The latest Olympic Qualification System approved by IOC-International Olympic Association is the revised System submitted by IWF – International Weightlifting Federation.
The revised qualification system has been developed by IWF based on the main principles of clean competition and fairness.
The main feature of the revised guidelines are:
- The criteria whereby weightlifters must participate in at least six competitions throughout the overall period starting 1 November 2018 has been maintained.
- Due to the suspension of qualifying events caused by the coronavirus attack and the subsequent delay of Tokyo Olympics 2020, the qualification period in the revised qualifying system will be permitted to run from 1st October 2020 to 30th April 2021. Further, the replacements for the cancelled events originally scheduled will be held within this period.
- All results and rankings achieved by weightlifters during the qualifying events held before being temporarily stopped will be retained without the values being changed.
- Weightlifters had also been required to compete in at least one of the specified competitions during each of the first, second and third original qualifying periods. Few of the weightlifters had already competed in six events, including one in each of the qualifying periods. The third period, however, was brought to a premature end by the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, not all weightlifters had the opportunity to fulfill this eligibility requirement.
- All weightlifters wishing to qualify for Tokyo 2020 will now be required to compete in at least one of the specified competitions between 1st October 2020 and 30th April 2021. This will also ensure they are subjected to any in-competition doping controls applied by the ITA -International Testing Agency.
According to IWF, a total of 56 men and 56 women will qualify on the basis of world ranking points collated by the IWF. A further 35 men and 35 women will qualify on the basis of continental ranking points collated by the IWF. Three men and three women will be granted host country qualifying status. And four men and four women will receive tripartite commission invitations. These elements remain unchanged from the Olympic Qualifying System that was originally approved.
A full copy of the Olympic Qualification System for Weightlifting can be found here.
Athlete qualifying points earned to date can be found here.
