Riyadh, Day 13: Photo Gallery
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Riyadh, Day 13: Djuraev wins Uzbekistan’s battle of Olympic champions
Akbar Djuraev came back down in weight to see off his team-mate Ruslan Nurudinov in the 109kg head-to-head between two Olympic champions from Uzbekistan at the IWF World Championships. The gold medallists from Tokyo and Rio will do it again in a few weeks at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China – and after that things get serious. Akbar Djuraev (UZB) There is no 109kg category at Paris 2024 and the assumption has been that Djuraev, after posting two respectable totals as a super-heavyweight, would go back up and Nurudinov would drop to 102kg so that both could try to qualify at different weights. But, said Uzbekistan Federation president Shakrillo Makhmudov, Djuraev’s body cannot withstand being heavier than about 125kg without causing back problems. The most he weighed as super-heavyweight was 126kg, which put him at a disadvantage because other elite lifters at +109 weigh much more. Ruslan Nurudinov (UZB) If Djuraev cannot go up, the only way is down. So by the time of the next qualifier, the IWF Grand Prix II in Qatar in December, there could be another Djuraev-Nurudinov contest at 102kg. “We will see how it goes before we make any final decisions,” Makhmudov said. Nurudinov struggled with cutting down at the Asian Games in Korea last May. “I got to 104kg, but it was too tough,” he said. Now he is prepared for another try: “Less food, more exercise, the sweets will go first. We have doctors, nutritionists, I have good support. “I am getting old now, 32 soon, and I really want my last competition to be in Paris.” Nurudinov, who holds the clean and jerk world record of 241kg, said his two young daughters, aged three and two, were watching back home in Uzbekistan. Dadash Dadashbayli (AZE) “The elder one said, ‘Daddy, we want gold only.’ I tried…” He had to make his final attempt at 236kg to overtake Djuraev, a jump of 9kg. Nurudinov cleaned it but could not complete the lift. He finished first in clean and jerk and second on total on 180-227-407, behind 23-year-old Djuraev on 189-226-415. Dadash Dadashbayli from Azerbaijan was third on 180-223-403, and Hristo Hristov from Bulgaria was also on the podium for a snatch silver on 181kg. By Brian Oliver, Inside the Games Photos by Giorgio
Riyadh, Day 13: Another shock as Korean Park takes injured Li Wenwen’s world title
China had its worst result of the IWF World Championships when Li Wenwen left the warm-up room with her right arm packed in ice halfway through the women’s super-heavyweight contest. Li injured her elbow in missing her first two snatch attempts, declined the third and withdrew. That left the way clear for Park Hyejeong from South Korea to claim a world title with her first win as a senior, despite missing her third and fourth attempts. Park finished 124-165-289. Park Hyejeong (KOR) The American Mary Theisen Lappen called her second place finish “a bitter sweet moment” when her final attempt – which would have put her ahead of team-mate Sarah Robles in the Olympic rankings - was ruled a no-lift. Theisen Lappen made 117-160-277, and Lisseth Ayovi from Ecuador was third on 121-155-276. Olympic and double world champion Li, who holds all three world records at this weight as well as a huge lead in the Paris 2024 rankings, was seeking her tenth straight victory when the injury ruined her chances. If the elbow fails to respond to treatment, Park could be in line for another major victory at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in three weeks time. There was a separate all-American contest between Theisen Lappen and Robles, only one of whom can go to Paris. Robles continued a regressive run when she made 117-150-267 for fifth place. She has bettered 280kg only once since winning a second Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo and would have fallen behind Theisen Lappen, a relative newcomer, if the last lift had not been turned down by the referees. The crowd liked it, the coaches loved it but it was deemed a press-out. The Americans could not make a challenge because they had already unsuccessfully challenged a no-lift decision against Theisen Lappen’s final snatch. Mary Theisen Lappen (USA) “I hate to see World Championships medals lost on calls,” said the US coaching director Mike Gattone. “I couldn’t see anything wrong with the lift from the sides, and moments like this can’t be good for people watching. “There’s talk of amending the rules and I hope they keep looking at the pressout rule more specifically.” Theisen Lappen said the lift “didn’t feel great” and after picking up her first World Championship medals she will now try again at the IWF Grand Prix II in Qatar in December. Lisseth Ayovi (ECU) Britain’s Emily Campbell withdrew before the start because of “a back niggle” sustained after the final verification, and snatch silver medallist Son Younghee from Korea withdrew injured after failing with her first clean and jerk. China finished their campaign in Riyadh with seven world titles. By Brian Oliver, Inside the Games Photos by Giorgio
Riyadh, Day 12: Photo Gallery
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Riyadh, Day 12: China’s Liang claims landmark weightlifting record – and Koanda suffers shock defeat
Liang Xiaomei did something that nobody had managed in five years when she extended her lead at the top of the Olympic rankings and claimed China’s seventh victory at the IWF World Championships here. When new weight categories came into use in at the 2018 IWF World Championships, world standards were set for each of them. Because those standards had never been surpassed in snatch, clean and jerk or total there were no world records in the women’s 81kg. Liang Xiaomei (CHN) When Liang, who will be 26 on Wednesday, made her final attempt at 159kg and became the first 81kg clean and jerk world record holder. Her older Olympic champion team-mate Wang Zhouyu, who won in Tokyo at 87kg but has had to drop down since that weight was dropped for Paris, declined her final attempt after reaching 155kg, leaving Liang in the limelight. Oceania had its first medallist of the Championships when Eileen Cikamatana finished third behind Liang and Wang. The Chinese pair’s numbers are very similar and, said Liang, “that really helps us to improve, because we push each other in training”. Wang Zhouyu (CHN) The only Olympic category with three blanks for record holders now is the men’s 102kg, in which so many athletes have underperformed throughout qualifying. Liang made all six lifts to win on 122-159-281, and is within range in snatch and total, where the world standards are 127kg and 283kg. Wang, 29, made 122-155-277, her best total by some distance at this weight. Neisi Dajomes from Ecuador was third at halfway but retired, leaving Eileen Cikamatana and Mattie Rogers to make it a battle between Australia and the United States for third place. Cikamatana, who has taken two years to fully recover from a bad injury sustained at the 2021 World Championships, claimed it on 110-146-256, her best total at this weight since January 2020. “That was a surprise because I didn’t know what I was doing in terms of medals, I just knew I had to go out and make my lifts,” she said after finishing 4kg clear of Rogers, who improved her best qualifying total by 4kg. Her first qualifying total puts Cikamatana straight in at sixth place. Eileen Chikamatana (AUS) “I was like, ‘Oh, two bronze medals, that’s nice.’ Now I’ll try to do better in Qatar.” That means two Olympic qualifiers in three weeks for Cikamatana, the Oceania Championships in Solomon Islands and that IWF Grand Prix II in Doha in November and December. Solfrid Koanda, Norway’s strongest electrician, suffered a shock when she bombed out of the women’s 87kg. She moved up from the Olympic 81kg category, in which she is third in the rankings, and was one of the strongest favourites in any weight category in Riyadh after four straight wins. Koanda, who gave up her day job to become a full-time weightlifter last year, prepared well but failed three times to make a snatch of 115kg. After the first bomb-out of her international career, Koanda came out to make a personal best in clean and jerk to win by a huge margin. She made all three lifts at 140kg, 150kg and 156kg. “I have had the wind behind me for a year but this time no,” Koanda said. “These things can happen in sport, and better here than in Paris. “I am still happy – I trained well, had a good preparation, and I will learn from this.” The winner on total was Lo Ying-yuan from Chinese Taipei on 112-133-245, which was 15kg lower than Koanda’s winning total last year. Lo Ying-yuan (TPE) The Colombian Yeinny Geles was second on 106-138-244. There were cries of despair from third-placed Jung Aram from Korea, who failed with a final attempt that would have put her on top of podium. Jung made 107-134-241. Anastasiia Manievska from Ukraine received her snatch bronze, earned with a lift of 106kg, with her left arm in a sling after suffering an injury. Monique Araujo finished 14kg and seven places behind Lo but was every bit as happy as the champion and, along with her Swedish coach Patric Bettembourg, was in tears after making 105-126-231 in the B Group. Araujo, one of the two Weightlifting Refugee Team members here, had not competed for more than six years. In her “new” career she posted a personal best total to give substance to her belief that, one day, she would return to the platform. “I always felt in my heart that I would come back to weightlifting and the IWF helped me to do it. I owe them huge thanks,” she said after the tears had subsided. Araujo was cleaning homes after moving to the United States to escape abuse and persecution in her native Brazil, and had to give up weightlifting to scrape a living. “I had a lot of depression, a lot of bad things happened, I was working all day, eating badly … but I knew God would help me to return to this sport and it has happened.” Monique Araujo (WRT) Araujo watched a documentary about the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Refugee Team and when she asked about joining, she was redirected to the IWF board member Florian Sperl, who leads the refugee team project that was approved in March. She joined the team along with partner and WRT team-mate Aline de Souza – they jointly formed their own cleaning company in the US – and finally was able to return to “this sport I love”. Sperl was there to see it. “What a wonderful moment,” he said. By Brian Oliver, Inside the Games Photos by Giorgio
2024-2032 IWF Strategic Plan, Pillar 1: Safeguarding the IWF stars
When elaborating the 2024-2032 IWF Strategic Plan, and specifically looking into the main pillars sustaining the International Federation’s “building” for the years to come, the first evident conclusion was that “Athletes” should obviously be part of those structural foundations. The constitution of the Working Group itself left no doubts on the importance IWF stars should have in the future of weightlifting. Out of the nine members of that committee, two are members of the IWF Athletes Commission, its Chair Forrester Osei, and also Hidilyn Diaz, the first-ever Olympic champion (in any sport) from the Philippines. The tone was therefore set and it is clearly stated in the first-ever IWF Strategic Plan, unanimously approved this week in Riyadh by both the Executive Board and the Congress: “Athletes should always be at the core of the IWF activities. In addition to their role in the governing structure and their importance in decision-making procedures, athletes are the stars of the IWF events: therefore, optimal conditions must be created for them. From the strict anti-doping policy to the improvement of the Development Programme on a global scale, the IWF must ensure its lifters feel safe and secure, can compete in clean and fair events, continue to be a valuable asset in the Olympic programme, and play an active role in the promotion of the sport they love”. Hidilyn Diaz (PHI) was part of the IWF Strategic Plan working group After validating this first fundamental pillar – the IWF roadmap is the result of an extensive consultative process, by which the stakeholders of the IWF Family periodically gave their feedback on the several chapters from the Strategic Plan – it was necessary to provide some “substance” to this IWF priority. Sub-pillars were then proposed and accepted, all aiming at providing those “optimal conditions” specified above. The implementation of a robust, transparent, and reliable anti-doping strategy is naturally the main tool to ensure the fairness of the IWF events and ensure our athletes can compete in a clean environment. Since 2019, the IWF anti-doping activities have been performed by the International Testing Agency – this is a guarantee that the programme runs efficiently and independently. This effort and its positive results were highlighted this Tuesday by Ben Cohen, ITA’s Director General, during the IWF Congress in Saudi Arabia. This important topic may be fairly considered as part of a larger context related to the safeguarding of the IWF athletes. Also inside this enormous field, we can include the reinforcement of educational programmes, the implementation and further improvement of a gender identity policy (already in place), the creation of mechanisms to prevent harassment in sports, the development of an Athlete Transition programme (aimed at supporting lifters at the end of their competitive career), or the instauration of a prize money strategy at the IWF’s major events. The inclusive approach of these initiatives somehow materialised with the creation in 2023 of the first-ever IWF Refugee Team. Two of them took part in the World Championships in Riyadh: Aline de Souza and Monique Araujo. The latter was particularly happy today, after establishing and winning with a new personal best of 231kg the group B of the women’s 87kg. “The Refugee Team is the perfect example of what the IWF can do for the athletes who have gone through very difficult circumstances and are looking for an opportunity to compete. For me, it’s quite extraordinary to be here and live these moments. I had seven years to compete at the highest level and I managed to improve my best performance. It’s just unbelievable,” declared a very emotional Araujo at the end of her effort in Riyadh. Monique Araujo (WRT) Speaking more generally, the refugee athlete – she is originally from Brazil, but presently living in the USA – has no doubts: “The IWF is clearly in the good direction concerning the importance it gives to its athletes around the world. This and other projects will definitively improve our condition and importance within not only weightlifting but in the sports community in general”. Recalling some dramatic experiences from other lifters around the world, Araujo concludes: “You are literally saving lives with programmes like this one. A huge thanks to the IWF. I am now a new person!” Without getting to such extreme situations, the IWF already appointed a Safety and Integrity Officer and will establish, as part of the Plan, tools aimed at preventing injuries and mental health problems. Specific programmes for the lifters’ entourage are also in the pipeline. Moreover, the harmonious progress of weightlifting in the five continents cannot be dissociated from an additional effort from the IWF in its Development Programme. It is one of the “measurable” actions in the Strategic Plan: ideally, until 2028, our International Federation should invest 25% more funds than the ones allocated at present, and a further 15% should be achieved by 2032. The ambitious project concerning the IWF Academy project on a continental basis is also part of this “package”. Finally, athletes’ interests are also promoted when they have enhanced opportunities to show their value. The Olympic arena is the pinnacle of each lifter’s life. The IWF Strategic Plan is very clear: innovation and improved athlete quota are two goals for the years to come. On the number of competitors at the Games, there is also a precise target: 160 lifters across eight men’s and women’s events at the 2032 Olympic rendezvous – this represents a one-third rise on Paris 2024 numbers, with the positive consequence of also increasing the competition days and broadcast exposure. Another way to maximise the IWF stars’ influence is to establish Ambassador Programmes, directly involving the lifters in the promotion of the sport they cherish, using all possible digital platforms and channels at our disposal. Mattie Rogers (USA) After finishing fourth in the women’s 81kg, Mattie Rogers (USA) agreed to share her reflections on three key points specified in the Strategic Plan: prize money, improvement of the Olympic quota, and ambassador programmes. On the first one, she admits: “That would be so cool! I would love to see that implemented, as it would help a lot of the lifters. In most countries, this is a ‘broke’ sport, so the introduction of prize money would for sure help. That would be amazing”. Asked if a good starting point could be the award of World Record, Rogers smiles: “I will not get any of those, but it would be very good for the others achieving them!” On the Olympic quota, the US star is also quite enthusiastic: “It’s very positive as it would allow a bit more ‘space’ in each country for more athletes to take part in the Olympics. It doesn’t mean it becomes easier, it just means we could have more lifters going to the Games”. With a lot of followers on her social media platforms, Rogers is also keen on developing an ambassador programme: “It is a very important project – if we have athletes acting as ambassadors we can reach a wider audience and a different one that maybe the IWF alone cannot get. Only athletes know what they go through, so sharing those experiences is quite meaningful, especially for the younger athletes”. She concludes: “There is definitively an effort from the IWF to enhance the promotion and representation of the athletes and to improve things all around. This is all we ask for”. In the next weeks, every Friday, we will come back to each of the four pillars of the 2024-2032 IWF Strategic Plan. After this first one, we will successively analyse Pillar 2 (Enhancing the IWF events), Pillar 3 (Keeping the IWF safe), and Pillar 4 (Reaching beyond the IWF). By IWF Communications Photos by Giorgio
