The U.S. Olympic Hope

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Despite the increase in popularity in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, there are still aspects of it that always work “behind the scenes”. The average fan doesn’t really understand why the U.S. may or may not have a spot in the 2012 Olympics in London. Instead of grumbling and talking about how much American weightlifting sucks, let’s review the process that will determine what male weightlifter will represent the U.S. in London.
Note: If I’ve misconstrued or left out anything, just let me know and I’ll amend it.

I had a quick phone call with Glenn Pendlay the other day so that he could explain this to me. Basically we need to first earn a spot, and then whichever lifter has the best total (relative to the world average in their weight class) will be chosen. The timing of how this will occur is what makes it weird.

First the men need to earn a spot to go to the Olympics, and that is done at the Pan American Championships a couple weeks after Nationals. Chances are very good, almost certain, that the men will earn a spot. Pendlay even said, “God would need to strike down four or five of the best lifters in order not to earn it.” He even said that if everyone had a bad day then the spot would still be earned. However, earning a spot is still dependent on performing reasonably well at the Pan Am Championships to lock a spot up.

Olympic hopeful Donny Shankle rests with Jon North between attempts



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Average weightlifting fan says, “Wait a sec, didn’t they just do the Pan Ams a few months ago?” The event from a few months ago was the Pan American Games, which occurs the year before the Olympic year. Every non Pan Am Games year is just a Pan Am Championship, and that’s what’s happening in late March.

Let’s assume that we have that spot. Each lifter vying for that spot is compared to a standard in their weight class. The top three finishes in each weight class for the last few years are averaged together to make the standard. The American Olympic hopeful is then compared to that average via a percentage. Pendlay told me that based on recent totals, Kendrick Farris has about 90% and Donny Shankle has about 89%. There are, of course, other lifters like Chad Vaughn (two-time Olympian), Matt Bruce, and Zach Krych who have a shot, yet the hurdle for them is to significantly improve compared to what they’ve done in the past.

All of those men have two opportunities to post their best total to count towards making the U.S. Olympic team: Nationals at the Arnold (AKA ‘the Olympic trials’) in the beginning of March and the Pan American Championships at the end of March. This means that the men are more or less battling against each other to have a higher percentage of the world average (for their weight class) to earn the spot to go to London. In other words, it’s kind of a big deal. And that’s why Nationals are going to be “very interesting”, according to Glenn.

Olympian Kendrick Farris will battle for a spot this March

As of now, the front runners are Ferris and Shankle. Unfortunately, Farris hasn’t had a great showing in his last few meets. On the other hand, Donny has been training very well. I don’t know what Farris is currently putting up, but Shankle totaled 380 last Friday. For Shankle to beat Farris’ current total, Shankle would need to total 381 (meaning he’s very close). However, Farris has the same two opportunities Shankle has to improve. Every bit Farris improves, Shankle will have to improve that much as well. Shankle has a real chance to be the lone wolf representing the U.S. men’s team. The whole thing will be really fun to watch, and best of luck to Kendrick, Donny, and the rest of the men battling for a spot.

Women’s Team
The women have already earned two spots to the Olympics. Currently Sarah Robles is sitting on top and will most likely go (I’m glad she came back from that clarking fiasco from the Pan Am games when she went to World’s). However, the spots aren’t exactly locked up. Rivera (sp?) and Holly Mangold could knock someone down. Danica Rue and Amanda Hubbard are also close. There are several lifters that could perform really well to earn their spot. If anyone has any specifics, then let me know.

Lastly, keep in mind that Nationals are occurring at the Arnold this year. This will be an excellent time to not only hang out with other 70’s Big readers, but to see a variety of sports — including the weightlifting meet that may decide which guy goes to the Olympics.

34 thoughts on “The U.S. Olympic Hope”

  1. That is an excellent point about nationals occuring at the Arnold. I have really wanted to go the the Arnold Sports festival for a while now, this is an excellent opportunity to do so.

  4. Justin – is it possible for the U.S. men to earn two spots? What would have to happen?

    And thanks for the coverage – this is one of the few sites attempting to explain the sport to newcomers.

  6. Wow, Farris and Shankle really are incredibly close. Too bad they’re not in the same weight class, that would make for a really compelling shootout.

  9. Great article. I am going to throw in my own two cents because things are slow here today. I think that total wise, Farris (if he is on) has potentially a better chance of getting a medal than the shankle at an international meet. However, it has been demonstrated at the last two major events that Donny is doing something right and that he seems to want it more than Farris. Farris is a mega-jacked dude, but his jerk just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It has been great to see Shankle put up big numbers consistently and to make more and more progress as time passes. To top it off, he is a Marine (not a former Marine, a Marine) and I give him mad respect for that. If he is selected and his name is called to go out there and deliver I have no doubt that he will step up to the plate and perform, hit some pr’s, and do our country proud. Farris, I just see so much potential but the jerk is his achilles and it seems that he can’t deliver big when it counts. Either way, I know shankle will keep crushing the big weights and I hope Farris suprises the shit out of me and hits a big jerk in March.

    On another note, any of you all ever got the power-perfect II’s or the Adistar’s? I am in the market for new oly shoes and I dont know what to get. I had the pendlay do-wins but I am not sure they have my size anymore and seem to be out of stock a lot on mdusa. also for the price, I could get adidas, so why not. Experience with these two shoes anyone?

  10. @Brian, what about Pat’s team-mate rob addell? Dude is hella jacked and putting up big training numbers? “training numbers dont mean jack”

  13. If I didn’t have school I would definitely be going to the Arnold. Ohio is close enough for me to actually drive in one day (a long day, but one day nonetheless). Knowing that Nationals are there this year makes it an even more bitter pill to swallow. I hope a lot of 70’s Big videos come out of it.

  14. I was talking with a guy at the gym yesterday about maybe going to the Arnold. I had no idea olympic weight lifting was even a part of it. I just love Arnold and had heard him mention it at the end of the Pumping Iron Anniversary DVD. Now I think I have to go. I’ve been rooting for Shankle ever since he posted that semi-erotic hand care video (no homo).

  16. Oh, and strongerthanyesterday: I just got the Adistars. I really like them so far, though I think I remember someone (Justin?) saying in the “gear” post that they’re pretty narrow. They are. (I have narrow feet — even for a chick — and they fit well.) But the discussion about the gear post is useful.

  21. @karibot, thanks for the narrowness comment, I used to think that my feat were narrow but I wear nikes and stuff so I dont know. The do-wins are good, but they might be a bit too wide for my feet so I am not sure yet. Also, anyone have any experience with the various pendlay bars? My friend has the bushing grade one and I like it a lot, except for the fact that it doesnt have center knurling. Anyone lift with a bearing class bar? Also, I have been craigslisting with this guy who for some reason or the other has a set of the Zhankgong barbells used at the olympic games. Long story short, he is trying to sell a 190kg set for 2300 on craigslist- not gonna happen, but I am trying to get him to sell me the barbell for a reasonable price. Any thoughts on what a reasonable price would be for that? Would you all choose a bearing bar with a lifetime warranty or go for the potentially superior and risky zhangkong?

  23. @casanoah, the number of slots for each country is determined by their athletes’ performances at the previous 2 world championships, and additionally by performance at their continental qualifier. Men’s country qualifying is separate from women’s.

    At the world championships, each country is represented by a team of up to 6, and their totals are added up for a team score, and the summed across the two meets. The top 6 mens team scores earn 6 slots for their country, 7-12 earn 5, 13-18 earn 4, 19-24 earn 3. Because there are fewer weight classes for women, there are fewer slots available, and fewer teams to earn them. The top 9 womens teams earn 4 slots, 10-16 earn 3, and 17-21 earn 2. Presumably the women earned their 2 slots this way.

    In addition to the qualification slots earned at the world championships, countries can earn a single slot by placing high enough, again as a team, in their continental qualifying event, which for the US is the Pan American Championship. The US Men must finish in the top 7 teams in order to earn 1 slot in the Olympics.

    Hope that clears things up. I’m surprised Justin and Glenn didn’t mention this part first. Coming from track & field, where the standards for entry are performance based, I was really confused by the idea of “earning” slots.

  25. since someone mentioned shoes… i just got some romaleos in the mail yesterday, used em today…. absolutely incredible. I chose them over the adistars because my feet are almost as wide as they are long, and the nikes definitely seem plenty wide for me. Squatting was fucking SOLID in them. This is an upgrade from the Rip 2010s i used to wear which I will still use for deadlifts i think. but yeah, i am thoroughly impressed by the romaleos.

    also, donny seems like a really cool dude that would probably never hang out with a piece of shit like me. i hope he gets to go to the olympics so i can have a good USA chant, but either way I will definitely be jacking off to klokov.

    oh one final piece of shinfo, my Applied Kinesiology Professor uses “irregardless” for serious. like all the fucking time. Like she’s not just joking, she thinks it’s a word. and I laugh a lot during class because of it.

  26. I’m glad a couple guys mentioned Rob Adell; I think he could surprise a lot of people if he participates at those meets in March. I wish there was more time before the olympics because he could definitely take that spot. Given about a year he will definitely be the best lifter in America pound for pound, barring any injuries.

  28. Is Rob Adell currently enrolled in the USAW program?

    That’s a weird way of saying it. For anyone who doesn’t know, Rob injured his knee in late 2010 and has been working on rehabbing his way back. He has immensely strong legs and is only limited by his jerk.

    Did he compete at the Las Vegas Open? That would answer our question if he’s a USAW member.

    –Justin

  30. The interesting part about nationals is that the way the sessions are scheduled it favors Donny greatly.

    Both Donny and Kendrick have to make weight (as they should)*, and I’ve heard Kendrick has been struggling to make weight recently.

    This comes into play in that Kendrick’s weigh ins are at 3PM, which is the second to last session of the day meaning for him to make weight hes going to have to basically starve himself for an entire day prior to lifting, also generally the Arnold runs behind due to the volume of lifters so Kendrick might have to bear through a very long day.

    Donny’s weighins are at 8AM on Saturday and he is the first session of the day, meaning that the meet will be running on time as there will be no long sessions before it and he does not have to spend any time starving himself.

    I think it looks like nationals will be Donny’s best chance to put up a total that Kendrick will have trouble beating.

    *I should have to too, but I’m a complete pussy

  31. Great post. I never realized the intricacies of qualification before. Also, that interview with Shankle on his blog is really good.

    @strongerthanyesterday

    I’ve had the Romaleos for a few years and love them. I have a wide foot and they fit really well all around. I had a pair of the old suede Do-Wins previously. They were too wide in the forefoot, yet my pinkie toe still managed to bust out the side. This was probably an issue of leather quality though.

    My wife has a narrow foot and wears and likes the Adidas Ironwork III, which is priced between the Adistar and Powerlift. You probably won’t feel a difference between the wood vs. synthetic heel wedges, but the velcro strap placement is slightly different. Adistar it’s closer to the toes, running across the metatarsals, whereas the Powerlift is all the way at the top, which will pull your foot back into the heel counter.

    There’s also the 2012 Adistar…

    http://www.natarem.com/2011/07/09/adidas-adistar-2012-olympic-weightlifting-shoe/

  32. Justin, I’m not sure about Adell competing in the LV Open but someone asked Broz on facebook recently if Rob was a member of USAW and Broz said he is.

    The Las Vegas meet is on Saturday, so we may see him compete. He recently did routine singles on the clean with 200k.

    –Justin

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