There are certain things that, you get to experience once in a lifetime, like witnessing Halley’s Comet, or donating a kidney, or re-growing a full set of teeth, or competing in the Miss America pageant.

Weightlifting aficionados in the United States can add hosting the IWF World Championships to that list. Houston will stage the event, which expects 745 athletes from 105 countries to participate, November 20-28. It’s the first time the combined meet has been held on American soil. The US last hosted a men’s Worlds in 1984 and a women’s tournament in 1987.

To get prepped for the championships, which you can watch archived on FloElite.com, here are three key storylines to follow over the next nine days.

Big Stop On American Road To Rio

The World Championships will serve as the final opportunity for American lifters to earn quota spots for the Rio Olympics. The number of slots each country will receive for the Games is determined by its combined team ranking at the 2014 and 2015 Worlds. Team USA’s Olympic fate will be determined by 15 individuals and four alternates in Houston.

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The men’s team will be lead by Jared Fleming, who won the men’s 94kg division at the USA Weightlifting National Championships in August with a national-record 170kg snatch and second-place showing in clean and jerk. He will be joined by Derrick Johnson at 62kg; Alex Lee at 69kg; Travis Cooper and Leonardo Hernandez at 77kg; 2012 Olympian Kendrick Farris at 94kg; Donovan Ford at 105kg; and Caine Wilkes at +105 kg. CJ Cummings (69kg) and Spencer Moorman (105kg) are the alternates.

Jessica Lucero figures to be the leader among the American women, coming off her surprise victory in the 58kg class at Nationals. She will be joined by Morghan King and Kathleen Winters at 48kg; Martha Rogers and Jenny Arthur at 75kg; and 2012 Olympian Holley Mangold and Marissa Klingseis at +75kg. The alternates will be Rhiannon Reynolds (53kg) and 2012 Olympian Sarah Robles (+75kg).

Champions Unite

Preliminary entries for the competition list an incredible 10 world champions and five Olympic gold medalists. That list includes North Korea’s Om Yun-Chol, the reigning world and Olympic champion at 56kg, and his teammate Kim Un-guk, the defending Olympic and world champ at 62kg.


Other Olympic champions slated to lift include Svetlana Podobedova of Kazakhstan, who has not competed since winning women’s 75kg gold in London; fellow Kazakh Maiya Maneza, who won the 63kg division at the 2012 Games but will move up to 69kg; and Lu Xiaojun of China, the Olympic and world record holder in the men’s 77kg class.

Athletes who won at the 2014 Worlds in Almaty, Kazakhstan last year and will be seeking back-to-back titles include Deng Mengrong and Deng Wei of China, winners in women’s 58kg and 63kg; Nadezhda Yevstyukhina of Russia, a three-time world champion; and Tatiana Kashirina of Russia, the snatch world record holder at 75kg.

Iran’s Kianoush Rostami, who won gold at the 2011 Worlds in Paris, appears to be the favorite at men’s 85kg. Zhassulan Kydyrbayev will look to add to the 94kg gold he won on home soil at last year’s Worlds. Two-time world champion Ruslan Albegov of Russia will also look to add to his medal collection.

Or will he?

The biggest question mark surrounding the competition is which international teams will actually show up to compete and which will scratch at the last minute for fear of top athletes getting nabbed by increased anti-doping scrutiny less than a year out from the Olympics. With global spotlight currently shining on Russian track and field and accusations of state-sponsored systematic doping, rumor has it that Russia may very well pull out of Worlds. Stay tuned.  

Another Of Iran’s Big Guns Diffused

Photo: Tasnim News Agency

It appears that Iran will be without its star super heavyweight Behad Salimi, who tore his ACL during a pre-event training session.

“My doctor said I should have surgery,” the two-time world champion and 2012 London Olympic gold medalist told insidethegames.biz, adding that he is expected to miss the next four months before resuming his pursuit of repeat gold in Rio next summer. Salimi had surgery on Wednesday in Tehran.

Salimi’s injury is the second blow dealt to the Iranian team as heavyweight Saeid Mohammadpour suffered a dislocated elbow while attempting a 190-kilogram lift last month.

Despite these two notable absences, the Iranian roster still figures to be strong with Majid Askari at 62kg, Jaber Behrouzi at 67kg, Rasoul Taghian at 77kg, Kianoush Rostami at 85kg, Ali Hashemi at 94kg, Nawab Nasir Shalal at 105kg, and Bahador Molaei at +105kg.