How do you qualify for the Olympics in Weightlifting?
Over the years the Olympic qualification process has changed, from simply turning up, to scoring places at the proceeding World Championships, to the current and most complicated 18-month qualifying system.
In this video, we cover the history of qualifying, why changes were made, Robi points, the new system, and COVID-related complications.
If you want to read the full in-depth article just click here. If not, we have a short executive summary of the system explained below for you.
Executive Summary
- Qualifying runs from November 2018 to April 2020
- Athletes must qualify individually by earning ranking points
- Points are earned at competitions selected by the IWF
- Some types of competition give points bonuses
- Each athlete must compete at a required number of events in the eighteen-months of qualifying, and in each of the three six-month qualifying periods
- Each athlete must compete at least twice in the weight category they want to be in at the Olympics
- At the end of the qualifying, athletes are offered placed based on rankings
- Most countries can send four male and four female athletes
- Countries with many anti-doping violations can send fewer athletes or may even be excluded completely
- If a country is offered more places than their quota, they can decide who to send