2014 World Weightlifting Championships

[Payam_Ali]

The World Weightlifting Championships start on November 8. Here is the timetable. Here is the start list which shows all athletes. Our athletes are:

56 kg:
- Majid Askari
69 kg:
- Jaber Behrouzi
- Morteza Rezaeian
85 kg:
- Kianoush Rostami
- Rasoul Taghian
105 kg:
- Mohsen Bahramzadeh
- Kia Ghademi
- Alireza Soleymani
105+ kg:
- Behdad Salimi

Our best chances for gold are Rostami, Taghian, and Salimi. A few weeks ago in the Asian Games, Rostami was in position to win gold, but Tian Tao hit a monster 218 jerk (after hitting 205 and missing 211 to steal the gold). Rostami will be out for revenge, but Apti Aukhodov from Russia will be hard to beat. The 85kg is probably the most competitive weight class. Taghian always posts big numbers in training but seems to struggle in competition. He recently moved up to 85kg from the 77s, but he has a good chance to medal. In the past, Salimi has not really been pushed in major competitions. The Russians, Lovchev and Albegov have been posting big numbers recently so he will have to go for it if he wants to win gold. Iran's other top 105+ Bahador Moulaei is out due to injury.

This is the official website. Live streams will be on Eurosport International and I will try to post them here.

[Abtin]

Eurosport will also show it live on TV.

[EKBATAN]

I have a question....how come US is never really good at this sport? they always boast about being biggest, strongest, etc...how come they never have anyone that can compete? is it cuz of difficulty or they dont care ?

[Abtin]

Sv: 2014 World Weightlifting Championships

I have a question....how come US is never really good at this sport? they always boast about being biggest, strongest, etc...how come they never have anyone that can compete? is it cuz of difficulty or they dont care ?

This sport needs more technique than people think. It ain't all about strength

[Payam_Ali]

I have a question....how come US is never really good at this sport? they always boast about being biggest, strongest, etc...how come they never have anyone that can compete? is it cuz of difficulty or they dont care ?

Few people in the US are exposed to it because its not a high school sport and doesn't have the prestige. So unlike China, Iran, Russia, etc. people aren't doing it from childhood. There's also little money in it so the most talented athletes aren't doing weightlifting, they're playing basketball and football. Its beginning to change as CrossFit makes weightlifting more popular. Many of the top young US weightlifters, like Lauren Fisher, started out as CrossFitters. Another reason is that US doping control is much more strict than other countries or international agencies. Kendrick Farris, probably the best American weightlifter, has been very vocal about this as one of the main reasons the US can't compete with these other countries.
However, look for CJ Cummings, he's a 14 year old American kid that is just destroying records left and right. He is America's best chance for Olympic weightlifting medals in the future.

[EKBATAN]

Few people in the US are exposed to it because its not a high school sport and doesn't have the prestige. So unlike China, Iran, Russia, etc. people aren't doing it from childhood. There's also little money in it so the most talented athletes aren't doing weightlifting, they're playing basketball and football. Its beginning to change as CrossFit makes weightlifting more popular. Many of the top young US weightlifters, like Lauren Fisher, started out as CrossFitters. Another reason is that US doping control is much more strict than other countries or international agencies. Kendrick Farris, probably the best American weightlifter, has been very vocal about this as one of the main reasons the US can't compete with these other countries.
However, look for CJ Cummings, he's a 14 year old American kid that is just destroying records left and right. He is America's best chance for Olympic weightlifting medals in the future.

i thought US of all places was more prone to doping since its all over the place with supplements and even major sports they get caught. dont they test these atheletes in major competitions? i thought doping was a thing of the past in the 80s

[Irannn]

we have only two medal chances here, Rostami and Salimi, the rest sucks big time. (slim chance for Askari in 56kg) thanks to Salimi and his friends our weightlifting is in a VERY poor situation right now, they changed the coach and the current coach made this mess. 3 of our weightlifters are already in Group B ! and Ghadami and Bahramzadeh in 105kg have absolutely no chance.

but this is the first round of Olympic Qualificaton so even placing in top 10 is important for collecting points for the Olympics.

[Payam_Ali]

we have only two medal chances here, Rostami and Salimi, the rest sucks big time. (slim chance for Askari in 56kg) thanks to Salimi and his friends our weightlifting is in a VERY poor situation right now, they changed the coach and the current coach made this mess. 3 of our weightlifters are already in Group B ! and Ghadami and Bahramzadeh in 105kg have absolutely no chance.

but this is the first round of Olympic Qualificaton so even placing in top 10 is important for collecting points for the Olympics.

Can you explain the details more fully? Also, do you know why Saeid Mohammadpour is not competing? He has been hitting big lifts recently in his instagrams

[AllStarMomo]

Where is Bahador Molaei and Sajjad Anoushiravani? Just One 105+ is really weak.

[Soosk]

Salimi may have won olympic gold and world championships but he really is a cancer to Iranian weightlifting. He single handedly ruined our weightlifting federation. Bagheri was a fantastic coach but because Salimi thought he was bigger than the federation and Iran, he put his own selfish interest first. He got what he wanted which was a new coach he could control and who would just give salimi attention and praise. As a result our current team at this world championships is a joke and a total mess. Half these weightlifters arent even the #1 choice in Iran but never the less they are here. They don't even deserve to be in the 'A' starting list. Salimi will win another gold here but I wont be cheering for him.

[AllStarMomo]

Salimi may have won olympic gold and world championships but he really is a cancer to Iranian weightlifting. He single handedly ruined our weightlifting federation. Bagheri was a fantastic coach but because Salimi thought he was bigger than the federation and Iran, he put his own selfish interest first. He got what he wanted which was a new coach he could control and who would just give salimi attention and praise. As a result our current team at this world championships is a joke and a total mess. Half these weightlifters arent even the #1 choice in Iran but never the less they are here. They don't even deserve to be in the 'A' starting list. Salimi will win another gold here but I wont be cheering for him.

Not sure if that's true, but I had this feeling for 2 years. The media was on the side of salimi all the time and I also think that rezazadeh did many mistakes. I know that have many youngsters like molaei who was instead of salimi.

[Abtin]

So what happened to our 56 kg lifter?
EDIT: Lol, he became nr. 12: http://www.iwf.net/results/results-by-events/?event=298

[Soosk]

What I wrote is 100% true. Even after the world championships last year which we didn't do very well in Salimi went to the press and disparaged Bagheri calling the results as shameful. It wasn't Bagheri's fault because that was mostly our B team. He pretty much said that he was the entire team and without him and some of his fellow wrestlers who he controls, Iranian weightlifting will continue to be embarrassing. this is essentially what caused Bagheri to be removed as coach. Now fast forward to this year and this world championship and we have a dysfunctional team of weightlifters with no real coach. Basically Salimi is running this ship. All he has ever cared was himself and he knows he will continue to win his own medals and he just wanted to get a coach and a federation which he can control.

About our promising youngsters, it is true we have some young talent. But with weightlifting, coaching is very important. Because of bad coaching this time around a lot of our weightlifters are in pretty bad physical shape. There are lots of injuries which shows that the coaching is not right. Bagheri was really bringing back the glory of Iranian weightlifting but now we are back in the dark ages if you ask me. Our youngsters would have been properly coached and prepared and mentored if Bagheri was still the coach.

Not sure if that's true, but I had this feeling for 2 years. The media was on the side of salimi all the time and I also think that rezazadeh did many mistakes. I know that have many youngsters like molaei who was instead of salimi.

[Irannn]

Can you explain the details more fully? Also, do you know why Saeid Mohammadpour is not competing? He has been hitting big lifts recently in his instagrams

you mean Bagheri-Salimi story ?

let me start with a little history, we started to get results in this sport once again from 1999, here are our results

1999 Worlds: 1 gold (Nasirinia), 1 bronze (Rezazadeh)
2000 Olympics: 2 gold (Tavakoli, Rezazadeh)
2001 Worlds: 1 gold (Bagheri), 1 bronze (Barkhah) / Rezazadeh was injured this year
2002 Worlds: 1 gold (Rezazadeh), 1 bronze (Barkhah)
2003 Worlds: 2 gold (Rezazadeh, Falahatinejad)
2004 Olympics: 1 gold (Rezazadeh)
2005 Worlds: 1 gold (Rezazadeh)
2006 Worlds: 1 gold (Rezazadeh)
2007 Worlds: nothing
2008 Olympics: nothing
2009 Worlds: nothing
2010 Worlds: 1 gold (Salimi)
2011 Worlds: 2 gold (Salimi, Rostami), 1 silver (Anoushiravani), 1 bronze (Mohammadpour)
2012 Olympics: 1 gold (Salimi), 2 silver (Anoushiravani, Nasirshalal), 1 bronze (Rostami)
2013 Worlds: 1 silver (Molaei)

if you look at those results, we had a good time from 1999 to 2003 with 6 weightlifters had won world/Olympic medals. we got weak after that and from 3-4 years only Rezazadeh could win medal for Iran, our weightlifting was almost dead from 2004 to 2010 and I have to mention two generations were destroyed by mass doping. Bagheri became the coach late in 2009 and from then we improved big time and in a period of 4 years, you can see 6 weightlifters won medal for Iran. which means we had a good team , not just 1 or 2 great weightlifters. and I have to mention even though we won only 1 medal in 2013 but we also had three 4th-place finishes. (Behrouzi, Barari and Taghian)

Bagheri also managed youth and junior teams and you have to check IWF results section to see how many medals they won. without Bagheri, we didn't even participate in World Junior Champs this year and half of our youth team members tested positive for doping ! Bagheri was single-handedly managing our weightlifting, he deserves much much more respect.

even though we have a history in this sport but our local coaches suck. Bagheri is the only good Iranian coach from what I know, without him we need a foreign coach which is hard to find. top countries like China and Russia don't let their good coaches work abroad.

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honestly I tried a lot to find a reason for Mohammadpour but didn't find anything, this is still a mystery for me. nobody talks about that and Iranian media are stupid enough to not ask. he left the national camp few months ago because of a "so-called" injury and at that time they announced he will miss both Asian Games and the World Championship but then we found him healthy doing great lifts. his record in a league meet in Iran 2 weeks ago could give him at least a silver medal here and he did that with a body weight of 101kg in 105kg category.

I only can imagine he has a problem with the current coach or something like that. or maybe this is the reason, who knows.

[Irannn]

Where is Bahador Molaei and Sajjad Anoushiravani? Just One 105+ is really weak.

Molaei had a knee surgery and will be out for at least months. we should ask the coach why they used him in Asian Games despite his injury ?

Anoushiravani took a break from weightlifting for his personal life, I think he wants to come back next year or for the Olympics. I have to add Rashid Sharifi to this list, he was also good for at least a bronze medal here but he also got injured during the national camp few months ago same as Bahador Molaei and few more good weightlifters.