Have you been jonesing for that state record that is just out of reach? Well, the tides have again turned, and this may be your best opportunity to ink your name in the record books, albeit in a new bodyweight category.
Effective last November the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), the worldwide governing body for the sport of weightlifting, announced a new bodyweight category scheme for both men’s and women’s competitions. For newcomers to the sport, one may ask: Why? What was wrong with the former designations?
Take a look at the history of men’s bodyweight categories in weightlifting since 1905. Blank spaces mean the category did not exist at that time; a hyphen indicates that a former weight class no longer exists. A checkmark indicates the category was available that year.
Mirroring boxing, weightlifting originally utilized bodyweight category names (lightweight, middleheavyweight, etc.) for many years. The names were dropped after the 1976 Olympics, although the media hangs onto the title, superheavyweight. We now use simply the metric numerical designations. Interestingly, although Jimmy Carter was unsuccessful in getting Americans to adopt the metric system during his presidency, weightlifters have taken fairly easily to this “foreign” concept. We weightlifters seem relatively conversant with kilograms.
A quick check indicates that USA National Championships have been conducted in kilograms from 1970 or so. Of course, not every local meet director had access to kilogram sets, so it took another 10 or so years before most results were posted metrically.
Why Change the Classes?
Changes in weightlifting’s technical rules aim to improve the sport. Recognizing an audience will watch intensely for only a limited amount of time, meet conduct has been sped up due to the changed “1-kilogram rule” and reduced time between attempts. Adjusting the bodyweight categories also seeks to improve the sport, but the motives may seem a bit opaque.
