Topic: No More BDWT classes!!

[Dave Chiu]

No one will ever again "not make weight".

All will have their bdwt rounded up to the nearest kg, and compete for up to 8 golds (maybe a 9th if there can be a team competition like in gymnastics).

It has been the joke of these Games to over-hype MP as the "greatest ever Olympian" when his sport allows so very many gold opportunities, and he hasn't even dominated for more than one Olympiad (besides, Kristin Otto was amazingly dominant, and who remembers her now?).  He's not competitive in the shortest and longest events in the pool, and would NEVER throw down w/ the 10K guys.

Anyway...

The weigh-in will still be important, but far less likely to bring about the kind of dehydration that makes injuries (like the HUN's) more likely.

There will be 3 golds in SN (best % of bdwt, best margin over bdwt, and most absolute), the same for C&J, and Total golds for combinations of % and margin, and margin and absolute.

Standards would be easy to set, like (for men) 200% bdwt for minimum SN, or 100k over bdwt for C&J, or 190 and 220.

The first favors lighter lifters, the next the middleweights (like how Rybakov's SN is the most over bdwt of any current lifters), and the last of course the biggest.

The combo Total medals would open a place for the in-btwn sized (you get points for how you place by each standard, and ad 'em up to say who wins).

I just want to see more lifting, w/ the best lifters having more chances to medal.

Please suggest refinements/variants...

[Tomasz Numrych]

Definitely a though-provoking post.  I shall now ponder .

[Shaun Le Conte]

What I see happening with your idea are more medals concentrated into fewers hands - a top lifter has a good chance of winning 2-3 medals, possibly all of them gold. But I see this is an outcome that you'd actually prefer.

People will still dehydrate as long as bodyweight is a factor in the competition. But this time it's "weigh in as light as possible without losing strength" rather than just make weight especially for the first category strength/bodyweight. And with bodyweights being rounded up, this further adds to the weight control issue. People will want to be as close to the the next integer value for weight without being over and having to get their weight rounded up to the next kilo.

Also, a couple of the existing weight classes (69, 77) would be at a disadvantage in that they are the least likely to win any gold medal out of the three proposed categories of competition.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

This idea would completely ruin our sport! Thank God it will never happen!

We need MORE weight classes!!!

[Dave Chiu]

It already IS happening --

At the meets I run I award medals for the wt class winners, but the really nice granite plaques are for the %/margin/absolute bests.

The only mathematically legit all-time classes are 60 (biggest %), 90 (most over bdwt), and super (most absolute), all the other classes are just a form of affirmative action.

Wt classes are not necessary for our sport the way they are for combat sports -- we compete w/ fellow athletes, but the real opponent is the bar.

CL -- kinda surprised that a GS fan like yourself can't see the merits of using a more mathematical approach.  What we need is more chances for the best to succeed more -- my plan does that.  We need more classes like we need the proliferation of federations that PL has.

%/margin/absolute are easy to understand calculations, and would bring far more attention to lighter and less rotund athletes than exists currently.

SL -- YES, I do want to see the most excellent lifters have more medal chances -- it would have been great for our sport for Chigishev to have won at least one gold, and for the likes of Vardanian to have picked up several when he was so amazing in '80.

The combo Total events would open a chance for the 75ish and 100-110ish.

Records would receive a boost as specialists arose (like they have in gymnastics, a real model for evolving rules, even if there's argument on some fronts).

Staying as we are, or just tweaking it a little is not good enough for what O-lifting deserves!!

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Wt classes are not necessary for our sport the way they are for combat sports -- we compete w/ fellow athletes, but the real opponent is the bar

Having competed in 8 different weight classes, I can assure you that this is simply false. 1kg of bodyweight is HUGE!

[Chuck Lopez]

in the international level, a 56kg lifter will NEVER defeat a super...


one change that would be cool in weightlifting would be to have medals for each individual lift on top of the total, the super with the highest total could still call himself world's strongest man.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

CL -- kinda surprised that a GS fan like yourself can't see the merits of using a more mathematical approach.

Dave, the entire purpose of the GS is to compare lifters of differeing bodyweights, so I don't see why you would be surprised that bodyweight is important. Its the most important variable to weightlifting success yet identified, with squatting strength a tad behind.