Topic: Competing injured versus team responsibilites

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

I saw a former friend of mine today browbeating some of the USAW's lifters (don't know which ones they meant) for not performing to a certain standard at this Worlds, due to injury. I have a few things to say about it. First of all, criticism is easy for the non-competitors at this meet and means nothing to me. This person said something about how they would be ashamed to place below the top 25 in the worlds. But no one has the ability to pre-judge how another athlete might perform- injuries or not. The people on the team earned their slots according to the rules. To kick them around for not lifting their best after the fact is something I find totally and utterly disgusting. And, I reject completely the idea that they have a duty to sacrifice their self-interest (will to compete) for the good of the team as I reject all altruism. If the USAW wanted to have a fitness test before the competition, they should have done so. They should not kick around lifters who I have no doubt put forth their best effort. And, I am against such a fitness test anyway. It is counterproductive, since it is subjective. The person who earned the spot when it counted, on the damn platform, at the qualifying event(s) deserves the spot- injured or not. If THEY feel incompetent to compete, that is for THEM to decide. If the USAW doesn't like the team they selected, they have only themselves to blame. Blaming the athletes is extremely WEAK. Put the athlete, the talent, first for a change instead of kicking them around, is my position.

<rant ended />

[Shaun Le Conte]

I disagree about it being the right of the athlete to decide whether or not they are fit to compete. If a trip if being funded by an organization, the organization has the right to act in its own self-interest. I am saying there is organizational self-interest as well as individual self-interest. By being part of that team, accepting organizational funds, the lifter agrees that the organization will make some decisions on their behalf. Don't like it? Don't be a member of team. I think you will agree with that last bit, Chris.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

I disagree about it being the right of the athlete to decide whether or not they are fit to compete.

It is their right once they have earned the spot according to the qualifying procedures published. This is a contract.

By being part of that team, accepting organizational funds, the lifter agrees that the organization will make some decisions on their behalf. Don't like it? Don't be a member of team. I think you will agree with that last bit, Chris.

No, I do not agree. The USAW sets the rules in advance, and the lifters follow them. The team was selected as a result of these rules so according to the procedures- no one has crap to say about it. If the USAW now does not like their own qualifying procedures, they should go cry in their milk, not attack their own elite athletes.

[Shaun Le Conte]

The USAW sets the rules in advance, and the lifters follow them. The team was selected as a result of these rules so according to the procedures- no one has crap to say about it. If the USAW now does not like their own qualifying procedures, they should go cry in their milk, not attack their own elite athletes.

There is no way to argue against that. If the qualifying procedures the USAW has written don't allow substitutions then there is nothing the USA can do about it without modifying those procedures. There would be no reason to select or bring alternates, either.

[Dave Chiu]

Part of why we so eagerly tune-in/travel to competitions is to see how lifters deal w/ set-backs, whether from preparation mishaps, or the ones in competition.

We LOVE to see when a plan has come together perfectly, imagining that we can do that too, but...

REALITY is in dealing w/ the tough times and coming out victorious, whether you beat everyone else, or just succeed beyond reasonable expectations.

I really like how Tsarukayeva has come back from her 
in Beijing to show such a great example of the best that Russian lifting is all about.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Indeed Dave! Tsarukayeva's lifting was one of the highlights of the Olympics. If you aren't lifting injured, you aren't lifting very hard. I was slightly banged up when I won the first medal ever for the USA in the 1991 Jr. Worlds and countless other meets. If you are going to skip out whenever you are banged up, you are in the wrong sport.

Happy Thanksgiving Weightlifters!

[Mike Cook]

I haven't read the selection procedures for the 2009 WWC, but I would guess that there is a provision in the selection procedures that allows USAW to remove an individual from the team under certain circumstances.  For example, if an athelte makes the team, then a month before the competition, gets in a car accident and breaks their leg and has no chance to compete at all.  The athlete earned their spot on the team, but - if there is a provision in the selection procedures that allows this - USAW should be able to remove the injured person from the team, and substitute a different lifter. 

I think you would find that the selection procedures for most sports from most federations allow the federation to determine the competitive readiness of the athlete and remove a person from the team if they are not able to demonstrate competitive readiness.  But - such a provision must be in the published selection procedures in order to be enforceable. 


Athletes have the right to have their federations follow their published selection procedures, and may appeal to the Court for Arbitration of Sport if they believe that the federation has not followed its published selection procedures.  The CAS has ruled on this issue a number of times. 

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

No one questioned the right of the USAW to pick a team the way they want. They did so. Now the person in question (and others) wants to beat up on these lifter(s) for not voluntarily giving their slot up. Take one for the team- so to speak. Its just ridiculous.

On fitness tests, I am 100% against them though yes indeed the USAW has the right to use them. They create subjective judgments about who is fit, discourage lifters from getting treatment for injuries, politicize selections, cause massive bitterness (as collectivism always does) and inevitibly produce worse results in the long run. Its been tried in weightlifting in the 91 Pan Am Games. It was a total disaster.

Happy Thanksgiving!