The number of people who adjust the level of the Paris Olympics is reduced, and China's weightlifting faces the challenge
Recently, the 2024 Paris Olympic Games schedule and specific items were announced. The weightlifting event level setting was adjusted again, and the number of participants was reduced. For the Chinese weightlifting team, which won 7 golds and 1 silver in the Tokyo Olympics, and created the best record in team history. The challenge is self-evident, and it has become a hot spot for sports fans.
The announced Paris Olympics project settings show that the weightlifting level setting has been reduced from 14 to 10 in the Tokyo Olympics, with five levels for men and women each, and the number of participants has been reduced from 196 to 120.
Among them, the five classes for men are 61, 73, 89, 102 kg and over 102 kg, and the five classes for women are 49, 59, 71, 81 kg and over 81 kg.
In the Tokyo Olympic cycle, each country and regional association can send a total of 8 athletes, 4 men and 4 women, to participate in the competition. The number of men and women in the Paris Olympics has been reduced by 2 levels and the number of participants has dropped by more than one-third. Almost a necessity.
In fact, in 2018, the International Weightlifting Federation fully adjusted the level setting after a lapse of 20 years, setting 7 Olympic levels for men and women and 3 non-Olympic levels for each.
Compared with the level setting of the Tokyo cycle, the Olympic level of the Paris cycle has once again "changed its face". The men's side only retains the same 61 and 73 kg classes, and the women's only 49 and 59 kg classes are the same as the Tokyo Olympics.
The two largest classes of men and women are basically unaffected, and compared to the 109 and 87 kg classes in Tokyo, it is only a fine-tuning of the numbers.
However, the men's 89, 102 kg and women's 71, 81 kg classes are all non-Olympic classes in the Tokyo cycle. In other words, not many players have chosen these classes to compete in the past three years, but now they have become Olympic class.
The large-scale adjustment of the Olympic level again after four years is a major challenge for weightlifters around the world.
As far as the Chinese weightlifting team is concerned, the levels of Chen Lijun, Lu Xiaojun, Liao Qiuyun and Wang Zhouyu among the Tokyo Olympic athletes no longer exist, and the difficulties and challenges are self-evident.
Since the end of last year, the national weightlifting team has started the first training session of the Paris cycle in Wuzhishan, Hainan. Olympic champions such as Li Fabin and Chen Lijun have all returned to the team for systematic training. Many rookies who have emerged in the Shaanxi National Games are also selected for the national team for the first time. .
On the one hand, give full play to the role of veterans and role models; on the other hand, consolidate the construction of the reserve talent echelon, and summarize the successful experience of the Tokyo cycle, such as "strengthening physical training, attaching importance to scientific and technological assistance, scientific training for competition, and comprehensive support for team operations". In order to inherit the weightlifting culture and carry forward the fighting spirit of challenging the limit, the Chinese weightlifting team with "win glory for the country" as the team spirit is bound to rise to the challenge and face the challenge.
From 10 people in the Rio Olympics to 8 people participating in the Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese weightlifting team's performance has risen instead of falling, showing the power of China to the world.
Although it is very difficult to surpass the Tokyo Olympics in the context of the high probability of reducing the full capacity of the Paris Olympics, the goal of the Chinese weightlifting team's pursuit of "golden shooting percentage" will not change.
This weekend, the national weightlifting team will be transferred to Ningbo, Zhejiang, to prepare for the Hangzhou Asian Games.