Phuket review: Rizki v Rahmat, red lights and PRK helped to make World Cup memorable – and unique
The IWF World Cup, which ended in Phuket, Thailand on Thursday, was an exciting, high-quality, well organised competition that will live long in the memory. It was also unique. Weightlifting at the Olympic Games in August will be very different from what we saw over 12 days at the World Cup, which rounded off the Paris 2024 qualifying programme. There are three good reasons why – no head-to-heads between team-mates, nowhere near as many red lights and bombouts, and the best team in Phuket cannot be there. An unforgettable contest between two Indonesians was the highlight in Thailand. Rahmat Erwin had led the Olympic rankings for 482 days, setting world records along the way, only to be knocked out of Paris 2024 by team-mate Rizki Juniansyah in the last five minutes of qualifying. Rizki Juniansyah (INA) The long-time rankings leader Jiang Huihua from China, Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz from the Philippines, Tokyo silver medallist Tamara Salazar from Ecuador and multiple European champion Samuel Gasparyan from Armenia were overtaken by a team-mate in similar, if less dramatic fashion. Those showdowns were a feature in Phuket because nations are limited to one athlete per weight category in Paris. This was the last chance for anyone to outperform a team-mate. PRK claimed eight victories and as many world records, seven of them by women. PRK has shown itself to be the world’s strongest weightlifting nation in the seven months since it returned to international competition after a long absence caused by the Covid pandemic. But it entered the Olympic qualifying programme too late for its athletes to be eligible for Paris. Chong Song Ri (PRK) The number of red lights and bombouts added to the World Cup drama. Athletes overstretched themselves in trying to move up the rankings, usually in the B Groups. That will not happen in Paris, where there will not even be any B Groups. After so many failures, the cut-off point between the 10th-placed lifter and those below barely changed throughout the weight categories. The biggest upward move was 3kg in the women’s 59kg, while the cut-off in two categories remained exactly as it was before the World Cup. Two athletes did make a spectacular jump from the B Group to qualify. Yu Dongju from Korea moved up eight places at 89kg and Davranbek Hasanbayev from Turkmenistan climbed from 26th to eighth at 102kg. Davranbek Hasanbayev (TKM) The individual stars in Phuket included world record breakers Rizki, China’s Liu Huanhua at 102kg, Hou Zhihui and PRK’s Ri Song Gum in the women’s 49kg, Karlos Nasar from Bulgaria at 89kg and Hampton Morris from the United States at 61kg - his country’s first senior world record holder in 55 years. Others who added to the spectacle without breaking world records included two Olympic champions, Li Wenwen from China and Neisi Dajomes from Ecuador, and the American Olivia Reeves, who stood on top of the women’s 71kg podium above athletes from China and PRK. Li Wenwen (CHN) China once more has to decide which athletes to leave at home, having qualified nine when the limit is six. The women did better than the men, whose national head coach Yu Jie told Xinhua, China’s state news agency, “The performance of the men's team was below expectations. “We did not perform at our level in training, and we need to strengthen our fighting spirit. It's a good thing that the problems were exposed in a major event and we could learn what could go wrong in the Olympic Games so that we can address them before the Games.” Those who will take five athletes to Paris include Egypt, Korea, the United States and Venezuela, all of whom deserve respect for taking so many when the athlete quota is the lowest this century at 120. The US and Venezuela will have to refuse women’s places after exceeding the limit of three. Kate Vibert, one of the unlucky ones who will not be selected despite being ranked in the top 10 of two weight categories in the extended lists (two or more per nation), said, “The respect for the US team throughout this quad has exponentially increased.” Hampton Morris (USA) Mike Gattone, USA Weightlifting’s head coach and performance director, agreed. “I’m super proud of our athletes,” he said. “Between 2017 and 2023 our team has won almost 700 medals at under-15, youth, junior and senior international competitions. “In that time we had breakthrough athletes like CJ Cummings and Mattie Rogers, then Kate and Olivia. Coaches and athletes have been able to watch them and see what’s possible. “I also think the ITA has helped us. Thanks to the hard work of the IWF we are now a cleaner sport, and that has helped ‘non-traditional’ weightlifting countries to improve.” Karlos Nasar (BUL) Final rankings are now published on the IWF website. The full list of 120 for Paris, plus any Refugee Team members added by the IOC, will not be known until June. Deadlines regarding team nominations and reallocations, as well as the rankings, are on the website here: https://iwf.sport/paris-2024-olympic-games/ By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio
