The boots are finally on the ground, and earlier this month, the gold medal settings for some of the competitions of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games have been released, and the weightlifting competition that has attracted much attention has not been any accidents, and the number of gold medals has been further reduced.
The International Olympic Committee announced that the number of gold medals in weightlifting has dropped from 14 at the Tokyo Olympics to 10, of which 5 classes for men and women are 5 respectively, namely men:61kg, 73kg, 89kg, 102kg, +102kg; women:49kg, 59kg, 71kg, 81kg, +81kg.
Correspondingly, the number of athletes participating in the competition also dropped from 196 at the Tokyo Olympics to 120. As one of the longest-running olympic events, in recent years, the doping problem of weightlifting competitions has been quite serious, and even the Olympic games have not been spared, and many athletes have been banned for doping, which has also made weightlifting competitions questionable. Therefore, the IOC's crackdown on weightlifting projects is also logical.
The International Olympic Committee has warned the International Federation of Lifting That the results are not obvious, weightlifting is still the hardest hit area of doping, and the number of weightlifting gold medals at the Paris Olympic Games has directly decreased. If the situation still cannot be changed, in the subsequent Olympic Games, weightlifting may even be directly expelled from the Olympic family.
The reduction of gold medals in weightlifting has a direct impact on Chinese players, and it can even be said that it has the greatest impact on Chinese players. Chinese weightlifters have won a total of 41 gold medals in previous Olympic Games, making it China's second-largest gold medalist.
At the Tokyo Olympic Games, China sent a total of 8 athletes to participate in the competition, winning a total of 7 gold medals and 1 silver medal, worthy of the name of the dream team.
Among them, in the men's aspect, Li Fabin won the gold medal in the 61 kg class, Chen Lijun won the gold medal in the men's 67 kg class, Shi Zhiyong won the gold medal in the 73 kg class, and Lu Xiaojun won the gold medal in the 81 kg class.
In the women's category, Hou Zhihui won the gold medal in the women's 49 kg class, Liao Qiuyun won the gold medal in the women's 55 kg class, Wang Zhouyu won the gold medal in the women's 87 kg competition, and Li Wenwen won the gold medal in the over 87 kg class.
According to the distribution of weightlifting levels at the rectified Paris Olympic Games, the levels in which Chen Lijun, Lü Xiaojun, Liao Qiuyun and Wang Zhouyu participated disappeared directly, and Li Wenwen was completely unaffected and could still defend her title in the women's largest level.
Chen Lijun, Lü Xiaojun and Wang Zhouyu have been unable to defend their titles, and if they want to continue to participate in the Paris Olympic Games, they must adjust their levels.
For Wang Zhouyu, she can completely drop from the 87 kg class to 81 kg, after all, at the 2019 Weightlifting World Championships, Wang Zhouyu still participated in the 76 kg class.
Chen Lijun and Lü Xiaojun are relatively more difficult, Li Fabin and Shi Zhiyong are in 61 kg and 73 kg are retained, and Chen Lijun, who participated in the 67 kg level of the Tokyo Olympic Games, has only two possibilities, reducing weight to challenge Li Fabin, raising weight to challenge Shi Zhiyong, in any case, the three major Tokyo Olympic champions, at most only 2 people can appear in the Paris Olympic Games.
For Lu Xiaojun, he wants to participate in the Paris Olympic Games and achieve four consecutive Olympic championships, or increase his weight by 8 kg to participate in the 89 kg competition, or drop 8 kg and compete with Shi Zhiyong for a 73 kg quota.
Overall, due to the adjustment and reduction of the level, Chen Lijun, Lu Xiaojun, Li Fabin and Shi Zhiyong, who won the Tokyo Olympic Games, have been unable to appear in the Paris Olympic Games as athletes. According to the past practice of the International Federation of Juju, it is likely to reduce the number of athletes participating in various delegations, and if that is the case, the impact on Chinese athletes will be even greater.