Phuket, Thailand, April 14, 2024: China’s weightlifting juggernaut looks imposing in the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics with the International Weightlifting Federation’s Olympic Qualification Ranking (OQR) being dominated by Chinese athletes in both the men and women categories.
At the end of the IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand on April 11 – the final qualifying tournament for Paris 2024 – China had three men on top of the OQR standings in the 61kg, 89kg and 102kg categories, while the women's five Olympic weight classes were completely led by a Chinese.
China’s reigning Olympic champion Li Fabin set a new snatch world record of 146kg in the men’s 61kg to cement his place at the top of the OQR standings. Compatriots Li Dayin and Liu Huanhua were top of the OQR in the men’s 89kg and 102kg classes, respectively, at the end of the Phuket competition. In the process, Liu set two world records, in clean and jerk (232kg) and total (413kg).
China’s dominance was broken in the men’s 73kg where Indonesian Rizki Juniansyah lifted a world record total of 365kg (164-201) to catapult his way to the top of the rankings.
Georgia’s Lasha Talakhadze finished top of the standings in the men’s +102kg category.
In the women’s competition, all five categories ended with Chinese women top of the rankings – Hou Zhihui (49kg), Luo Shifang (59kg), Liao Guifang (71kg), Liang Xiaomei (81kg) and Li Wenwen (+81kg).
The athletes’ quota for Paris 2024 in weightlifting is 120 – 60 men and 60 women. The main route to Paris is via a top-10 ranking (OQR) in each of the 10 weight classes. With only one athlete per National Olympic Committee qualifying, this will account for 100 athletes - 50 men and 50 women.
The remaining 20 athletes – 10 men and 10 women – will comprise 10 from continental representation (five men, five women), four from the host country France (two men and two women) and six from IOC’s Universality places (three men and three women).
DPR Korea was the most successful nation at the IWF World Cup in Phuket winning eight titles. However, since the country failed to attend the mandatory Olympic qualifier at last year’s World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, none of its athletes are eligible to compete in Paris 2024.
