp, everything withdrawn, and my father was a very big help at that time. He supported me financially and in helping me to train, and I trained at home almost every day for those two years.”

He lives in a national team training camp for ten months of the year, a couple of hours drive from home and about 700m above sea level.

“It’s physically and psychologically tough, an intense professional life.”

“The strategy for 2017 is not to rush, to win when I compete, to gradually improve my power, my technique. If the competition demands a big weight close to a record, I will go for it.”

“I’M STILL QUITE FAST NOW”

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 17

› 2017 IWF YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, BANGKOK TEXT: KORNÉL JANCSÓ PHOTO: JÓZSEF SZAKA

2017 IWF YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, BANGKOK WORLD RECORDS, USA AND CHINESE SUCCESS IN THAILAND

T

he coming Youth Olympic Games due in Buenos Aires in 2018 loomed in Bangkok as the 2017 edition of the IWF Youth World Championships was at the same time the main qualification event for the big challenge of the age group of 13 to 17 years. As a matter of fact, the Games will welcome only those aged 15 to 17 years but the right of participation was to be achieved by all athletes fitting in the IWF Youth age category.

China proved to be the most successful nation at the World Championships given that its squads excelled in both genders obtaining the maximum quote of two times two athletes for Buenos Aires.

Second best – again in both men and women – was Kazakhstan and the maximum of four members quota was won also by Turkey and the host Thailand.

In the Medal Tally the most successful nation for the young ladies was China (8 gold, 5 silver, 2 bronze), followed by Kazakhstan (3, 2, 4), DPR Korea (3, 2, 3), Ecuador (3, 0, 0), Turkey (2, 1, 0), Russia (2, 1,0), Colombia (1, 6,0), Austria (1, 2, 0) and Thailand (1, 0,3). That means nine countries captured at least one gold medal and altogether 14 nations went home with some kind of medal in their pockets.

18 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

› 2017 IWF YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, BANGKOK

T

he medal distribution for men shows a similar diffusion, i.e. the power relations seem to be more balanced than before. 11 countries won gold medals and representatives of 18 nations could mount on the podium in the victory ceremonies. For the men, to no little surprise the US team was most productive: the Americans returned home with four gold and two silver medals in their pockets! In this kind of ranking, the next most successful nation is Kazakhstan with their 4-1-4 collection and China became third best (3, 4, 5). Further countries having clinched at least one gold medal are: Bulgaria (3, 0, 0), Russia (2, 4, 1), Thailand (2, 1, 0), Belarus (2, 0, 1), Poland (1, 2, 0), Iran (1, 1, 2), Vietnam (1, 1, 1), DPR Korea (1, 1, 0).

It is worth noting that India collected three silver medals and one bronze and even Oman won a medal: a bronze.

In IWF history, since the inaugural Youth World Championships in 2009 (also hosted by Thailand) this was the seventh time the youth lifters could vie for the titles of the age group. This time, however, there was one more set of medals on offer, having equalled the number of bodyweight categories to 8 for both genders. The earlier +69kg for women was replaced by 75kg and +75kg as new categories.

The chance of Olympic qualification and more categories attracted unprecedented numbers in participation: altogether 187 women from 40 countries and 237 men from 49 countries competed. Though the aggregate number of participants (424) remains under the record of 433 of Tashkent 2013, in terms of the variety of countries attending – altogether 54! – Bangkok 2017 has surpassed all previous top marks. Thailand, its Weightlifting Federation the TAWA, however, under the baton of Madam Boossaba YODBANGTOEY, President and Maj. Gen. Intarat YODBANGTOEY, Honorary President and IWF Vice President, took the challenge easily and pampered the teams, officials and guests, as usual with top level technical organisation, above-the-standard accommodation and wonderful hospitality.

The competitors expressed their satisfaction and gratitude by setting new marks, in particular in two categories for men. We shall go into more detail in our category-by-category summary, so let us mention here only that two US prodigies set new world records in clean and jerk. The one in 69kg, the name is familiar: Clarence CUMMINGS Jr., and in 77kg someone new: Harrison James MAURUS. Once again, CUMMINGS got the IWF Media Trophy of Best Lifter, while the same recognition was awarded among the girls to Angie Paola PALACIOS DAJOMES from Ecuador.

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 19

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50KG – THAI TWIN WIN ON THE FIRST DAY

T

he hosts could celebrate their first gold already on the first day: Teerapat CHOMCHUEN triumphed in total (216kg). Fourth in snatch, the Thai lifted 125kg in clean and jerk, just one kilogram off the youth world record. He scored a close win on Vietnam’s Nguyen Quoc Bao Le, who took the snatch gold medal with 96kg and added 119kg for a 215kg total. HUANG Shiguo (CHN) landed in third position with 213kg. A very special feature highlighted the first competition: Teerapat CHOMCHUEN could not only rejoice over his own gold medals but the silver medal of his twin brother, Natthawat CHOMCHUEN in the snatch!

1 CHOMCHUEN TEERAPAT

31.07.2001

THA

49.97 91 125

216

2 LE NGUYEN QUOC BAO

01.01.2000

VIE

49.57 96 119

215

3 HUANG SHIGUO

06.07.2000

CHN 49.88 90 123

213

4 CHOMCHUEN NATTHAWAT

31.07.2001

THA

49.88 94 118

212

5 DENG HANPENG

14.02.2000

CHN 49.68 92 118

210

6 VILLAR MANJARRES E. JOSE

12.03.2001

COL

205

49.83 90 115

Thailand’s twin brothers, CHOMCHUEN Teerapat and CHOMCHUEN Natthawat among the medal winners in 50kg

56KG – CHEN & CHEN WINNING

A

n Asian was the champion in the next boys’ category as well: CHEN Maoran from China. Born in 2000, this Chinese young man finished the snatch in a fifth place for 106kg only to catapult to the lead in clean and jerk (135kg) and in total for an aggregate 241kg. In the runner-up position for the jerk (130kg) and total (240kg) we find Lalrinnunga JEREMY of India, youngest in the group, born in 2002. Turkish Caner TOPTAS picked up the three bronze medals. Just off the total podium, another CHEN – also Chinese but Jian – took the snatch gold medal for 111kg.

1 CHEN MAORAN

CHEN Maoran, CHN, 56kg

20 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

15.01.2000

CHN 55.72 106 135

241

2 JEREMY LALRINNUNGA

26.10.2002

IND

55.66 110 130

240

3 TOPTAS CANER

14.08.2001

TUR

55.91 109 128

237

4 CHEN JIAN

07.07.2000

CHN 55.70 111 125

236

5 O WON GWAN

02.01.2001

PRK

55.69 105 127

232

6 ALMAZYADI NAWAF M. S

19.08.2000

KSA

55.71

222

96

126

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62KG – RUSSIA WINS FIRST EUROPEAN GOLD

E

urope’s first gold medal was won in the third category, i.e. Zulfat GARAEV of Russia took the snatch gold of 62kg for his 128kg result. In the second act, however, he had to be disappointed failing at 151kg three times in succession. Second in snatch, Anatoliy SAVELYEV of Kazakhstan took his chance and – performing six good lifts and jerking 154kg for 281kg in total – pocketed both remaining gold medals. Bronze medallist in snatch with 126kg, WEI Yun (CHN) added two silvers to his collection but in the end Indonesian Muhammad Halim SETIAWAN was also happy about the bronze medal in total (267kg), three weeks prior to his 17th birthday.

1 SAVELYEV ANATOLIY

06.01.2000

KAZ

61.76 127 154

281

2 WEI YUNBAN

19.06.2001

CHN 61.72 126 150

276

3 SETIAWAN MUHAMMAD H.

22.04.2000

INA

61.25 121 146

267

4 OSORIO HERNANDEZ JOSE L.

04.03.2000

COL

61.13 116 147

263

5 HUANG YUDI

27.02.2001

CHN 61.47 118 140

258

6 CHIANG NIEN-EN

19.02.2000

TPE

257

61.46 111 146

69KG – CUMMINGS PUSHES ON WITH WORLD RECORD

I

n the snatch, RI Kwang Song (PRK) surprised by capturing the gold medal in the 69kg with 140kg, but the clean and jerk “reinstated order”: absolute favourite Clarence CUMMINGS Jr. from the USA proved his superiority and won hands down.

For instance, he outscored the North-Korean by 16 kilos.

2016 youth and junior world champion CUMMINGS did not content himself with just winning; he had to further improve his own world record. So he did: from 182 to 185kg. Still before his 17th birthday due in June, the American wunderkind secured his world champion titles in his first clean and jerk attempt of 170kg and reappeared later only to make a transition lift at 177kg before ultimately attacking the youth world record with 185kg. Thus rewriting his own mark from 2016 Penang, he equalled his own world record total of 322kg.

SAVELYEV Anatoliy, KAZ, 62kg

1 CUMMINGS JR CLARENCE

06.06.2000

USA

68.75 137 185

322

2 RI KWANG SONG

31.05.2000

PRK

68.79 140 166

306

3 WEI NIANRONG

12.08.2001

CHN 68.23 134 172

306

4 DUMITRASCU PAUL

31.01.2000

ROU

68.63 127 166

293

5 ZHARNOUSKI ILYA

21.08.2000

BLR

68.64 134 155

289

6 SU LIAN

04.01.2000

CHN 67.71 136 151

287

CUMMINGS Clarence, USA, 69kg – Youth world record 185kg

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 21

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77KG – INSPIRED, MAURUS DID NOT GIVE IT FOR LESS THAN A WORLD RECORD

D

rawing motivation from CUMMINGS, teammate Harrison James MAURUS in the 77kg put on a splendid performance, too. 2016 Youth World Championships runner-up MAURUS started copying by taking only silver in snatch (140kg) defeated

by Russian Aleksandr URVACHEV (142kg). Then, in the second part, he also launched a dazzling spectacle: following 175 and 184kg, he held the 192kg barbell overhead sending the former world record to oblivion that had been registered under the name of Yeison LOPEZ LOPEZ of Colombia since 23 October last year with 191kg. At the same time, the total world record of 351kg held by LOPEZ might only be a more distant goal for 1 MAURUS HARRISON JAMES

26.02.2000

USA

76.08 140 192

332

2 URVACHEV ALEKSANDR

09.01.2000

RUS

76.58 142 170

312

3 BEKTAY ASSYLZHAN

10.02.2000

KAZ

76.54 140 166

306

4 BEBEN PATRYK SYLWESTER

18.03.2000

POL

76.09 137 160

297

5 YANTSEVYCH YEVHENII

26.09.2000

UKR 76.54 135 161

296

6 FICCO CRISTIANO GIUSEPPE

05.04.2001

ITA

293

76.79 128 165

MAURUS, who stopped at 332kg in Bangkok. After the opening gold medal, URVACHEV pocketed the available two silver medals, whereas all three bronze medals were awarded to Kazakhstan’s Assylzhan BEKTAY.

USA coaches incl. DIMAS Pyrros congratulating MAURUS Harrison J.after his Youth world record 192kg

85KG – FAULTLESS LIFTING – KAZAKH VICTORY

T

he 85kg presented an archetypal battle: the best in the category all performed the three straight in clean and jerk. At least, even those for a long time “in the profession” cannot remember when for the last time the top nine in the field (!) all pulled through three successful attempts.

That means the spectators witnessed 27 good lifts in a row!

The heaviest weight of 185kg was lifted by Artyom ANTROPOV (KAZ), seventh in the previous YWC. Taking only the third place in snatch, ANTROPOV killed two birds with one stone in the jerk: winning both the clean and jerk and the total golds. Polish Bartlomiej Stefan ADAMUS was capable of a total five kilos less, 318kg, while Iran’s Mahdi PAPI picked up the bronze. Only rarely among the medallists, Oman was present here with Murshid Mohamed AL AJMI whose 173kg clean and jerk was rewarded with bronze.

1 ANTROPOV ARTYOM

ANTROPOV Artyom, KAZ, 85kg

22 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

23.01.2000

KAZ

84.49 138 185

323

2 ADAMUS BARTLOMIEJ S.

12.05.2000

POL

79.15 143 175

318

3 PAPI MAHDI

05.09.2000

IRI

82.88 132 172

304

4 BAKICI TOLGA

23.09.2001

TUR

84.41 139 162

301

5 AL AJMI MURSHID M. M.

06.02.2000

OMA 84.05 125 173

298

6 KHOJIEV AZIMJON

16.11.2000

UZB

297

84.91 132 165

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94KG – EUROPE UP FRONT WITH BULGARIA

A

s the bodies and the weights lifted were growing heavier, Europe gradually started to dominate. In the 94kg Bulgaria won all the three gold medals, Greece collected two silvers and only the remaining four medals went to another continent. Two Uzbeks took them home to Asia.

There was intense rivalry already in the snatch for the leading position between Hristo HRISTOV (BUL) and Evangelos GALIATSATOS (GRE). Eventually, the Bulgarian won with his 145kg before the Greek snatching 144kg. Aleksandr LI (UZB) completed the competition with three bronze medals. In the second half, the other Uzbek, Saidmukhtor SAIDAKHROROV did his best to interfere with the leading duo lifting 175kg and taking the silver for that. In total, however, his 305kg was not enough to clinch a podium position. GALIATSATOS missed a medal in jerk but on the overall his 316kg was worth the silver medal. HRISTOV declined his third attempt when he already had the gold medals in his pocket after 171 and 176kg.

HRISTOV Hristo, BUL, 94kg

1 HRISTOV HRISTO DIMITROV

27.04.2001

BUL

93.80 145 176

321

1 KUROUSKI KANSTANTSIN

04.08.2000

BLR 102.21 165 195

360

2 GALIATSATOS EVANGELOS

02.03.2000

GRE

91.07 144 172

316

2 GOGICHAEV DMITRII

20.08.2000

RUS 122.53 155 197

352

3 LI ALEKSANDR

16.09.2000

UZB

93.60 138 173

311

3 ROSHANI MOHAMMADREZA

03.02.2000

IRI

156.08 156 191

347

4 SAIDAKHROROV SAIDMUKHTOR 25.12.2001

UZB

90.52 130 175

305

4 SHAHABANDAZ MOHAMMAD

08.11.2001

IRI

157.15 142 205

347

5 KHAPPAEV MAGOMET

11.02.2001

RUS

92.72 136 165

301

5 LIN SHENG-LUN

22.01.2000

TPE 110.36 155 191

346

6 ROMANAK TOMAS

18.12.2000

SVK

92.43 135 160

295

6 KAPLAN YILDIRAY

19.04.2000

TUR 107.99 147 168

315

+94KG – BELARUS WINDS UP YWC

O

nce Europeans captured the lead they did not let it go in the closing event of the Youth World Championships. Kanstantsin KUROUSKI from the Republic of Belarus became the ultimate winner. Though not endangering the records in the category, this young man born in August 2000 made an easy victory in snatch (155 – 161 – 165kg) ahead of Iranian Mohammadreza ROSHANI (156kg) and Russian Dmitri GOGICHAEV (155kg). In clean and jerk the other Iranian, Mohammad SHAHABANDAZ stepped forward and lifted the heaviest weight, 205kg. For a medal in total, however, even this result was insufficient as he tied with ROSHANI’s 347kg but the bronze again went to the former competitor.

KUROUSKI had no reason to be unhappy about winning only bronze in clean and jerk, because the total victory was his thanks to a superior 360kg aggregate result.

Medallists of +94kg

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 23

› INTERVIEW TEXT: TÍMEA HORVÁTH

BORN TO A FAMILY OF CHAMPIONS INTERVIEW WITH ANGIE PAOLA PALACIOS DAJOMES

A

s last year in Penang, Malaysia, she had won the youth title, 69kg Ecuadorian Angie Paola Palacios Dajomes came to Bangkok as the defending champion. In the end, not only did she confirm her leading position but she was also voted Best Lifter for Women at the 2017 IWF Youth World Championships.

“Last year it was very difficult to win, perhaps now it was a bit more easy. I had a good competition,” – explained Ecuador’s star to WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING. “220kg in total is a personal best but I may have been able to lift even more this time.”

“I HOPE THAT I CAN RETURN TO TOKYO”

Of course, like most of the athletes, Angie Paola is also dreaming of becoming Olympic champion.

“For the moment I am only thinking as far ahead as the next competition, which is the Junior Worlds in Tokyo in July. I want to lift well again and then, later on, naturally I hope that I can return to Tokyo in 2020 and once I’m there I would like to win the gold medal..”

Dajomes lives in Guayaquil in the training centre, while her parents and six brothers and sisters are living in another city.

“My sister Neisi has also won the world championships in weightlifting, and the rest of my brothers and sisters also lift weights” – said Angie Paola (17 years old this coming September) who can indeed boast of having been born to an athletic family. She added that initially she was very fond of track and field but when she finished third at her first weightlifting competition there was no more question about her sticking to this sport.

24 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

› INTERVIEW TEXT: TÍMEA HORVÁTH

“JAVIER MOSQUERA MIGHT BE THE NEXT COLOMBIAN OLYMPIC CHAMPION” INTERVIEW WITH MARIA ISABEL URRUTIA

I

nitially she competed in shot put and discus throw, and participated in the 1988 Summer Olympics in these events. She switched to weightlifting in 1989, and won silver at the 1989 World Championships. She won gold at the 1990, silver 1991, gold 1994, silver 1995, bronze 1996, silver 1997, and bronze at the 1998 World Weightlifting Championships.

Urrutia won a gold medal in the women’s 75 kg category in the 2000 Summer Olympics, her country’s first Olympic gold medal.

One of the most renowned and celebrated representatives of Colombia’s sport, Maria Isabel Urrutia (b.1965) was also present in the Thai capital participating in the YWC as coach-official of the Colombian squad. We asked her about her life since that epic victory at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Three years ago, while working in the same field in Bogota, she took a job as a coach in the local club. Weightlifting was practised but there was no success in the club.

“Last December the Colombian Weightlifting Federation held elections and I was elected to the Executive Board. I’m the treasurer.”

“After Sydney I left the sport and worked in Colombia’s political life: for eight years until 2010 I was a Member of the Chamber of Representatives,” – this always smiling, wonderful sportswoman answered our question.

“But even in politics I was in charge of sport, of community and mass sport and their promotion. I did not only propagate weightlifting but sports and physical exercise in general, mainly among the youth of 12 to 18 years in Colombia.”

She came to Bangkok with three girls and a male competitor but not as a national coach but as a club coach since her club gave four lifters to the Colombian squad. “Who could be the next Colombian Olympic Champion in weightlifting after Oscar Figueroa who won in Rio? I think it’s going to be Javier Mosquera but Lopez Lopez also has a chance and, naturally, I trust some of my own athletes will be there in Tokyo, in 2020.”

We wanted to know when she last grabbed the barbell and she answered: “I no longer lift weights; no, I’m not in training any more, I only demonstrate correct technique for my lifters…”

“I PROPAGATE SPORTS AMONG THE YOUTH”

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 25

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44KG – THREE GOLD MEDALS FOR CHINA

U

ltimately, all the gold medals for sale in the lightest category went to CHEN Yarou of China, but it was by no means an easy race for her.

She had to battle for the champion titles with Manuela BERRIO ZULUAGA (COL) and PAK Song Hui (PRK). This trio, by the way, pocketed all the medals of the category. CHEN won in snatch with 72kg.

BERRIO ZULUAGA registered 71kg and PAK 70kg, respectively. The order between them remained the same for the clean and jerk and the Chinese young lady (not yet 14 years old) lifted 92kg, just one kilo under the youth world record.

The Colombian (17) lifted 89kg and the North-Korean 87kg.

CHEN Yarou’s total of 164kg – considering a comparison of bodyweight with result – was to remain the best in the whole Youth World Championships for women.

1 CHEN YAROU

31.08.2003

CHN 41.46

72

92

164

2 BERRIO ZULUAGA M. A.

18.06.2000

COL

43.81

71

89

160

3 PAK SONG HUI

11.04.2002

PRK

43.94

70

87

157

4 HUANG YATING

01.09.2000

CHN 43.21

66

86

152

5 CAMBEI MIHAELA-V.

18.11.2002

ROU

43.68

60

79

139

6 VINATASARI NUR

05.07.2001

INA

43.47

63

75

138

CHEN Yarou, CHN, 44kg

48KG – ASIANS AS PROTAGONISTS

A

China vs. DPR Korea duel characterized this category as well – with alternating success for both parties. In snatch HE Si (CHN) was better with her 81kg final result (missing 85kg). Failing to snatch 82kg, HAN Jong Sim (PRK) was left in second position here. The bronze medal was awarded to Vietnam’s LUU Thi Chuc My. The clean and jerk brought a change of the landscape because HAN seemed to have found her stronger self and pulled off with 97, then 100 and finally successful with 102kg. Meanwhile, the Chinese was unable to get past her opening attempt of 98kg and missed 101kg twice. The Thai hosts were happy and proud as the bronze medals in both the clean and jerk and in total were earned by their athlete, Chotima BUACHATTURAT for lifting 90kg and recording 158kg in all.

1 HAN JONG SIM

HAN Jong Sim, PRK, 48kg

26 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

25.08.2000

PRK

47.94

2 HE SI

12.09.2000

CHN 47.97

81

98

179

3 BUACHATTURAT CHOTIMA

12.03.2000

THA

68

90

158

47.70

79

102

181

4 LUU THI CHUC MY

30.10.2000

VIE

47.99

72

85

157

5 BALTAG SABINA

24.04.2001

ROU

47.82

70

87

157

6 HERNANDEZ VIEYRA Y. Y.

15.12.2001

MEX 47.91

67

89

156

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53KG – CHINA NEXT

I

n the prolonged China vs. DPR Korea battle this time the former emerged victorious, though by no means according to the usual libretto… Namely, KIM Il Gyong from DPR Korea finished only 4th in snatch with her 81kg, whereas as many as three others managed to lift 85kg each. Among them YU Mengqian (CHN), taking silver, Ukrainian Kamila KONOTOP, winning bronze and Colombian Yenny SINISTER TORRES who was first to lift this weight and thus became the gold medal winner. In clean and jerk, in turn, the South American young lady was too nervous and missed two of her attempts, leaving the only 100kg as valid, giving her a sixth place in the lift and fifth in total. In contrast, KIM switched into a higher gear and produced a serious of 101 – 104 – 107kg, winning the gold in clean and jerk. Her Chinese rival, however, did even better, as she could add a 104kg jerk result to make a winning total of 189kg.

1 YU MENGQIAN

27.03.2000

CHN 49.29

85

104

189

2 KIM IL GYONG

27.07.2003

PRK

81

107

188

52.72

3 KONOTOP KAMILA

23.03.2001

UKR 52.79

85

101

186

4 HUANG XUEMEI

01.01.2000

CHN 52.90

80

106

186

5 SINISTERRA TORRES Y.

04.05.2000

COL

52.58

85

100

185

6 OLARU RALUCA-ANDREEA

26.01.2001

ROU

52.66

81

97

178

YU Mengqian, CHN, 53kg

58KG – PAIN AFTER JOY FOR THAILAND

F

rom a Thai point of view the fourth competition day of the youth World Championships could not have started better.

Representative of the host country, Ailada EMDU won the snatch in the 58kg. And she accumulated a seemingly comfortable 4kg lead on her challengers with her 88kg.

Surprisingly – and disappointingly – however, pain followed joy in the clean and jerk when EMDU lifted on 95kg giving her a 14th (!) place in this portion of the competition. In total she thus had to settle for a 5th position. Meanwhile, the overall gold was awarded to snatch silver medallist Nuray LEVENT (TUR) for her 191kg and spending clean and jerk of 107kg. Following her bronze in snatch, Mariia HANHUR (UKR) earned another bronze in the second act but these results added up to 186kg in total and the silver medal. After a weaker snatch, Kumushkhon FAYZULLAEVA (UZB) made a splendid finish clean and jerking 106kg for a silver medal and a third position on the podium in total.

LEVENT Nuray, TUR, 58kg

1 LEVENT NURAY

08.05.2000

TUR

57.57

84

107

191

2 HANHUR MARIIA

24.08.2000

UKR

54.79

84

102

186

3 FAYZULLAEVA KUMUSHKHON

20.01.2002

UZB

57.92

79

106

185

4 VALODZKA SIUZANNA

17.08.2000

BLR

57.94

83

101

184

5 EMDU AILADA

23.10.2000

THA

57.73

88

95

183

6 GRIGORIU MARIA-LUANA

07.02.2000

ROU

58.00

78

102

180

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 27

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63KG – TWO CHINESE, FIVE MEDALS

T

here was a Chinese dominance in the 63kg as they pocketed five out of the available nine medals. The three shiniest ones went to FANG Lin, who dominated the field during the entire competition, both in snatch, clean and jerk and total.

In snatch, Kazakhstan’s Darya PAVLOVA finished second with 90kg (3 kilos under FANG) and Mexican Jessica JARQUIN GONZALEZ was third. In clean and jerk FANG did not stop until finishing with 117kg, completing six valid attempts and walking off with a total result of 210kg. That happened after another Chinese JIANG Yunliu lifted 113kg for silver and PAVLOVA taking the bronze for her 111kg. In total, however, the Kazakh athlete, who also made a clean six, earned the silver medal (201kg) and JIANG picked up the bronze medal.

FANG Lin, CHN, 63kg

1 FANG LIN

14.05.2000

CHN 61.82

93

117

210

2 PAVLOVA DARYA

02.06.2001

KAZ

62.74

90

111

201

3 JIANG YUNLIU

27.05.2001

CHN 62.59

86

113

199

4 BELKHIR GHOFRANE

11.08.2001

TUN

61.95

88

108

196

5 JARQUIN GONZALEZ J.

04.11.2000

MEX 62.29

89

106

195

6 MOLAYA CABRERA E. A.

25.04.2000

VEN

87

106

193

62.98

69KG – ECUADOR REGISTERS SOUTH AMERICA AMONG GOLD MEDAL WINNERS

S

outh Americans had to wait until the sixth women’s category to finally celebrate their own world champion. In the 69kg Angie Paola PALACIOS DAJOMES from Ecuador rewarded their patience and she did not give it for less than three gold medals. Voted as the Best Lifter of the 2017 Youth World Championships, the 17-year old competitor recorded a series of 94 – 96 – 100kg in snatch, five kilos more than the next best, another South American, Valeria RIVAS MOSQUERA from Colombia. PALACIOS went on to excel in clean and jerk, pinning three good lifts again, and she finished with the highest result of 120kg, totalling 220kg.

The Colombian was happy about further two silver medals and the three bronze medals were picked up by Karina KUZGANBAYEVA of Kazakhstan.

1 PALACIOS DAJOMES A. P.

12.09.2000

ECU

66.25 100 120

220

2 RIVAS MOSQUERA VALERIA

23.04.2000

COL

68.68

95

114

209

3 KUZGANBAYEVA KARINA

13.11.2000

KAZ

68.86

94

113

207

4 JABBOROVA TURSUNOY

04.03.2002

UZB

68.61

84

104

188

5 VIZGINA EKATERINA

24.10.2001

RUS

68.45

81

101

182

6 AYYILDIZ EMINE

05.05.2001

TUR

65.67

80

100

180

28 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

RIVAS MOSQUERA Valeria, COL, 69kg

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75KG – KAZAKHSTAN: THREE NEW CHAMPION TITLES

T

he Kazakh team’s representative turned into gold what was only bronze in the previous category. The snatch result sheet showed a beautiful scale of 1kg differences between the top four (91-90-89-88kg), just as intended by the new rule (!), but the gap widened for the clean and jerk. Eventually Olga PASTUKHOVA (KAZ) pulled off by a 14kg lead over the runner-up and by 15kg over the bronze medallist. Performing only successful attempts throughout the whole competition, PASTUKHOVA completed her flawless lifting with 91kg in snatch, 120kg in jerk and 211kg in total. The silver and bronze medals were equally distributed between Uzbekistan’s Gulnoza AKHMADOVA and Mexican Angela GUTIERREZ LOPEZ, with the former ultimately winning the more precious silver medal in total and the Mexican walking home with the bronze.

PASTUKHOVA Olga, KAZ, 75kg

1 PASTUKHOVA OLGA

12.02.2002

KAZ

74.43

91

120

211

2 AKHMADOVA GULNOZA

02.03.2000

UZB

71.46

89

108

197

3 GUTIERREZ LOPEZ ANGELA Y.

11.12.2001

MEX 71.49

90

106

196

4 SCHRIJVER ATHENA S. JEWEL

19.01.2001

USA

86

106

192

5 OTGONBAYAR DARKHIJAV

09.02.2000

MGL 71.11

88

102

190

6 BAZARKINA MARIYA

09.01.2000

KAZ

83

105

188

70.94

74.95

+75KG – RUSSIA 2 – AUSTRIA 1

A

n unusual duel for the champion title in the highest women’s category: between Russia and Austria (!). In the battle of the biggest young women first Austria got a vantage thanks to the snatch victory of Sarah FISCHER. The Austrian went 93, 96 and finally 99kg – all good, whereby her Russian rival, Daria RIAZANOVA remained one kilo under hers with 98kg being her best. In the second act, however, the Russian athlete put on her one-woman show and appeared to take her opening attempt after the others had finished their job, including FISCHER on 119kg. RIAZANOVA undertook two attempts: 121 followed by 125kg – both good. The Russian competitor thus captured both champion titles, the jerk and the total, and the Austrian landed in the runner-up position with 218kg. The total bronze was won

by Kuinini Juanita MANUMUA from USA. The entire group must be complimented on a technically top level performance: out of the 27 snatch attempts of the nine competitors in this session only two were no lift!

1 RIAZANOVA DARIA

24.08.2000

RUS

88.41

98

125

223

2 FISCHER SARAH

09.11.2000

AUT

82.57

99

119

218

3 MANUMUA KUININI J. M.

12.12.2000

USA

97.79

93

117

210

4 VLASENKO ANASTASIIA

02.05.2001

UKR 91.64

92

117

209

5 KHAMHAENG SUPATCHANIN

14.04.2001

THA

98.48

90

118

208

6 ANANGONO PADILLA E. Y.

24.12.2000

ECU

93.15

92

115

207

RIAZANOVA Daria, RUS, +75kg

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 29

› EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, SPLIT, CRO TEXT: KORNÉL JANCSÓ PHOTO: JAKOV MATIC

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, SPLIT, CRO CROATIANS WERE EXCELLENT HOSTS – WORLD RECORD WAS THEIR REWARD

I

t was 20 years since Croatia last hosted weightlifting continental Championships (1997, Rijeka), so the 2017 European Championships have to be especially acclaimed for being organised in an excellent manner.

“Our Croatian friends staged an outstanding continental championship – thanks to the new Federation leadership of enthusiastic but at the same time professional people”, thus summarized his opinion the Director General of the IWF, Attila ÁDÁMFI, who could witness the European Championships carried out on a high level in Split, a beautiful city of Dalmatia on the Adriatic coast.

“The Championships were broadcast on television; it was permanently advertised in Croatian TV and the event’s spot was everywhere in the media, drawing large-scale and substantial

mance as all other conditions were provided to their comfort: perfect hotel, great food.” – said Attila Ádámfi. According to the IWF Director General, both the organisers and spectators got their due reward on the last day, when a new world record was born in the men’s superheavyweight, thus elevating the 2017 continental challenge’s professional value also to the maximum. “I was lucky to witness Georgian Lasha TALAKHADZE’s epic record in snatch in the +105kg, the 217kg. Split made a memorably entry into the sport’s annals”, said Attila Ádámfi, noting that if the weight had been 218kg Talakhadze would have lifted it all the same.

So easy looking and convincing was the lift by the Georgian superstar. We might want to add that at a time the 23-year old giant had already been the holder of the snatch world record –

IWF Director General Attila ÁDÁMFI congratulated Croatian Weightlifting Federation President Damijan KRKLEC and General Secretary Jaksa IVANISEVIC on the excellent organisation sponsorship. I wish to mention both officials, the President Damijan KRKLEC and the General Secretary Jaksa IVANISEVIC, who can be proud of this event. The competitions were held in a very fitting venue with a nice look and the training was under the same roof which made the Championships very athletefriendly. The competitors only had to focus on their perfor-

30 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

if only for a fleeting moment. At the Olympic Games in Rio last year he snatched 215kg but his joy was short-lived before Iran’s dad SALIMIKORDASIABI quickly took it back with a successful barbell of 216kg.

Fantastic new world record snatch 217kg by Lasha TALAKHADZE of Georgia Behdad SALIMIKORDASIABI quickly took it back with a successful barbell of 216kg. In Rio, Talakhadze compensated with a new world record total of 473kg, while at the same time winning the Olympic gold medal. Now, in Croatia, the Georgian took ownership of the snatch’s best mark again.

Although at the 2017 European Championships Talakhadze undoubtedly stole the show, there were other outstanding performers before him. Mainly on behalf of the Russians who finished in the lead of the medal tables in both genders and of course in aggregate (5, 4, 2). Russia’s women collected 4 gold, 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal; their chart for men includes 1, 2 and 1 medals, respectively. Noteworthy and significant is the medal distribution for men, whereby each of the eight gold medals in total went to a different nation! In women, five countries boasted European champions.

One of the precious continental titles among women was won

French Anais MICHEL won the 48kg category

by Tatiana KASHIRINA. In 2016 Kashirina did not compete.

First, she skipped the European Championships because she was concentrating on the Olympic Games in Rio, which event the entire Russian team had to miss – due to a ban issued as a consequence of the country’s doping situation – and it prevented her participation as well.

Alas, the Russian squad took an ample recompense in Split and for instance Kashirina became the epic first European champion in the new category of +90kg – with a huge advantage.

Formerly the supreme champion of the +75kg, the Russian lady amassed a 40kg lead on the silver medallist Ukrainian. Still of the tender age of 26, Kashirina scored her seventh European Championship victory since 2009 and added this title to her collection of 4 world champion titles and 2012 Olympic silver medal. In Split she triumphed with 317kg.

48KG 1 MICHEL ANAIS

12.01.1988 FRA 47.80 80 100 180

2 CSENGERI MONICA-S.

21.03.1996 ROU 47.85 85

94 179

3 ANDRIES ELENA RAMONA

21.09.1994 ROU 47.60 75

89 164

53KG 1 LOCHOWSKA JOANNA

17.11.1988 POL 52.75 86 106 192

2 HERNANDEZ MARTIN A.

10.12.1994 ESP 52.65 86 105 191

3 PANKOVA LIUDMILA

25.03.1997 BLR 52.85 83 106 189

56KG 1 SCARANTINO MIRCO

16.01.1995 ITA 55.90 120 146 266

2 DUDOGLO IURI

09.07.1991 MDA 55.75 115 146 261

3 CIOTOIU ILIE-C.

11.07.1995 ROU 56.00 111 131 242

Joanna LOCHOWSKA of Poland won gold in the 53kg

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 31

› EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, SPLIT, CRO

Another glorious moment of the ladies’ competitions was the splendid victory by Spain’s prime competitor, Lidia VALENTIN PEREZ. In the women’s 75kg category she celebrated the third continental champion title in her career. In marvellous shape and condition at the age of 32 years, Valentin totalled 252kg which was 14 kilograms more than the result of the runner up from Russia. It should be noted that the defending champion of the category, Ukrainian Iryna DEKHA – after having won the gold in snatch with 120kg, five kilos higher than Valentin’s result – zeroed in clean and jerk and thus facilitated the victory for the Spanish. Lidia Valentin, who can call herself Olympic champion today, scored 252kg in aggregate, a total that would have given her the European title even a category higher.

Still speaking of the women: in each of the lighter categories the final victories were earned in great fights, exciting duels.

The new rule – abolishment of the bodyweight advantage – seems to be doing the job! In the first category of 48kg French Anais MICHEL managed to win by one kilogram (180kg) on Romanian Monica-Sunetta CSENGERI. In 53 and 58kg the situation was similar: in 53kg Polish Joanna LOCHOWSKA was the final winner with her 192kg pushing Spain’s Aenery HERNANDEZ MARTIN into second place for her 191kg. In the 58kg Russian Natalia KHLESTKINA totalled 214kg against Rebeka KOHA (LAT) finishing with 213kg. In the 63kg the difference was larger: Romanian Loredana-Elena TOMA with 226kg outscored silver medallist Tatiana ALEEVA (RUS) 223kg by three kilograms. In this category there was a big name, Tima TURIEVA (RUS), who has world and European titles and

The second gold medal by France: Bernardin KINGUE MATAM, 69kg

32 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

Italy’s Mirco SCARANTINO was supreme again in the 56kg 62KG 1 ATAK HURSIT

24.05.1991 TUR 62.00 130 160 290

2 SEZER BUNYAMI

04.07.1988 TUR 62.00 135 154 289

3 KHALIBEKOV FELIKS

03.02.1990 RUS 61.95 131 154 285

69KG 1 KINGUE MATAM B. L.

20.05.1990 FRA 68.75 140 180 320

2 CHEN OLEG

22.11.1988 RUS 68.85 150 169 319

3 JOACHIM ROBERT F.

13.01.1987 GER 68.85 141 176 317

In 75kg Lidia VALENTIN PEREZ, ESP proved her class once more 58KG

63KG

1 KHLESTKINA NATALIA

23.04.1992 RUS 57.75 95 119 214

1 TOMA LOREDANA-ELENA

10.05.1995 ROU 62.65 100 126 226

2 KOHA REBEKA

19.05.1998 LAT 57.25 95 118 213

2 ALEEVA TATIANA

01.03.1991 RUS 62.95 98 125 223

3 MOLIE MADALINA-B.

27.04.1996 ROU 57.95 94 114 208

3 TURIEVA TIMA

22.06.1992 RUS 62.75 97 121 218

Those who made it to the podium in 69kg: RUS, UKR, GBR and BLR

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 33

› EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, SPLIT, CRO

two world Championship silver medals in 2014 and 2015 on her scorecard, but this time she could only make a low 218kg result and had to leave with the bronze medal.

Another famous competitor was present in 69kg: from Albania the European vice champion of European Championships Romela BEGAJ, but she could not finish higher than in 5th place. The category celebrated a new champion: Anastasiia ROMANOVA, Russia, with a total of 243kg.

The other two medal winners, Ukrainian Mariya KHLYAN and Belarus Anastasiya MIKHALENKA both scored 225kg – much less than the winning result.

85KG 1 PIELIESHENKO OLEKSANDR 07.01.1994 UKR 84.55 175 211 386 2 OKULOV ARTEM

05.05.1994 RUS 84.90 165 212 377

3 ZWARYCZ KRZYSZTOF M.

13.12.1990 POL 85.00 159 199 358

77KG 1 CAPTARI DUMITRU

12.07.1989 ROU 76.85 160 200 360

2 MARTIN RAZVAN C.

22.12.1991 ROU 76.75 158 190 348

3 QERIMAJ ERKAND

10.08.1988 ALB 76.85 155 193 348

First ever European champion of 90kg: Diana MSTIEVA, RUS

34 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

Oleksandr PIELIESHENKO, UKR dominated the 85kg

“I’m here! Beware…!” – Tatiana KASHIRINA, RUS indicated with her easy win in the new +90kg category

In the new category of 90kg there was a fierce battle for the historic, first ever European title between Russia and Ukraine.

Ultimately, 22-year old Diana MSTIEVA of Russia was victorious with 241kg and Valentyna KISIL from Ukraine became second.

In the men’s +105kg the Olympic Champion of Rio, Talakhadze won hands down, with a plus of 21 kilograms on Olympic runner up Armenian Gor MINASYAN. That was the most overwhelming of all victories at the Championships.

Almost as convincing as this one was the win by Simon MARTIROSYAN in the 105kg. The 20-year old Armenian rose to the occasion and put on a performance worthy of a former youth Olympic champion, junior world champion and Rio Olympic silver medallist. In Split he collected his life’s first European champion title with an impressive 414kg. That was 17 kilos more than Bulgarian Vasil Georgiev GOSPODINOV’s result who

took the second position. Most surprisingly, a former great star left the stage without a valid total: David BEDZHANYAN who came to Croatia as two-times European champion, world championships silver and bronze medallist made zero in snatch before getting some consolation with a silver medal in clean and jerk.

Still earlier, we saw a persuading victory in the 85kg by the defending champion, Ukrainian Oleksandr PIELIESHENKO. His total measured 386kg, while former world champion Russian Artem OKULOV scored 377kg and had to settle for a gold medal in clean and jerk. The 77kg proved to be a “domestic” duel between Romanian Dumitru CAPTARI, last year’s European third, and his compatriot Razvan Constantin MARTIN. The former triumphed beating MARTIN and Albanian Erkand QERIMAJ by 12 kilograms on both.

69KG

94KG 06.05.1993 RUS 92.75 180 208 388

1 ROMANOVA ANASTASIIA

02.10.1991 RUS 68.95 112 131 243

2 CHUMAK DMYTRO

11.07.1990 UKR 93.55 174 214 388

2 KHLYAN MARIYA

08.06.1992 UKR 68.70 99 126 225

3 DIDZBALIS AURIMAS

13.06.1991 LTU 93.50 181 205 386

3 MIKHALENKA ANASTASIYA

08.12.1995 BLR 68.60 95 130 225

1 MALIGOV ADAM

75KG

105KG 1 MARTIROSYAN SIMON

17.02.1997 ARM 104.90 184 230 414

1 VALENTIN PEREZ LIDIA

10.02.1985 ESP 74.90 115 137 252

2 GOSPODINOV VASIL G.

05.11.1993 BUL 103.35 180 217 397

2 VOSTRIKOVA MARIIA

02.11.1993 RUS 71.55 113 125 238

3 MICHALSKI ARKADIUSZ

07.01.1990 POL 105.00 170 217 387

3 POGHOSYAN SONA

29.06.1998 ARM 73.40 101 126 227

WORLDWEIGHTLIFTING WEIGHTLIFTING / /35 35 WORLD

› EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, SPLIT, CRO Right at the beginning of the Championships, defending European champion, Italian Mirco SCARANTINO collected another title and proved to be five kilos superior to Moldova’s Iuri DUDOGLO. In the 62 and 69kg the new rule made its effect: the gold medal was decided by a 1kg difference in both cases. In 62kg the two Turks, 2015 European champion Hursit ATAK once again outlifted his teammate Bunyami SEZER, the former silver medallist. In the 69kg this time Frenchman Bernardin Ledoux KINGUE MATAM proved his excellence with 320kg against 319kg by Russian Oleg CHEN, despite the latter’s more brilliant former record (3 times world championship runnerup and twice European champion).

The closest race could be enjoyed in the 94kg: only two kilograms separated the first from the third. Silver medal winner in the year before, Adam MALIGOV, Russia was promoted into the champion’s position.

Closing with an identical result of 388kg, Ukrainian Dmytro CHUMAK was second and Lithuania’s star Aurimas DIDZBALIS landed in the third place.

Adam MALIGOV, RUS: a new name on the champions’ list in 94kg +105KG 1 TALAKHADZE LASHA

02.10.1993 GEO 158.10 217 250 467

2 MINASYAN GOR

25.10.1994 ARM 141.85 211 235 446

3 ALEKSANYAN RUBEN

14.03.1990 ARM 151.15 190 244 434

At 20 years of age: Armenian Simon MARTIROSYAN collects senior titles

36 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

90KG 1 MSTIEVA DIANA

25.11.1994 RUS 89.70 109 132 241

2 KISIL VALENTYNA

05.07.1998 UKR 86.70 110 130 240

3 HAKOBYAN TATEV

21.03.1996 ARM 81.25 105 125 230

+90KG 1 KASHIRINA TATIANA

24.01.1991 RUS 107.05 137 180 317

2 LYSENKO ANASTASIIA

02.12.1995 UKR 104.00 125 152 277

3 MAGAT KRISZTINA

02.03.1989 HUN 103.00 104 130 234

› 2017 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, ASHGABAT TEXT: KORNÉL JANCSÓ

2017 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, ASHGABAT ASIA GOES TO BRAND NEW VENUE IN TURKMENISTAN

I

t was with understandable and justified pride that the new sports leadership of Turkmenistan welcomed the senior representatives of international weightlifting - IWF President Dr. Tamás Aján, 1st Vice President Nicu Vlad, IWF Director General Attila Ádámfi, EWF General Secretary Hasan Akkus – to the Asian Championships hosted by the country’s sporting capital, Ashgabat, late April. Judging from the success of the event no-one should be surprised to see in the foreseeable future this excellent and fire new location hosting e.g. a junior or youth world championship…

This year’s continental challenge had a secondary assignment as well: it was a test for another major event coming up in Turkmenistan this September, the fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. For the first time, weightlifting will be among the over twenty sports on the Games program.

No doubt the Asian Championships were carried out in a fantastic venue in the newly built and spectacular Olympic Complex. Nearly 150 lifters were battling for the medals. 18

countries for women, 22 countries for men sent their representatives and in the end many of them – 12 – could leave with at least one medal won by their respective teams. In the medal allocation China took the largest share in both genders.

Chinese lifters accumulated altogether 22 (!) gold medals, in addition to 8 silver and 5 bronze medals. In the combined medal table second best is PRK (5, 7, 2) followed by Iran (5, 3, 3). Further nations acquiring medals, in order of success, are: TPE (4, 9, 6), UZB (3, 4, 6) and THA (3, 4, 5), as well as KAZ (2, 2, 0), VIE (1, 6, 4), KOR (1, 3, 8), TKM (1, 2, 6), JPN (1, 0, 2) and finally IRQ (0, 0, 1).

In the team classification CHN, THA, TPE was the ranking for women; IRI, CHN, UZB for the men.

For Asia quite unusually, this time the world records were not in danger in any of the 16 categories. We might wonder why and we assume that the general approach of participants was that they preferred to save their top form for the World Championships at the end of the year in Anaheim (USA).

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 37

The crowded 85kg podium; among the presenters Kianoush ROSTAMI, Olympic champion of the category All but one exception: in the women’s 58kg category KUO HsingChun of Chinese Taipei was brilliant winning with 241kg in total.

Boasting the world champion title from 2013, defending Asian champion and – not incidentally – Olympic bronze medallist, KUO made six impeccable lifts and her final result in Ashgabat remained just a bit under the current world record. At 23 years of Age, KUO scored an easy win on 2016 junior world champion Chinese OU Lingli, just like KIM Su Ryon (PRK). Surprise in the same category: snatch world record holder in 53kg, now lifting among the 58kg lifters a category higher, Chinese LI Ping could not make it to the podium and had to settle for a single bronze in clean and jerk.

The intense battle in 63kg deserves special mention: last year’s junior world champion RIM Un Sim (PRK) now advanced to senior continental champion rank, winning both halves of the competition, totalling 237kg and defeating serious challengers Siripuch

GULNOI (INA) and CHIANG Nien-Hsin (TPE). GULNOI came to Turkmenistan as the defending champion, whereas CHIANG was youth Olympic gold medal winner in 2014.

In the men’s competitions the tightest fights were seen in the lightest category, the 56kg. In conclusion, LONG Decheng triumphed winning his countryman LI Fabin and Vietnam’s TRAN Le Quoc Taon. Junior continental champion in 2014, this year LONG Decheng put on an impressive 273kg overall performance, beating his rivals by one and two kilos, respectively.

The top-ranked Asians of the +105kg in last year’s world ranking list – save Salimikordasiabi – were present and occupied the continental positions in the same order: DJANGABAEV (UZB) 1st, – CHEN (TPE) 2nd, – TOYCHYYEV (TKM) 3rd . In addition, Hojamuhammet TOYCHYYEV earned a gold medal in snatch and another in clean and jerk – thus guaranteeing a happy ending for the host nation.

IWF Anti-Doping Commission Chairman Dr. Patrick SCHAMASCH held a seminar for the participants 38 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

› 2017 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, ASHGABAT - WOMEN ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN 48KG 1 SUKCHAROEN THUNYA

21.04.1997 THA 47.95 84 106 190

2 NGUYEN THI THUY

23.08.1990 VIE 47.95 78 105 183

3 DZHUMABAYEVA YULDUZ 22.04.1998 TKM 47.46 72

93 165

53KG 1 WEI CHENGJI

02.07.1994 CHN 52.91 88 112 200

2 KAEWKHONG SUPATTRA

11.03.1996 THA 52.82 82 108 190

3 SHERMETOVA KRISTINA

25.05.1993 TKM 52.59 78 104 182

58KG 1 KUO HSING-CHUN

26.11.1993 TPE 57.61 104 137 241

2 OU LINGLI

21.10.1997 CHN 57.95 95 124 219

3 KIM SU RYON

24.10.1993 PRK 57.93 98 120 218

RIM Un Sim, PRK earned her first title among seniors

63KG 1 RIM UN SIM

05.07.1996 PRK 62.85 106 131 237

2 GULNOI SIRIPUCH

17.07.1993 THA 62.70 102 129 231

3 CHIANG NIEN-HSIN

29.04.1997 TPE 60.70 101 130 231

69KG 1 SHI DANHUI

11.05.1991 CHN 68.54 107 126 233

2 KIM SUHYEON

06.02.1995 KOR 68.58 100 130 230

3 HUNG WAN-TING

21.06.1990 TPE 68.61 103 125 22

75KG 1 LI RONGYAN

CHI Danhui, CHN proudly posing with her medals won in 69kg

05.01.1991 CHN 74.84 110 140 250

2 YAO CHI-LING

31.03.1993 TPE 74.53 101 136 237

3 YEOM YUNJEONG

12.12.1996 KOR 74.85 98 119 217

90KG 1 SHI JIAQI

02.07.1999 CHN 79.41 108 137 245

2 LO YING-YUAN

07.05.1996 TPE 88.68

3 DAVRONOVA DOLERA

03.11.2001 UZB 30225 89 115 204

95 136 231

+90KG 1 JIA WEIPENG

08.08.1995 CHN 113.28 129 170 299

2 KIM KUK HYANG

20.04.1993 PRK 98.93 126 166 292

3 PULSABSAKUL C.

04.11.1993 THA 120.82 123 145 268

The first Asian champion in +90kg: JIA Weipeng, CHN

Former junior world champion (in 2009), LI Rongyan, CHN took the Asian title in 75kg

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 39

› 2017 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, ASHGABAT -MEN

MEN 56KG 1 LONG DECHENG

01.06.1995 CHN 55.82 123 150 273

2 LI FABIN

15.01.1993 CHN 55.78 123 149 272

3 TRAN LE QUOC TOAN

05.04.1989 VIE 55.65 124 147 271

62KG

Albert LINDER scored victory for Kazakhstan in 69kg

1 SIN CHOL BOM

15.06.1990 PRK 61.73 133 168 301

2 TRINH VAN VINH

17.12.1995 VIE 61.92 132 167 299

3 HUANG MINHAO

21.08.1992 CHN 61.87 140 155 295

69KG 1 LINDER ALBERT

13.01.1996 KAZ 68.96 148 187 335

2 O KHANG CHOL

16.09.1993 PRK 68.87 148 183 331

3 FENG LVDONG

23.10.1991 CHN 68.65 155 170 325

77KG 1 YUAN CHENGFEI

14.07.1995 CHN 76.33 160 195 355

2 REJEPOV REJEPBAY

23.02.1992 TKM 76.69 158 185 343

3 KIM WOO JAE

26.09.1991 KOR 76.81 154 186 340

85KG 1 ZHAO YONGCHAO

16.03.1995 CHN 84.44 160 196 356

2 CHERAGHI SALEH

01.06.1991 IRI 84.69 162 190 352

3 YAMAMOTO TOSHIKI

08.09.1991 JPN 84.92 152 199 351

Last year silver medallist in 69kg, this year first in 77kg: YUAN Chengfei, CHN

94KG 1 SOBIROV FARKHODBEK

10.09.1997 UZB 93.86 175 205 380

2 MOUSAVIJARAHI S.

21.04.1995 IRI 93.53 166 206 372

3 WANG CHING-CHIEH

14.04.1997 TPE 93.73 145 172 317

105KG 1 BARARI MOHAMMADREZA 31.03.1988 IRI 104.95 177 221 398 2 SEO HUIYEOP

29.02.1992 KOR 104.87 170 220 390

3 HASHEMI ALI

01.11.1991 IRI 100.63 171 213 384

+105KG 1 DJANGABAEV RUSTAM

25.08.1993 UZB 149.20 196 241 437

2 CHEN SHIH-CHIEH

27.11.1989 TPE 151.40 185 243 428

3 TOYCHYYEV H.

16.01.1992 TKM 139.80 197 230 427

The joy of Mohammadreza BARARI, IRI, when he won the 105kg category

Hojamuhammet TOYCHYYEV in +105kg catered for a happy ending for host Turkmenistan 40 / WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING

› 8TH WOMEN’S CATEGORY FOR TOKYO 2020 TEXT: ATTILA ÁDÁMFI, IWF DIRECTOR GENERAL

TOWARDS OLYMPIC PARITY

T

he IWF has always been keen to enhance Women’s participation on every level - its history started in 1983.

Following the introduction of the Olympic Agenda 2020, the IWF evaluated the possibilities how to share its Principles and implement its Recommendations.

In 2015 the IOC approved our proposal to add an additional women’s bodyweight category to the program of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in order to reach full gender equality in athletes’ quota and number of bodyweight categories. This huge achievement – considering the IOC’s usual approach not to increase the number of events… – gave us the courage to go further and start the discussions with the IOC to include an additional bodyweight category for the program of 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

In April 2016, during the SportAccord Convention, I had my first meeting with IOC Sport Department together with Matthew Curtain, CGF Director of Sport (the Commonwealth Games Federation was the first Multisport Organisation to confirm the 8th bodyweight category on their program). In this meeting the IOC was informed that the IWF intends to introduce the additional bodyweight category in order to achieve gender equality in line with the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020 Recommendations.

Since the IWF introduced the 8th bodyweight category from 1 January 2017, my first official visit of 2017 was paid to the IOC Headquarters in Lausanne to meet Kit McConnell, Sports Director to present the case, including our efforts to reach gender equality on different levels alongside women’s weightlifting’s long and rich history.

Presenting the case to IOC Sports Director Mr. Kit McConnell We submitted the official application to the IOC in February, highlighting that our request does not only serve gender equality but supports other Olympic Agenda 2020 Recommendations as well, while requiring minimal investment, since: • No additional quota is requested • No additional Team Officials are needed • No additional Technical Officials are needed • No additional days are requested • No additional Competition Venue is needed • No additional Training Venue is needed • No additional Sport Equipment is needed • No additional Technology is needed • No negative impact on the environment During my recent visit to Tokyo, I met Yoshiro Mori, Tokyo 2020 President and Koji Murofushi, Tokyo 2020 Executive Director of Sports and discussed the possible inclusion of the additional women bodyweight category.

Following our deliberate and careful but well-grounded approach we hope that the IOC will positively evaluate our request in line with the Agenda 2020 Recommendations and we can cheer for 8 women gold medallists in Tokyo and beyond.

H.E. Yoshiro Mori, President of Tokyo 2020 was positive about the IWF’s request

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 41

› OBITUARY – IMRE FÖLDI (78) TEXT: ANIKÓ NÉMETH-MÓRA

OBITUARY – IMRE FÖLDI (78) HUNGARY MOURNS ITS MOST SUCCESSFUL WEIGHTLIFTER IN HISTORY

I

mre Földi, the first Olympic champion of Hungarian weightlifting, Sportsman of the Nation, died shortly before his 79th birthday due on 8 May. Imre Földi medalled in three Olympic Games in the 56kg category. In 1964 Tokyo and 1968 Mexico City, both times he had to settle for a silver medal but he did not give up and finally won the gold in 1972 Munich, where he set a world record, one of his altogether 20 world records. He was six times world and ten times European champion. For a long time he held a unique record in the sport as he was the only weightlifter in the world to have participated in 5 Olympic Games.

He was also successful as a coach of his daughter, Csilla Földi who collected 16 European champion gold medals.

In 2002 Imre Földi was awarded the Olympic Order and had Hungarian weightlifting stronghold city Tatabánya’s Sports Hall being named after him in 2009. In 1993 he became a member of the Hall of Fame and in 2005 he was elected by the IWF among the Lifters of the Century.

With Földi’s death the weightlifting sport world lost one of its all-time greatest champions and Hungary its most successful weightlifter ever.

Our sympathy goes to the family and the Hungarian Weightlifting Federation.

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WERK SAN Sport International

Weightlifting

The real power of athletes WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 43

› WOMEN’S PAGE TEXT: MOIRA LASSEN, CHAIR IWF WOMEN’S COMMISSION

2ND IOC-ASOIF WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP FORUM

G

ender equality is simply stated as ‘the state of having the same rights, status, and opportunities as others, regardless of one’s gender.’ Simply stated, not simply achieved.

The International Olympic Committee steered by Olympic Agenda 2020 aspires to remedy this challenge by way of Recommendation 11 – Foster gender equality and Recommendation 39 – Implement a targeted recruitment process. The International Weightlifting Federation as a devoted and constant sport within the Olympic Movement celebrates the IOCs vision and aspirations.

The IOC indicates that “achieving gender equality - both in sport and society as a whole - requires an innovative, inclusive approach” and one of those innovations, in partnership with ASOIF, is the IF Women in Leadership Forum.

Following on the success of the 2016 event, the 2nd Annual Forum in Lausanne, on 06-08 March, hosted over sixtyfive representatives from International and National Federations as well as National Olympic Committees. Women leaders – elected officials and staff – represented twenty-six sports; from Athletics to Wrestling.

Representing Weightlifting was myself, Ms Moira Lassen, IWF Executive Board and Chair of the Women’s Commission and Ms Ursula Garza Papandrea, USAWF Chair. Excitedly, all Forum participants were also able to hear from Dr Tamas Ajan as one of the senior panellists.

The Forum commenced on Monday 06 March with opening remarks by Mr Christophe De Kepper, IOC Director General who stated ‘we need more women leaders in the IOC to benefit from their knowledge and creativity’; Mr Francesco Ricci Bitti, ASOIF President stating ‘there are too many men in fact’ and ‘we, men are ready to play our role’. Ms Lydia Nsekera, IOC Member and Women in Sport Commission Chair summoned all by saying ‘we have to lead the fight – we have to conduct strategies, search for votes and mobilize resources’.

The theme of the Forum was #Time2Run which aimed to identify concrete measures to increase development opportunities and the recruitment of women in decision-making positions at all levels of sport, including leadership, management, coaching and officiating.

The Forum provided helpful advice for women on performing their current role, embracing the possibility of stretching into new roles and, as well, enabled women to become mentors for other women working, or seeking to work, in the world of sport.

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The IWF was amply represented at the Forum

Dr Aján on the panel After an IOC hosted luncheon at the Olympic Museum, participants appreciated afternoon panel discussions by leading authorities in their field.

The second panel of experts discussed “Translating Policies into Practice – a Framework to Inspire Change”, with the IWF President included. “Dr Aján‘s contribution to the Forum was outstanding; his message was clear – ‘we need to have even more women not only in the sport itself but also as sport leaders.’

The 2nd Annual Forum wrapped up on 08 March in conjunction with the International Women’s Day celebrations alongside many IOC Members and IF Presidents joining in the festivities.

The IWD2017 theme was Be Bold for Change and with the knowledge that the IWF was bold for change in order to secure Women’s Weightlifting on the 2000 Olympic program; true to form, all IWF representatives, as well as Ms Reiko Chinen, 2020 Tokyo Weightlifting Sport Manager, networked with IOC Members regarding the inclusion of the 8th bodyweight category for women as a medal event.

Closing the Forum, Chair Nsekera clearly stated to Forum participants and guests alike “We all need to know that we have a place in sport, and that power is not for men alone, far from it. It is for us as well. We need to understand also

IWF delegates vote with the Forum

that, without support from men, our fight will be in vain!”

Achieving gender equality is a team effort with a commitment from all to be bold, work together and strive for greater female leadership in sport.

Fostering gender equality and strengthening women’s participation in, and through, sport is one of the key missions of the IOC. Over the years, the IOC has observed that women’s participation in the world of Olympic sport has grown steadily in cooperation with the IFs and NOCs. Now we must all pursue the goal of increasing the number of women in decision-making roles.

As Forum participants and as women, we vow to: • Increase collaboration with male leaders to achieve the minimum target of 30% of women in leadership roles in the Olympic Movement by 2020; • Stand for election for decision-making positions in national, international and continental associations; • Become mentors for other women in sport; and • Include the participation of men in the 3rd Annual IF Women in Leadership Forum, so as to enrich and diversify the exchanges.

As future Forum participants and as men, please consider what you vow to do. Are you going to be a part of the winning team? If so, please let us know!

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 45

›TECHNICAL CORNER TEXT: SAM COFFA, IWF VICE PRESIDENT, CHAIRMAN IWF TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

TECHNICAL CORNER THE NEW TCRR AND ITS CHANGES!

I

n November 2016 at the Constitution Congress held in Penang-Malaysia the IWF Member Federations, at the recommendations of the Technical Committee and after the approval of the Executive Board, as well as reviewing the TCRR, made 3 important decisions:

1) Addition of an extra bodyweight category for

women (90kg) and as consequence altering the

+75kg category to +90kg.

2) The 20/15 Kg rule was modified to 20kg for men

and women.

3) Abolition of the bodyweight advantage in clas- sification.

With regard to the 1st and 2nd changes, these were accepted by acclamation. The extra bodyweight category for women has been on our agenda for some time with all three IWF Committees and staff working hard at it.

Finally, the matter was taken up by our Women’s Commission which not only brought a new approach but was able to galvanise our collective resolve – the result was a clear winner with all 3 Committees, the Executive Board and finally the Congress approving the move unanimously.

A great outcome for our sport, a great step forward for gender parity (8 categories each for men and women) and certainly a sense of relief and a degree of satisfaction for all concerned – especially our female athletes.

Already the IWF has made an application to the IOC to consider granting an additional event at the Olympic Games and we pray that positive consideration is given to our proposal which is in full accordance with the IOC Agenda 2020. (See on Page 41.)

The main scoreboard has been reconfigured to reflect the new chapter and it is so much easier to follow the progress of the competition.

Some of the advantages we foresaw are becoming evident. For instance, it can be noted that athletes are now weighing in close to the bodyweight category limit. This, I contend, is a plus for the health of our athletes. There is no longer a need for unscrupulous coaches to keep their charges in sauna rooms to shed the last drop of body fluid to gain bodyweight advantage.

The coaches are now compelled to work and strategise like never before. No longer can they rely on or hide behind the 0.02kg bodyweight advantage; now they must ensure that their athletes lift that crucial 1kg more to place themselves on top of the ranking or make sure that they perform the winning lift first in accordance with the sequence (more of that later) and relative to the Total in particular, that they register the winning Total first with the least number of attempts.

The 20kg rule was a no brainer as no one was able to tell us why on earth the women were compelled to start their attempts 5kg closer to their entry totals than their male counterparts. The change was easily accepted and understood.

As for the 3rd change, the abolition of the bodyweight advantage, immediately after the decision I was inundated by questions, enquiries, concerns and some confusion. In my replies I endeavoured to calm the multitudes by assuring everyone that the change will not cause the world of weightlifting to collapse as indeed it has not. Already national, international events and including the World Youth Championship in Bangkok, Thailand have been held and athletes, coaches and officials and most certainly the public have embraced the new rule.

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On the way to become the first ever continental champion in the new +90kg category: Tatiana KASHIRINA, RUS. Will she be the first to capture the world title as well?

›TECHNICAL CORNER

athlete (lowest first) – For the allocation of start numbers see Regulation to 6.4 – Weigh-in When studying the ‘sequence’, one must know that in world events it is not possible to group 45 athletes in one session of lifting. By necessity, we have to split them into groups, (A,B,C,D). This is determined following the verification of final entries (VFE) and on the basis of the declared Entry Totals, however, the TIS recognises all groups as ONE CATEGORY. Which means that whether an athlete competes in a C group at 10am, or B group at 3pm or the A group at 7.30pm, the ‘sequence’ determines which athlete performed the individual lift or the Total first and not the CLOCK TIME.

Some argue that the lot number now has an inordinate influence on the result of a competition. On that I must remind all that the argument was always thus. Yes it is true that the lowest lot number has advantages but equally I argue that there are perhaps more advantages in knowing what your opposition has done and you, as a consequence, know exactly what you need to do to get in front, lift one kilo more. So, there are advantages and disadvantages and in all circumstances it is in the domain of the athlete and coaches to determine their course of action which in turn impacts on their ultimate result. To that end, I think it is terrific for the sport that such teamwork is now deployed to enhance our competitions, the interest and excitement for the public and world-wide presentation.

6.8.2 Factors to decide the classification of athletes in Snatch and Clean & Jerk: 1. best result – highest first; if identical, then: 2. best result’s attempt number – least number of attempt first; if identical, then: 3. previous attempt(s) – least number of attempt first; if identical, then: 4. lot number – lowest first Factors to decide the classification of athletes in Total: 1. best result – highest first; if identical, then: 2. best Clean & Jerk result – lowest first; if identical, then: 3. best Clean & Jerk result’s attempt number – least number of attempt first; if identical, then: 4. previous attempt(s) – least number of attempt first; if identical, then: 5. lot number – lowest first.

The sequence / order of the competition applies when a bodyweight category is divided into multiple groups.

(See Regulation to 6.8)

Back to the technical process when dealing with the classification of athletes without the bodyweight advantage.

What we call the Calling Order or ‘sequence’ is generated by the Technology Information Service (TIS). It is the sequence which determines who is the athlete to be called on the platform first, considering the chosen weight, lot number, number of attempt, etc.

6.6.6 Calling Order (Regulation) The following four (4) factors listed in priority must be considered when calling the athletes: 1. The weight of the barbell (lightest weight first) 2. The number of the attempt (lowest number first) 3. The sequence / order of the previous attempt(s) (the athlete who lifted earliest is first) 4. The start number of the

B Group Lot

Start No

Snatch

Name

1

2

Clean & Jerk

3

100

1

A

100

(4)

100

(9)

100

101

2

B

95

(3)

100

(8)

---

102

3

C

100

(5)

100

(10)

105

Result (11)

Rank

1

100

11

120

---

---

---

(15)

100

7

120

2 (6)

120

3 (9)

--(7)

120

Result (12)

---

120

(10)

125

(14)

Rank

Total

Rank

120

8

220

10

---

---

---

---

120

4

220

7

103

4

D

90

(1)

100

(7)

105

(14)

105

3

115

(2)

115

(4)

115

(5)

115

10

220

3

104

5

E

94

(2)

101

(12)

105

(16)

101

4

110

(1)

115

(3)

120

(11)

120

5

221

1

105

6

F

100

(6)

101

(13)

105

(17)

100

5

120

(8)

125

(13)

125

(15)

120

1

220

4

Result

Rank

Total

Rank

A Group Lot

Start No

Snatch

Name

1

2

Clean & Jerk

3

Result

Rank

2

3

200

1

G

91

(3)

95

(6)

100

(12)

100

10

115

(3)

116

(8)

120

(12)

120

7

220

9

201

2

H

100

(7)

100

(10)

105

(16)

100

8

115

(4)

120

(10)

125

(14)

120

3

220

6

(2)

115

(6)

115

(7)

115

9

220

2

---

---

---

---

202

3

I

90

(2)

95

(5)

105

(15)

105

2

114

203

4

J

85

(1)

94

(4)

105

(14)

105

1

---

204

5

K

100

(8)

100

(11)

105

(17)

100

9

110

(1)

115

(5)

120

(11)

120

6

220

8

205

6

L

100

(9)

103

(13)

105

(18)

100

6

120

(9)

125

(13)

125

(15)

120

2

220

5

---

---

It was a delight to see the new rule in operation at the Youth World Championships when it was clear that the coaches and athletes understood the message: LIFT ONE KILO MORE AND YOU WIN!

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 47

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WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING / 49

RAISING THE BAR FOR 60 YEARS

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