Women’s Weightlifting Notables

Yesterday I neglected elaborating on a lot of the women’s sports because of a lack of time and information. A reader with the username “flipper” provided some insight on the women vying for a spot on the Olympic team this weekend (I linked a video with each name):

Primarily, the weight classes to watch are the 58kg class and the 75+ class. The major hitters in here are Sarah Robles and Holley Mangold in the 75+, and Rizelyx Rivera and Amanda Sandoval in the 58kg category. Close following them are 2008 Olympian Natalie Burgener in the 63 class, Chioma Amaechi also in the 75+, and Hilary Katzenmeier in the 53 class. Keep in mind however that only two spots are available, so I think the lion’s share of the attention will be on the top four or five contenders.

First, I’m pretty confident that Sarah Robles is going to the Olympics – she’s a solid 2% points higher than her rivals in the scoring system, and she really just needs to not have a repeat of her Pan Am troubles to win a spot.

The second spot will be the real battleground: While Robles’ % score (the same method as the men’s) is 89.6%, the four athletes following her are all between 87.4% and 87.8%.

Sandoval and Rivera are actually tied at 87.8% of their qualifying total, their best recorded totals are 198 for each of them. Their rankings at any point in time fluctuate. Sandoval is slightly stronger in the snatch, but Rivera slightly better in the clean and jerk – it ain’t over till it’s over. Also, I must say that both of them are just awesome to watch, with some of the most impressive technique I’ve ever seen.

Right on their heels is Holley Mangold with an 87.5% score. She’s strong as an ox, but still pretty new to the sport. She’s been making huge strides but isn’t always the most consistent in her lifting – expect amazing things from her, but this particular meet will be hard to predict from her.

And in a very close 5th with an 87.4% score is returning Olympian Natalie Burgener, a long time favorite of the sport. I have heard rumor that she had until recently taken some time off to nurse a tight hip, but she seems to be getting back into full swing and many people are hoping to discover that her comeback was only just beginning.

This list is certainly not exhaustive, I’ve heard amazing training lifts are coming from Amaechi, Katzenmeier is fantastic and has enough heart to surprise us all, and we have a lot of other long time front runners on the start list, but with only two slots on the line I only covered the ones with the top few results in competition – someone could always surprise us on the day of.

The Olympic Trials will of course be webcast live via USAW’s website for those of you that can’t make it or have to head home early. Hope this was helpful in getting a feel for the women’s competition – which is unfortunately the only Olympic Trials we’ve earned the right to hold this year.

Edit: Jacob Cloud re-sent me THIS DOCUMENT. It shows the top 20 or so American male and female lifters and how they compare to the “world average”. The totals for each lifter are what they have hit in recent and relevant competitions, so note that some of them have improved upon those totals. It gives you an idea of who is contention.
Also, stop messaging me by saying that the men don’t have a spot in the Olympics; they will unless several male lifters drop dead.

If anyone has similar breakdowns for other sports, then feel free to post them and I’ll put them up on the site.