USA Weightlifting bids for 2022 IWF World Championships once China bows out

USA Weightlifting is hoping to stage its third IWF World Championships in seven years after submitting a bid to replace China as the 2022 host.

The Chinese Weightlifting Association resigned as host March 23 due to COVID-19 prevention and control rules that would require all athletes and officials to quarantine for 21 days.

Within a day, USAW responded to an IWF request for letters of intent to host, proposing Atlanta as the new site for the event, which is held in non-Olympic years. The first worlds were held in 1891.

The 1996 Olympic and Paralympic host city was already slated to hold the North American Open Finals Dec. 1 through 4 at the Georgia International Convention Center.

USAW proposes holding the World Championships at the same venue, starting Nov. 27 and finishing concurrently with the North American Open Finals. The Open usually attracts more than 1,000 athletes.

A top selling point: The GICC is connected via the free ATL SkyTrain to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and is within walking distance to the event’s host hotels.

The United States has worked to become a destination for the weightlifting world in the past few years.

USAW staged the 2015 World Championships in Houston, Texas, bringing the event to the United States for the first time in 28 years. When Malaysia withdrew as host in 2017, the event was held in Anaheim, California.

In addition, the 2019 IWF Youth World Championships was held in Las Vegas. An IWF Congress was held during each of those events, and an IWF Executive Board meeting took place in 2018 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“It has been important for USA Weightlifting to increase its presence on the international stage to highlight the work our athletes have been putting in for decades,” Ursula Papandrea, USA Weightlifting International Relations Director, told Around the Rings. “Highlighting the U.S. and its athletes shifts the focus from the sordid doping history to a story of hope and success for clean athletes worldwide, to lead and motivate those athletes and federations who have embraced clean sport for decades.”

“As one of the largest member federations, it is important that we dedicate out efforts and resources to becoming an integral part of the international community pushing for a better functioning and successful international organization. We have done much work nationally and want to help other federations if and where possible.”

The United States was already active on the bidding front. USAW submitted nomination forms in March to potentially host the IWF Electoral Congress, June 25-26, 2022, during USA Weightlifting Nationals Week, which will be held in conjunction with UFC International Fight Week in Las Vegas.

As the sport battles for survival on the Olympic program, USAW is also innovating with new concepts. The USA Weightlifting Friendship Cup will make its debut that same week in Las Vegas and featuring two-person teams in which a man is randomly paired with a woman from a different country.

This exhibition concept is not currently sanctioned by the IWF. Youth-level athletes will compete June 25-27, followed by juniors June 28-30 and seniors July 1-3.

“I had hoped to introduce the idea of a mixed-nation/mixed-gender team at a World Cup level, and I still hope this might happen internationally,” said Papandrea. “I think it is another example that demonstrates the USA Weightlifting ‘action versus talk’ approach.”

Results will be determined by each team’s Sinclair coefficient, a mathematical formula that takes into account body weight and world records.

USAW said it will work with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s Government Relations division to make “every reasonable effort” to ensure visas are delivered for the IWF Congress and/or World Championships. That route proved effective for the International Table Tennis Federation’s Annual General Meeting in November 2021 in Houston.

“The USA Weightlifting success story,” she said, “is one of good governance reform beginning in 2009, continuing work on financial security, a dedication to accountability and responsibility, and an athlete-focused approach. We believe these principles can save our sport internationally as they did nationally.”