Is Weightlifting Really Saying Goodbye to the Olympics?
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently held its plenary session in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The delegates made a preliminary summary of the Beijing Winter Olympics held this year, listened to the report of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games Coordination Committee, and preliminarily determined the competition items of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
According to the list of primary selections for the Los Angeles Olympics, there are 28 finalists including swimming, archery, track and field, badminton, and basketball, but they do not include weightlifting, boxing and other heavy sports.
The news immediately sparked heated discussions: Could it be true that weightlifting, which has been an official event since the first modern Olympic Games, really faces the dilemma of missing the Olympic Games?
However, based on the information of the International Olympic Committee, the Los Angeles Olympic Games Organizing Committee and other parties, do not jump to such a rash conclusion.
Key word 1: primary election
As we all know, "slim down" and project optimization have been the main theme of the IOC's reforms in the Olympic Games in recent years.
According to the relevant regulations of the International Olympic Committee, the project settings of each Olympic Games are not static.
Each host country or region can make corresponding project adjustments according to the actual situation on the basis of maintaining the stability of the main projects.
For example, in the Tokyo Olympics held last year, 5 major events including skateboarding, surfing, rock climbing, baseball and softball, and karate were added, and 16 minor events including table tennis mixed doubles were added, making the project setting more trendy and fashionable. Rejuvenation and increased participation of female athletes.
The Paris Olympics, which will be held in 2024, have been adjusted again in the major event settings, retaining the surfing, rock climbing and skateboarding added at the Tokyo Olympics, cancelling baseball and karate, and adding breakdance as a major event.
It is precisely because the project settings of the Olympic Games have been dynamically adjusted in recent years, so how the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games will be set up is also eye-catching.
In December, the IOC executive board discussed a list of "preliminary sports" for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
In February this year, the International Olympic Committee held a plenary session in Beijing, and once again discussed the list of primary selections for the Los Angeles Olympic Games, and listened to the opinions of all parties.
In the preliminary list of the Los Angeles Olympic Games released in Lausanne this time, it is not only the weightlifting, an Olympic traditional project, that has not been selected.
Boxing and modern pentathlon are also not among them.
However, the relevant person of the International Olympic Committee has made it clear that this primary selection list is not the final official project of the Los Angeles Olympic Games, “We still need time to discuss and consult all parties to formulate a list of projects that meet the broadest common interests. ".
Keyword 2: Opportunity
According to the regulations of the International Olympic Committee Executive Committee, in addition to the 28 primary selection events that have been determined at the plenary session, the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee will have the opportunity to propose more new events to enter the competition event sequence of this Olympic Games.
It is reported that the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee will confirm the list of competition items for the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2023, and make a final decision on the competition items, participation quota and competition format of the 2028 Olympic Games after the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
It can be seen that although weightlifting and other events failed to enter the list of primary selection items for the Los Angeles Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee and the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee did not completely close the gate of the project.
According to the relevant regulations of the International Olympic Committee, weightlifting and other sports can continue to work hard for at least one year, and strive to enter the final list of the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
It is worth mentioning that the International Olympic Committee made it clear in a statement issued a few days ago that in the 2023 IOC plenary session, boxing, weightlifting and modern five have not yet entered the "preliminarily established sports" of the Los Angeles Olympic Games. All competitions may be included in the discussion, and other competitions will also be discussed at the meeting.
In fact, due to the adverse effects of doping incidents and IWF power struggles, weightlifting has faced severe challenges in setting items in recent Olympic Games.
The 2024 Paris Olympics were once rumored to cancel the weightlifting event.
Despite the efforts of all parties, the total number of gold medals in the weightlifting event of the Paris Olympic Games was reduced from the previous 14 to 10 (5 for each male and female), and the number of participants was reduced from 196 to 120.
Regarding the project setting of the Los Angeles Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee and the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee have repeatedly emphasized that reducing the cost and complexity of hosting the Olympic Games is a priority commitment for the 2028 Olympic Games.
In addition, the project setting of the Los Angeles Olympic Games needs to fully consider various factors such as tradition, cost, influence, and market before making a final decision.
Key word three: rectification
The International Olympic Committee has made it clear that the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games will not say "no" to sports such as weightlifting and boxing that have not been shortlisted for the "primary list", but the premise is that the above-mentioned sports must "prove to the IOC their respective The reforms have paid off."
The International Olympic Committee said in a statement that the IWF needs to address issues such as internal management and anti-doping programs; the International Boxing Association needs to address issues such as its association governance, financial transparency and referee penalties; the International Modern Pentathlon Federation Alternatives to equestrian and overall competition formats need to be identified to reduce the cost and complexity of competitions, and to improve safety and appeal to young people.
Take the International Weightlifting Federation as an example. Since the former chairman Arang was forced to resign in April 2020 due to alleged corruption and cover-up of the doping scandal, the IWF has been difficult to confirm the new chairman for more than two years, and there have even been 3 The embarrassing situation of replacing 3 interim chairmen in one day.
The IWF General Assembly, which was originally scheduled to elect a new chairman at the end of last year, could not be held for some reason. At present, the IWF is still temporarily chaired by Irani, the former head of the IWF Medical Committee.
However, in the past two years, the International Weightlifting Federation has not stopped reforming its own problems, and has also invited third-party agencies to supervise, and its reform process has also been initially recognized by the International Olympic Committee.
With the election of the new chairman of the International Weightlifting Federation in mid-June, the Olympic prospects of the weightlifting event are likely to be "blooming".
This is also a win-win situation that the IOC hopes to see.
According to industry insiders, weightlifting and boxing are traditional Olympic sports, with wide participation and attention worldwide, and also occupy an important position in the history of modern Olympics, "As long as the rectification measures are in place, they will eventually return to Los Angeles. The Olympics should be a high probability event."