GENDER EQUALITY, DRUGS & the OLYMPIC DILEMMA.

GENDER EQUALITY, DRUGS & the OLYMPIC DILEMMA.

I remember the day it was announced that woman would be allowed to compete in the Sport of Weightlifting. Up until that point, weightlifting had been exclusively a Male only sport for close on 100 years. I was excited, hey I was a teenager competing on an all male sport. Of course I was looking forward to having some female competitors around the training hall.

Then I remember the announcement of the weight categories, and the subsequent changing of the men’s’ weight categories. At that stage I was a 64 kg lifter. That was (and still is) my natural division. The men’s division was split right down the middle, creating a 62, and 69 kg class. In the 20 years since, I have bounced back and forth between both, never quite being comfortable cutting to 62kg, but also never having gone heavier that 67kg. Which means I was literally stuck between weight classes.

My first International where Woman competed alongside men was the 1997 World Junior Weightlifting Championships Cape Town. I remember how awesome it was to have lifters from all over the world, both men and woman at the same tournament. I distinctly remember being rather enamored by one female US lifter. She was strikingly beautiful. I had never before seen such a beautiful woman lifting weights. Back then it was still a very new sport for woman. There was still a stigma attached to the sport, and very few were brave enough to venture into the mans world of weightlifting.

 

A few weeks ago the International Olympic committee decided to drop one men’s category from the Weightlifting event at the 2020 Olympics. Bring for the first time an equal number of bodyweight categories for both men and woman to 7 each. This marks an end to the female lifters meteoric rise to the top of a sport once dominated by men. The number of woman now competing in the sport has surpassed that of men. And let’s face it, the general public are more likely to watch an attractive woman lifting weights than a muscle bound man. Weightlifting social media is dominated by attractive woman lifting heavy weight. The old adage that lifting weights will make a woman more muscular and less attractive has been completely obliterated by the rise of beautiful, talented, and immensely strong athletes in the likes of Mattie Rogers.  (pictured below)

The IOC’s decision to drop one men’s category was not entirely due to gender equality. Unfortunately, there is a much larger, uglier elephant in the room. Doping. It is no secret that the sport of Weightlifting has always had a higher number of athletes looking for a competitive edge by the use of performance enhancing drugs. Never before has this prevalence of PED’s been more in the spotlight. The number of athletes caught doping in the last 2 Olympics has been appalling. An utter disgrace to the sport. The pandemic of doping has become so bad the IOC has sent a clear message to the sport of Weightlifting with the exclusion of one men’s category. It will no longer be tolerated. I honesty fear that if there is again such a high number of athletes caught doping at the 2020 Olympics that the sport will be stripped from the games entirely. This is no longer a threat, but a distinct reality.

 

I recall the day I made the realization that I was never going to be an Olympic Gold Medalist in the sport of Weightlifting. It was one of the most devastating, yet eye opening events of my life. I was in a Sauna before an International Event in Athens (98, or 99) trying to cut weight. I was joined in the sauna by a multiple World Record Holder and Gold medalist. I was in awe. Here was one of my heroes. Someone who’s poster used to hang on my wall. Someone I idolized. We spoke briefly, I remember how down to earth and relaxed he was. We where happily chatting away when I couldn’t help myself but to ask.

“How do you become a champion”.

His answer not only surprised me, but left me completed dumbfounded and gutted me as an athlete, and a lifelong clean competitor.

In his broken English he said this;

“He who has the best chemist, will always be the best”

I think that speaks for itself. That was the very moment that I knew spending my entire life training for a dream, that would never happen, would be in vain. That was the day the music died for me.

Thankfully there is a light at the end of the tunnel. After almost a decade in the athletic wilderness, away from the one thing I loved most, I found my way back into the sport as a “Master” Lifter. 

 

I have now come to realize that “Master Weightlifters” are the true champions of the sport. They are the ones that dedicate not years, but decades of their lives to the sport. Gone are the sponsors, money, accolades and applause. Yet Master lifters continue lifting, not for glory, but for the pure love of the sport.

If only all lifters could say the same.