How to qualify for weightlifting at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained
Weightlifting will once again feature at the Olympic Games, with five medal events for both men and women scheduled for Paris 2024. Find out everything you need to know about the number of athletes, stars to watch and pathway to qualification below.
After the excitement of Tokyo 2020, weightlifting will be once again back on the Olympic competition programme at Paris 2024, but with a number of differences compared to the last Olympic Games.
In total, 120 athletes competing in 10 categories (five for women and five for men, four less in total than Tokyo 2020) will demonstrate their extraordinary strength as they fight for the ultimate prize in sport - an Olympic gold medal - at the South Paris Arena 6.
But before any of that can take place, weightlifters will need to qualify for the competition - no easy task in itself. Considering the significant changes to the categories, athletes will face a challenge to qualify for the Olympic Games in just over two years' time. Find out everything you need to know about the pathway to Paris 2024 for weightlifting below.
How many athletes will compete in weightlifting at Paris 2024?
In total, 120 athletes will compete in the Paris 2024 weightlifting competition, a drop from 196 in Tokyo and a further drop from the 260 who competed at London 2012 and Rio 2016.
As the host country, France will be allocated four quota places (two for men and two for women).
There will also be 10 quota places reserved for continental representation and six quota places for Universality places which will be decided by the Tripartite Commission in 2024.
Each NOC will only be able to qualify one athlete per weight class, and three per gender across all weight categories - down from four each at Tokyo 2020.
For each weight category established at Paris 2024, a maximum of 12 athletes will compete - two less in each category than Tokyo 2020.
What are the requirements for athletes to be eligible for a quota?
To be eligible to participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, athletes and NOCs will be required to comply with the following:
1 - Athletes must be born on or before 31 December 2009.
2 - Athletes (including those from the host country and those who may be eligible for the Universality quotas) must participate in the 2023 IWF World (Senior) Championships (Q4 of 2023) and 2024 IWF World Cup (Q2 of 2024), except for truly exceptional circumstances.
3 - Athletes must participate in a minimum of three of the following events (athletes from the host country and those who may be eligible for the Universality quotas must participate in at least two):
- 2022 IWF World (Senior) Championships/Q4 2022
- 2023 Continental (Senior) Championships (or Continental Senior Games if they are officially replacing the Continental Senior Championships) / Q1- Q2, 2023
- 2023 IWF Grand Prix I / Q2-Q3, 2023
- 2023 IWF Grand Prix II / Q3-Q4, 2023
- 2024 Continental (Senior) Championships, Q1-Q2, 2024
4 - Athletes and their NOCs must be clean in terms of Anti-Doping Violation. More details can be found on the official IWF document (page 4).
*According to the explanation of IWF, for the avoidance of doubt, participation does not require an athlete to compete at the event.
What is the weightlifting qualification pathway to Paris 2024?
Via Olympic Qualification Ranking (OQR) - 100 athletes, 50 men and 50 women
The weightlifting Paris 2024 qualification period for the OQR begins on 1 August 2022 and concludes on 28 April 2024.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) will publish the OQR of each Olympic weight category at the end of the qualification period on their official website. The OQR will be based on the best total results (snatch, and clean and jerk) the athletes manage to lift in the seven competitions previously mentioned.
One athlete per NOC will be ranked on the OQR, which will be the highest-ranked athlete per NOC in each weight category at Paris 2024.
If two or more athletes record the same total result in the same Olympic weight category, they will be ranked according to whoever achieved the result first.
According to the OQR, the top 10 athletes of each Paris 2024 weight category will be allocated their quota place.
If an athlete ranks in the top 10 of the OQR for more than one weight category, the NOC involved must declare to the IWF which event the athlete will compete in at Paris 2024 by 10 May 2024.
If an NOC has more than three athletes per gender across different weight categories in the top 10 of the OQR, the NOC must declare to the IWF which athletes they decide will be allocated the Olympic quotas.
Via Host Country - four athletes, two men and two women
As the host country, France are guaranteed four quota places in total, two for men and two for women. French weightlifters may obtain quota places through the OQR, as is the case for any other athlete from any other NOC. But if the host country qualifies less than two men and two women through the OQR, they may add additional eligible athletes of their choice to achieve the maximum guaranteed quota places, respecting the maximum athletes per event per NOC.
Via Continental Representation - 10 athletes, five men and five women
In order to achieve the widest possible representation across the IWF recognised Continental Federations (Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, Pan America), one quota place will be distributed to each Olympic weight category using the OQR and the criteria below:
The highest-ranked eligible athlete of a weight category representing an NOC whose continent is not in the Top 10 of her/his weight category, will be allocated a quota place.
In cases where more than one continent is not represented in the Top 10 of a weight category, then the highest-ranked eligible athlete of this weight category representing an NOC from these continents will be allocated a quota place.
If in any Olympic weight category the continental representation is already achieved, then the continental quota place will be reallocated.
Via Universality Places - 6 athletes, three men and three women
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will invite all eligible NOCs to submit their requests for Universality Places. The Tripartite Commission will confirm, in writing, the allocation of Universality Places to the relevant NOCs after the end of the qualification period for the sport concerned.
What is the Paris 2024 weightlifting competition format and schedule?
There will be 10 medal events in the weightlifting competition of Paris 2024 and only four weight categories remain the same as the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Men’s: 61kg*; 73kg*; 89kg; 102kg; +102kg
Women’s: 49kg***;** 59kg*; 71kg; 81kg; +81kg
*Weight classes marked in bold are the events that are the same as Tokyo 2020.
As with Tokyo 2020, the Paris 2024 weightlifting competition of each weight category will be composed of two events: snatch, and clean and jerk.
For each event, the athletes will have three attempts, with the best result used for the calculation of the total results. The final ranking will be based on the total weight that the athletes manage to lift.
The venue of the competition will be South Paris Arena 6 (Paris Expo), with the competition held from 7-11 August 2024.
Weightlifters to watch at Paris 2024
As there have been significant changes to the weight categories for Paris 2024, many athletes will need to adapt to new categories by either raising or reducing their weight.
Weightlifters from the People’s Republic of China have been the dominant force in the sport for many years. Eight Chinese weightlifters competed at Tokyo 2020 with seven winning gold and one silver.
LI Fabin, the men’s 61kg gold medallist in Tokyo, who completed his 166kg clean and jerk lift with one leg in the air, and men’s 73kg Olympic champion, SHI Zhiyong (who also won gold at Rio 2016 in the men's 69kg) stole the headlines at Tokyo 2020. The two will attempt to retain their titles as reigning world record holders if they are selected for the Chinese team.
In the women’s competition, Chinese lifter HOU Zhihui and Chinese Taipei’s KUO Hsing-Chun will also be among the favourites. The two athletes won gold medals in the women’s 49kg and 59kg respectively in Japan and are both reigning world record holders in their categories.
Weightlifting has produced many memorable Olympic moments, such as when Germany’s Matthias Steiner paid tribute to his late wife after winning gold at Beijing 2008, when Hidilyn Diaz became the Philippines' first Olympic gold medallist or when New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender athlete to compete in weightlifting at the Olympics.
Many more memorable moments await us at Paris 2024.
Weightlifting qualification timelines for Paris 2024
1 August 2022 - 28 April 2024: Qualification Period.
15 January 2024: Deadline for NOCs to submit their request for Universality Places.
28 April 2024: Conclusion of OQR.
1 May 2024: IWF notifies the NOCs which have athlete(s) ranked in the top 10 of OQR in more than one bodyweight category to select the bodyweight category in which the athlete(s) will remain in the top 10 of OQR
6 May 2024: The respective NOCs to notify IWF of the selected weight category of those athlete(s) who are ranked in the top 10 positions of OQR in more than one weight category.
8 May 2024: OQR is updated.
10 May 2024: IWF notifies the NOCs that have more eligible athletes than 3 per gender ranked in the top 10 positions of OQR to select the athletes and weight categories that will remain in the top 10 of the OQR, respecting the maximum number of athletes per NOC.
15 May 2024: The respective NOCs to notify IWF of the selected athletes and weight categories that will remain in the top 10 of the OQR, respecting the maximum number of athletes per NOC.
16 May 2024: IWF notifies the NOCs that have more athletes than 3 per gender eligible to obtain a Continental quota place to select the 3 athletes per gender and weight categories that will remain eligible to receive the Continental quota places, respecting the maximum number of athletes per NOC.
23 May 2024: The respective NOCs to notify IWF of the selected athletes and weight categories that will remain eligible to receive the Continental quota places, respecting the maximum number of athletes per NOC.
24 May 2024: IWF publishes the final Qualification Ranking lists and notifies NOCs about the allocated quota places obtained through the top 10 and Continental representation per weight category according to the OQR.
31 May 2024: NOCs to confirm the use of allocated quota places to IWF.
3 June 2024: IWF to confirm to NOCs the reallocation of any unused quota places.
10 June 2024: NOCs to confirm the use of the reallocated quota places to IWF
11 June 2024: IWF notifies the Host Country of the available host country quota places.
12 June 2024: Host Country to confirm the use of host country quota places
12 June 2024: IWF to inform IOC on the available weight categories for Universality Places.
14 June 2024: The Tripartite Commission to confirm in writing the allocation of Universality Places to the NOCs.
14 June 2024: IWF to confirm to NOCs the reallocation of any host country quota places.
21 June 2024: NOCs to confirm the use of reallocated host country quota places to IWF.
21 June 2024: NOCs to confirm the use of allocated Universality Places to IWF.
24 June 2024: IWF to confirm the reallocation of any Universality Places.
1 July 2024: NOCs to confirm the use of reallocated Universality Places to IWF.
8 July 2024: Olympic Games Paris 2024 Sport Entries deadline.
26 July - 11 August 2024: Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Find out more about the qualification systems for other sports that will feature at Paris 2024.