The 2024 Pan American Weightlifting Championships was held from February 24 to 28 in Caracas, Venezuela. A year ago the USA won eight gold medals in Bariloche, Argentina, and they would have been serious contenders again this year, but we won't see them due to travel restrictions. Instead, the US weightlifters took part in the 2024 European Championships in Sofia, which was a bit strange. Of course, they were not competing for medals and were only there to collect qualifying points for Paris 2024. But why was the American country allowed to participate in the European qualifying tournament, and what can this mean for weightlifting and the whole Olympic qualification system? 

USA Weightlifting (USAW) announced the decision to participate in the 2023 European Championships on 11th December 2023. "The IWF Executive Board has approved USA Weightlifting's alternative participation in the 2024 European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. 

"USA Weightlifting is extremely grateful to IWF President Mohammed Jalood and European Weightlifting Federation President Antonio Conflitti for allowing Team USA's Olympic-eligible athletes to compete at the 2024 European Championships in Sofia instead of the Pan American Championships in Caracas. We're thankful that all parties involved have prioritised the safety of our delegation and understand the significant logistical challenges our team faced in travelling to Caracas to compete. We're also grateful for the assurance that the results of the European Championships will count towards Olympic qualification," said the official USA statement.

The decision to allow the USA team to compete at the European Championships was taken by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) and the European Weightlifting Federation (EWF). However, and most importantly, this was only possible with the approval of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as the results from the European Championships couldn't be counted without IOC approval. 

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) first asked the IOC for permission to allow USAW to participate in another continental tournament on 16 November. The original letter was sent to IOC Sport Operations Manager Achilleas Tsogas. Tsogas was responsible for both combat sports and weightlifting, and was a key person in communicating with international federations. On 12 February 2024, Tsogas left the IOC to become the new CEO of the IWF. 

"We are writing to respectfully request that USA Weightlifting be permitted to enter its athletes in an alternative continental championship in lieu of the Pan American Championships, and that the results of such alternative continental championships be counted towards Olympic qualification as if they had been entered in the Pan American Championships. This request is based on our concerns for the safety of the Team USA delegation and the travel restrictions and challenges associated with that," the letter said.
The travel restrictions refer to the US State Department's "do not travel" advisory for US citizens considering travel to Venezuela. 

The USOPC also mentioned the difficulties for US citizens to travel to Venezuela: "As of 2019, the US Department of Transportation has implemented a suspension of air services to and from Venezuela (see attached). This order by the US government prohibits U.S. or foreign air carriers from providing air service to and from Venezuela. Obtaining a visa in the United States is also no longer an option, as diplomatic relations have been severed."

"There are viable alternative continental weightlifting championships for USAW to send its athletes to. The European Championships are scheduled for 12-20 February in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the Oceania Championships are scheduled for 23-25 February in Auckland, New Zealand. Both are already designated as Olympic qualifiers," it followed. 

"For the safety of Team USA and to provide our athletes with a reasonable opportunity to qualify for Paris 2024, we request that USAW send its delegation to an alternate continental championship. Thank you in advance for your prompt consideration of this request, as time is of the essence for USAW to make the necessary logistical arrangements," the letter concluded. 

Following the IOC's approval and discussions between the federations, it was decided that the US National Team would compete at the 2024 European Championships, although the USAW was prepared to compete at the Oceania Championships as well. Neither the IWF nor the EWF announced the decision on their official websites. It was only on the 1st of February that IWF reporter, former Insidethegames journalist and weightlifting expert Brian Oliver wrote about it on the IWF website.

"The United States, whose athletes were allowed by the EWF and IWF to compete as guests in Bulgaria because their government advised them not to travel to Venezuela, with which the USA has no diplomatic relations, will not be able to win any medals, but their overall scores will count towards the Paris rankings," the report said. 

The day after the decision was made, 12 December, the Venezuelan Weightlifting Federation (FVLP) sent a letter to the IWF President, Mohammed Jallod, expressing their concern about the USAW's decision not to participate in the Pan American Championships. 

"A request without any valid basis, seems more like a rolled odd and with mythical political foundations than anything else. Security and alleged logistical problems are arguments that fall on solid ground, since our country has hosted several international events this year, such as the Pan American U-15 and U-17 Championships, the ALBA Games, the Central American Games and the Caribbean Games, among others, without any incidents involving delegations or athletes," the letter reads.

"Venezuela has the conditions and is already taking the necessary measures to ensure the safety of all the participants in the Pan American Championship of Greater Caracas 2024, as it has always done for all international events. All delegations will be able to enter the country. Those countries that require visas or special requirements, should only apply and the measures for their income can be taken without any inconvenience," was stated by the FVLP.

The latter statement may have referred to Canada, as the Canadian government also considers Venezuela to be a "high risk" country and advises against travelling there. Canadian athletes also did not want to go to Caracas, especially after the IOC and IWF decision, but the Canadian federation decided to send its athletes. 

Weightlifting's qualification system allows for such exceptions. Athletes do not have to compete against each other to win qualification quotas. They just have to improve their overall score to get into the top 10, and it really does not matter where they do it.There are two competitions that all athletes competing for a qualifying quota must compete in (2023 World Championships and 2024 IWF Grand Prix). 

There are two competitions that all athletes competing for a qualification quota must attend (2023 World Championships and 2024 IWF Grand Prix) and if they miss one of them, they lose the chance to go to Paris. There are also five other types of competitions and the athletes have to compete in three of them. So, technically, it does not matter where the US athletes did their totals and got a spot. 

The question is, what does the IOC and IWF decision mean for the future? Will it be something revolutionary or will it be an exception? Sometimes countries have problems going to the qualifying tournaments because of political issues. One of the most recent examples of this is weightlifting.

The 2023 European Championships was held in Yerevan. Due to the tensions between the two neighbouring countries, Armenian and Azerbaijani athletes have had great difficulty travelling to each other's countries. 

However, the Azerbaijan Weightlifting Federation (AWF) decided to send 5 athletes to Yerevan to compete in the Olympic weight categories. But at the opening ceremony, the Azerbaijani flag was burned by a fan and the AWF decided to leave the country. 

Azerbaijan's weightlifters were left without participation and had to fill in at the other tournaments. However, no one from the AWF asked about the possibility of taking part in another continental tournament.

With a precedent already set, such requests can be made in the future. Armenia can be awarded another weightlifting qualifying tournament for Los Angeles 2028 and it is a big question how the IOC and IWF will act if Azerbaijan asks to participate in other tournaments. The situation is more complicated in other sports, where athletes are competing head-to-head for quotas.

For example, Baku will host the European Wrestling Qualifiers in April, and Armenia will most likely miss the tournament. According to the rules of United World Wrestling, a country can't take part in the world qualifiers if it misses the continental qualifiers. There will be an exception for Armenia, but Armenian wrestlers will only have one chance to qualify for Paris 2024, while their rivals will have two. 

These are just a few examples, but there could be others. What if Venezuela hosts a wrestling qualifying event? Of course, the most important thing in sport is the athletes. The decision of the IOC and the IWF is good for the US athletes and it's really nice. But the biggest question is, will it be a "Solomonic" decision for other countries and other athletes in the future?

So, how were the Pan American games without the USA?

In the Olympic weight classes, the competition was fierce and everyone was trying to improve their totals in Olympic rankings. In the non-Olympic categories there were sometimes 2-3 competitors. Colombia was far the best team of the competition with a total of 8 gold medals. Hector Viveros (men's -61kg), Luis Cano (men's -67kg), Luis Javier Mosquera (men's -73kg), Rosive Silgado (women's -64kg), Edwin Legarejo (men's -81kg), Yeison Lopez (men's -89kg), Yeimar Mendoza (men’s 109 kg) and Rafael Cerro Castillo (men’s +109 kg) became Pan American champions in Caracas. For Mosquera and Lopez in particular, these were important victories as they improved their totals in the Olympic rankings. Mosquera, silver medallist at Tokyo 2020, moved into the top 10 with a total of 337 kg and is now ranked eighth. Lopez remained third, but improved his total by 2 kg to move closer to Li Dayin of China and Karlos Nasar of Bulgaria.

Venezuela won 5 gold medals,Ecuador had 3 champions and Mexico won 2. Ana Lopez (women's -49kg) and Juan Barco (men's -55kg) won gold for Mexico. Victoria Tovar (women's -45kg), Neyelin Venegas (women's -59kg), Dayana Chirinos (women’s 87 kg), Keydomar Vallenilla Sanchez (men’s 96 kg) and Jeyson Arias Mosquera (men’s 102 kg) delighted the home crowd. Ecuadorian sisters, Tokyo 2020 champions Neisi Dajomes and Angie Palacios Dajomes won the women's -82kg and -71kg competitions respectively. Lisseth Ayovi Cabezas added one more gold for Ecuador on the last day winning the women's +87 kg category. Josee Gallant won a gold medal for Canada in the women's -55kg category.

The US athletes could win three gold medals with the results they achieved at the European Championships. Morris Hampton would be the best in the men's 61kg, Olivia Reeves could have won the women's 71 kg and Mary Theisen-Lappen could be the best in the women’s +87 kg category.