China won 20 gold medals at the World Weightlifting Championships, the most stable person lost unexpectedly, and the men's team had hidden worries in the Olympics
On September 17, the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships concluded in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Chinese team won 20 golds, 10 silvers and 3 bronzes, and a total of 3 people broke 5 world records.
In the end, the Chinese team ranked first in the medal table, far ahead of their opponents. Thailand came in second with 5 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronzes, while Egypt ranked third with 5 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze.
The World Championships are the last World Series before Paris 2024, and the main Olympic opponents are present, which is an important opportunity for teams to test their preparations.
At the Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese team competed with 4 men and 4 women, winning 7 golds and 1 silver. The weightlifting program of the Paris Olympics has been significantly adjusted, with 5 classes for men and 5 classes for women, with no more than 3 classes for men and 3 for men and women in each category, and only one person can participate in each category. In other words, the Chinese team will send up to 3 men and 3 women to compete for 6 golds.
The weightlifting events at the Paris Olympics are 61, 73, 89, 102 kg and over 102 kg for men, and 49, 59, 71, 81 kg and over 81 kg for women.
In the 10 Olympic levels of the World Championships, if we only count the overall results, the Chinese team has won a total of 6 golds, 2 gold medals for men and 4 gold medals for women.
Liu Huanhua
The overall gold medalists are: Li Fabin in the men's 61kg category, Liu Huanhua in the men's 102kg category (this is the second time that the Chinese men's weightlifting has won the World Championships in 26 years); Jiang Huihua in the women's 49kg, Luo Shifang in the women's 59kg, Liao Guifang in the women's 71kg, and Liang Xiaomei in the women's 81kg.
The men's 73 and 89 kg categories did not win the overall championship and need to be worked hard. Wei Yinting won the silver medal in the 73kg category, and Li Dayin in the 89kg category won the silver medal overall, after his hand was scratched by a barbell during the pre-competition preparations.
Li Wenwen
In addition, in the women's largest division, Olympic champion Li Wenwen was originally the most stable player on the Chinese team and ruled for many years, but in the women's 87 kg and above category of the World Championships, Li Wenwen failed to lift 130 kg twice in the snatch, suffered a strain on her right elbow, and had to withdraw from the competition, so there was no result. This also sounded the alarm for the preparation of the Chinese team.
Overall, the performance of Chinese women's weightlifting at this World Championships is outstanding and basically meets expectations. The overall performance of the men's team is average, and Liu Huanhua's victory is a highlight, but there is still more work to be done in other Olympic events.
Next, the Chinese weightlifting team will seriously summarize the lessons learned from the World Championships and put into the preparation for the Hangzhou Asian Games as soon as possible.