Topic: News and Info: 2008 USA Senior National Championships

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Cheryl Haworth Wins at the '08 USA Weightlifting National Championships
By Cecil Bleiker

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Olympic bronze medalist (2000) and two-time Olympian (2000 and 2004) Cheryl Haworth (Savannah, Ga.) won yet another USA Weightlifting National Championship in the women’s 75+kg weight class today in Columbus, Ohio, but she will need much bigger lifts in May at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta, Ga. to make her third consecutive U.S. Olympic Team. Haworth, easily won the women’s 75+kg weight class, but has lifted much heavier weights in the past and will need to again if she wants to return to the Olympic platform. Haworth totaled just 232kg today (102kg snatch and 130kg clean and jerk) easily outdistancing her nearest competitor today of 210kg, but far from the 250kg that she totaled despite being under 100% healthy in September at the 2007 World Weightlifting Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

“It’s done wonders for my confidence just to be physically healthy again,” said Haworth. “I have no aches and pains that I have been sort of plagued with for the last two years. I’m really looking forward to this next training cycle (going into the Olympic Trials). I was a little nervous this time, just because I hadn’t been healthy and in a competition in a couple of months. To get back on the platform especially when you have such a great audience like we do here at the Arnold Classic with a lot of people coming out to watch it gets the juices flowing. I’m looking forward to the Olympic Trials.”

The namesake of the Arnold Festival, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the current Governor of the state of California and famous actor, even dropped by to catch some Olympic style weightlifting this morning and distributed the medals for the women’s 75kg weight class. Kelly Lynch was the lucky winner that received the gold medal from the “Terminator.”

On the men’s side, Donald Shankle (Wichita Falls, Texas) and Patrick Judge (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won the men’s 105kg and 105+kg weight classes respectively.

The 2008 USA Weightlifting National Championships was hosted by the Columbus Weightlifting Club, Inc. in conjunction with the annual Arnold Sports Festival at the Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio. The National Championships were the final domestic event to determine athlete ranking prior to the Olympic Trials. Athletes must be ranked in the overall top 30 for both men and women to qualify for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Weightlifting.

Action from the 2008 USA Weightlifting National Championships was available via the world-wide-web at www.usaweightlifting.com or at www.usolympicteam.com. With the approval of the U.S. Olympic Committee, the webcast was provided by Network Foundation Technologies, LLC (NFT).

The United States women have qualified for the maximum of four competition slots for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The number of 2008 Olympic slots was determined by combined team placement at the 2006 and 2007 World Weightlifting Championships. The 2006 World Weightlifting Championships was held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, September 30 – October 7, 2006 and the 2007 World Weightlifting Championships were held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, September 17-26, 2007. The USA women qualified for the maximum of four Olympic slots based on their final placing of eighth as a team from a combined formula of the 2006 and 2007 World Championships. The USA women had originally placed ninth, but their team ranking improved by one position following the recalculation of team points after doping positives were discovered for teams that had originally placed above the United States.

Christmas of 2007 was not as kind to the USA men as the grinch (in the form of the International Weightlifting Federation website) visited, taking away the three Olympic slots that the team had thought they had secured with their performances at the 2006 and 2007 World Weightlifting Championships. At the conclusion of the 2007 World Weightlifting Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand the U.S. men sat in position to secure three Olympic slots with a 27th place combined team finish, making the U.S. the final country to qualify slots for the Olympic Games. As was the case with the women, teams above the U.S. had athletes that received doping positives. Despite no one on the U.S. team testing positive, the U.S. men dropped one position in the overall team rankings when team totals were recalculated, thus losing the three Olympic slots they thought they had earned. The shift in order, due to doping positives by athletes in teams that finished above Team USA, caused a re-shuffling of team points and the final mathematical breakdown moved Chinese Taipei above the United States. The U.S. men will still have the opportunity to qualify two Olympic slots through the Pan American Regional Olympic Qualifying event which is the 2008 Pan American Weightlifting Championships that will be held March 17-22 in Callao, Peru. To qualify for the two Olympic slots, the eight member USA team must finish ranked first or second as a team. For the eight men that will represent the United States at the 2008 Pan American Weightlifting Championships, this event will count as their National Championships in regards to ranking going into the Olympic Trials.

A total of 260 athletes will compete in the sport of weightlifting at the 2008 Olympic Games. In accordance with the rules of the International Weightlifting Federation, a country could qualify to enter a maximum of six men and four women for the 2008 Olympic Games. USA Weightlifting will hold the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, May 16-17 in Atlanta, Ga. to determine which athletes will fill the slots it has earned on the women’s side and will earn on the men’s side.

USA Weightlifting will send a team of eight top ranked weightlifters to what promises to be a pressure packed event with Olympic qualification on the line at the 2008 Pan American Weightlifting Championships in Callao, Peru, March 17-22.

2008 USA Weightlifting Pan American Championships Men’s Team

Derrick Johnson (St. Louis, Mo.), 62kg Weight Class
Chad Vaughn (Konawa, Okla./Norman, Okla.), 77kg Weight Class
Matt Bruce (Baton Rouge, La.), 77kg Weight Class
Kendrick Farris (Shreveport, La.), 85kg Weight Class
Zach Krych (Colorado Springs, Colo.), 85kg Weight Class
Jeff Wittmer (Florissant, Mo.), 94kg Weight Class
Casey Burgener (Bonsall, Calif./Colorado Springs, Colo.), 105+kg Weight Class
Zach Schluender (Colorado Springs, Colo.), 105+Weight Class

Head Coach: Paul Fleschler (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Assistant Coach: Dennis Snethen (St. Joseph, Mo.)
Team Leader: Kyle Pierce (Shreveport, La.)

[Tom Weary]

So to qualify two spots for the men in Beijing (supposedly Chad and Casey) the team has to place first or second at Pan Ams?  All because some other team ahead of us tested positive at Chang Mai?  A lot of pressure on the guys and not a very transparent system.  Go figure.

Having Nationals webcast was great (more meets need to be webcast for us junkies - my wife calls it my Internet porn!), but the competition was a little disappointing given that the men's A-list was not there, probably due to proximity to Pan Ams.  Vardanian looked solid, but I don't know why he tried 205 rather than go for the American record at 206.  I found it interesting that his lifts at 155 and 200 were each exactly 22.5 kg less than what his father did at Moscow in 1980 (and at 82.5 kg).  He should be doing much more in a few years.  Go Norik!

[Shaun Le Conte]

So to qualify two spots for the men in Beijing (supposedly Chad and Casey) the team has to place first or second at Pan Ams?  All because some other team ahead of us tested positive at Chang Mai?  A lot of pressure on the guys and not a very transparent system.  Go figure.

The article above did not describe how the situation came about very accurately. The placement of lifters from countries initially behind the US in the team standings gained a few additional points because people in their weight classes tested positive. The US did not have lifters in points range in those weight classes and therefore did not also benefit. One country behind the US gained enough points to move up and ahead in the rankings. Is this situation all because of other countries? No, it's because the US was teetering on the edge between 3 and 0. Hey, the rankings prior to the drug tests were stated as preliminary and IMO the IWF should not have even published them until they were final.

As for the Nationals this may be the first in a decade that Cheryl Haworth has competed and was not the clear choice for best lifter. She's truly the godsend on the women's side of the USAW. On a percentage basis who was the best lifter this time? Carissa Gump?

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Is this situation all because of other countries? No, it's because the US was teetering on the edge between 3 and 0. Hey, the rankings prior to the drug tests were stated as preliminary and IMO the IWF should not have even published them until they were final.

Shaun, I agree with what you say, but in my view the system is inherently unjust as it rewards cheating and punishes competing clean. Of course the time to resist the system was before you signed on to compete within it. But, fundamentally this Olympic qualifying system is a crime against sport in my opinion.

[Walter Bailey]

Not trying to challenge anything you say Chris, but could you explain why you think the system is unjust and how it rewards cheaters?  What would you suggest as an alternative?

Walter

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

There are in fact banned substances that improve performance. The system awards the "right" to participate based on team success, which is heavily influenced by doping, and fails to punish teams for cheating. A more reasonable system would be to simply give all countries the same number of slots, and this would be far more compatible with the original intent of the modern Olympics.

[Walter Bailey]

I agree that giving the same number of slots to all countries is the best way to go.  However, the way I understand it, the IOC will only allow a certain number of weightlifters, and it is up to the IWF to decide how to distribute those numbers.  So, if the IWF wanted to give equal slots too all, wouldn't that be something like a maximum of 2 men and 1 woman per country?  Does the IWF even have enough slots to give to every country?

Walter

[Don Weideman]

I need to increase my knowledge base. I think I'll hang here for awhile. Walter did I see you were coaching? Who, and why? Is this something you do regularly?