Topic: Casey Burgener not chosen to lift in the Olympic Games

[Paul LaDuke]

Mike,

Thanks for your input .  Your summary of all that happened this quadrennial was good.  I didn't want to type that much!!

My frustrations with the USAW are 2-fold.  First, why haven't we established ourselves as a top 20 ranked country?  I've gotta think that with all the good young lifters we have, we could do much better internationally!  Why aren't we doing more to see our top lifters do better internationally?  I seem to recall several really poor international performances and even bomb outs by our best lifters this quad.  That kills us.  This shouldn't happen!  I think the talent is there, but the results aren't for many reasons!  We should have done better internationally for the last 3 years so that now we could be lamenting the 5th place guy who couldn't go!

2nd, I agree that our qualification process should be different.  The golden standard or some other internationally recognized formula (Sinclair?) should be used to compare lifters rather than the average we use now.  The current system seems too subjective and ever changing.

I feel sick to my stomach for Casey.  He has done everything ever asked of him by the USAW, made clutch lifts, continually set PR's at big meets with a lot of pressure on the lift!  He has shown to be a gamer and deserves to be lifting in these games.  For him to be left out by the IWF is against the Olympic ideal, isn't it!

[Matt Foreman]

I could vent rage and anger over this situation all day.  But I'll simply say that this is the worst moment I've ever seen in twenty years as a weightlifter.  Casey has been working his ass off and playing by the rules for most of his life, he has carried our national team on his back with his outstanding international performances, and he achieved one of the most memorable Olympic Trials moments in history when he hit the 224 to get his Olympic Team spot.  Now, after all of that, he's been stabbed in the heart.  It's a good thing he's a balanced young man  with a level head.  If this happened to me, I don't know if I would be able to control my actions. 

I hope he trains hard for four more years, comes back in 2012, and sticks this moment up everybody's ass by making the Olympic Team. 

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

I have to disagree just a little bit. I don't see it as being much worse than what the suits did to me in 1992- very similar (new, temporary rules applying only to me and Gough versus new qualifying procedures, no extra attempt despite power/lights failure during key lift versus giving wrong info on slot number, telling me I was going to get to lift in Oly Trials after being robbed and then not letting me AFTER weigh-ins versus telling Casey he got the slot and then didn't, etc). The end result is the same- except Casey made the trip. I remember people telling me in the community that I just didn't get done what was necessary and I hear the same crap about Casey, but much more quietly.

I think similar things have happened to others as well. It actually seems normal to some extent, even in other sports. I have heard very similar tales from many others in different sports actually. I think a lot of the anger is because its a super and who cares about other classes, especially 56s? On the other hand, I am NOT defending what happened to Casey and am as mad about as you, I think.

[Dave Chiu]

Amen!!

There are many things in life that demand strength.

One of the benefits of religious belief is trusting that there will be ultimate justice -- not only will criminals pay fully for their evil, but so will a lot of folks who squashed others from the height of prestigious positions of power, whether as lawyers, IWF pooh-bahs, or whomever.

This can be motivating for KF, CV, MR, NW, CG, and CH, but it's definitely a distraction that is not in our lifters' best interest.

I appreciate Dennis Snethen and Dragomir way beyond what a casual reader may presume about them from reading net postings, but it's very disheartening to wonder if this was handled w/ the Olympian effort it deserved.

Did we make any significant threats? 

Will US officials continue to serve at int'l events like good soldiers? 

Was there any leverage left unused?

[Zach Krych]

at http://www.nbcolympics.com/weightlifting/index.html they have this:

Should the USOC lodge an appeal to get Casey Burgener into the 105+kg competition?

1. Yes 87%
2. No 13%

Who knows if its possible or not, but I voted yes...

[Paul LaDuke]

Zach,

Thanks for the link.  I voted yes also.  This should not go down without a fight from us!

[Matt Foreman]

I clicked on that link but I can't find where you go to vote on Casey.

[Ryan Wilkinson]

IMO, the only thing the USAW can clearly be blamed for is the debacle of a qualifying system we used to pick who got the slots, after changing it- how many times? Its a subjective and hence easily manipulated system- average of this or that. This is of course why I keep saying we need to just use the Golden Standard to pick our squads. Its fair to everyone, consistent, and totally resistant to manipulation. Dennis Snethen (USAW ED)told me he was interested in it. We will see what happens. Other than that, the biggest blame should go to the IWF who through their own ineptitude and/or corruption has allowed doped up teams to keep slots despite multiple positives and obvious systematic doping. Whoever as at fault doesn't matter much to Casey at this point I would guess. This is a real bummer to start off the lifting for the USA but its exactly the kind of crap I have come to expect from the IWF and why I don't even care about lifting in international competitions in the slightest.

this is on point.