Chaos in weightlifting

Taking off from last Sunday’s column on the confusing lack of uniformity in weight divisions for boxing at the SEA Games, Asian Games and Olympic levels, let’s now look at a similar chaotic situation in weightlifting, the only sport that has delivered an Olympic gold medal for the Philippines.

Hidilyn Diaz is a case in point. In the first of her four Olympic appearances, she competed in the 58kg division at the 2008 Beijing Games and finished No. 11 of 12. Then, Diaz failed to register a score in three clean and jerk attempts, crashing out of contention to finish No. 16 of 19 in the same 58kg division at the 2012 London Olympics. Diaz dropped down to 53kg at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the tactical adjustment led to a silver medal. A realignment of weight categories for women eliminated the 53kg class at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and brought Diaz to the newly-created 55kg division. This time, Diaz found the perfect weight and struck gold.

Another realignment will take place at the 2024 Paris Olympics with the 55kg division out of the calendar. In Tokyo, there were 14 gold medals at stake in weightlifting, seven for men (61kg, 67kg, 73kg, 81kg, 96kg, 109kg and +109kg) and seven for women (49kg, 55kg, 59kg, 64kg, 76kg, 87kg and +87kg). In Paris, only 10 golds will be up for grabs, five for men (61kg, 73kg, 89kg, 102kg and +102kg) and five for women (49kg, 59kg, 71kg, 81kg and +81kg). Diaz hopes to qualify for Paris to book a fifth Olympic ticket but it will now be in the 59kg class. The transition will be a challenge for Diaz. At the World Championships in Riyadh over a week ago, Diaz placed only seventh in her new weight category.

Curiously, the weight divisions are different in the SEA Games, Asian Games and Olympics,