USA weightlifters react to qualification criteria for Paris 2024 Olympics

Now that the 2024 Olympic qualification system for the sport of weightlifting has been published, Team USA athletes are plotting their paths to Paris.

”The new qualification system seems a lot less complex than the prior one,” said CJ Cummings, a 2020 Olympian at 73kg who was the youngest U.S. Olympic weightlifter in 21 years. “The top lifters in the top events get to go to the Olympics. After having to wait five years for my first Olympics, it’s exciting to know what the path forward looks like as I try to earn another opportunity to represent Team USA.”

The Olympic weight classes and schedule were announced earlier this month. Weightlifting will have five categories apiece for men and woman with 12 athletes entered in each event. There were seven categories apiece in Tokyo.

Men will compete at 61kg, 73kg, 89kg, 102kg and +102kg while women will compete at 49kg, 59kg, 71 kg, 81kg and +81kg.

Meredith Alwine, the 2021 World and Pan American champion at 71kg, said the qualification system “feels much fairer and more straightforward this time, which is a relief, and I of course love that my natural weight class is included. That being said, the specific competition requirements make this quad much more competitive without the option to attend the former silver and bronze events that counted for qualification. On top of that, the reduced weight classes, mixed with mine being right in the middle, means qualifying for those competitions is going to be fiercely competitive.”

Alwine said winning a world title gives her confidence, but she added, “the total I earned that title with isn’t going to cut it, so there’s no relaxing anymore.”

Four methods will determine the Paris field: Olympic Qualification Ranking/OQR (100 athletes), continental representation (10), host country quota places (4), universality places (6).

OQR is a list by Olympic weight class that ranks athletes by their single highest total earned at any of seven specified competitions between the fall of 2022 and spring of 2024. Only the top athlete in a country will appear in each ranking.

Nations may qualify no more than one athlete per event, three athletes per gender and six total athletes. In Tokyo, the maximum was eight, but only the United States and China met that total.

In the seven competitions used for the OQR, athletes must simply ”participate” in five. That means they must successfully weigh in and take part in athlete introductions, but actually competing is not mandatory.

Even though there are only five Olympic events per gender, most international competitions will continue to offer all 10 bodyweight categories per gender.

For the purpose of the OQR, a total achieved in a non-Olympic category will be counted toward the next highest Olympic category. In case of a tie, the athlete who achieved the total first gets the nod — even if that margin is by minutes.

If a country has more than three athletes per gender who would meet the requirements for qualification, it is up to the country to determine which spots it fills.

The USA Weightlifting High Performance Division is currently writing its 2024 Olympic athlete selection procedures, which will include information on how the U.S. would make such a determination.

As athletes prepare for Paris, they can’t help but worry that the 2024 Games could be the last for the sport. Weightlifting is one of three traditional Olympic sports that is not on the program for the LA28 Games. The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) is working to address deficiencies involving it’s anti-doping history and must change its culture to return to the good graces of the International Olympic Committee.

In establishing the qualification criteria, the IWF has made it clear that should athletes or people affiliated with a specific country violate three or more IWF/anti-doping organization rules of this nature between July 23, 2021, and July 25, 2024, that result in periods of ineligibility of four years or more, that country will lose all of its quotas.

In addition, should athletes or people affiliated with a specific country violate two or more IWF/anti-doping organization rules of this nature during the Olympic Games Paris 2024, that result in periods of ineligibility of four years or more, that country will automatically be prevented from entering, recommending or proposing athletes or other official participants in the next Olympic Games.