"Why powerlifting should not be in the olympics"

[Riccardo]

http://startingstrength.com/articles/po ... kantor.pdf

Just an interesting read I found about why powerlifting should not be an olympic sport.

[Jigga]

cliffs please

[Riccardo]

Hard coz its an intense article but heres some key points

IOC Pressure Great Britain to Change Doping Laws Ahead of London Olympics 2012,” read a November 8, 2008 headline from the British newspaper The Telegraph. The article stated in part:The IOC are growing increasingly frustrated at Britain’s refusal to introduce legislation to outlaw the possession, supply and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs...Arne Ljungqvist, the chairman of the IOC’s medical commission, said he would be pressing for a change in the British law, which would be an important legacy of the 2012 Olympics.To build its Olympic site for the 2008 games, China expelled thousands of people and perpetrated other violence to sanitize its image. Such massive (and foreseeable) brutality did not dissuade the IOC from maintaining the Olympics in Beijing. Considerable administrative energies must be directed against British freedom, however

With regard to powerlifting, in America there is thankfully no equivalent (yet) to the ministries of sport that exist in other countries. Due to different preferences about drug testing, equipment, and organizational style, many powerlifting federations exist in America that accommodate these diverse preferences. This is how a marketplace works. Keep in mind that one person’s steroid is another person’s stimulant-filled pre-workout supplement or top-end single-ply bench shirt. While I find the latter form of performance enhancement offensive, a much worse offense would be to pursue state violence against people who compete this way. Lifters who wear costly immobilizing garments named after Japanese swords are not criminals; and lifters who wish to voluntarily gather and compete without drug testing are not criminals either. Neither population should be persecuted.

Despite the IPF referring to lifters as “customers” and claiming that it wants to “differentiate itself in the sporting marketplace” in its Strategic Plan for 2008-2011, the aforementioned events and other official documents make clear that the IPF and its American affiliate are contemptuous toward market values. As former IPF president Norbert Wallauch stated in 2005, “I do not share the opinion that Powerlifting is a worldwide market where the IPF has to compete and challenge the other organizations.” The minutes of the 2008 IPF General Assembly referred to Rule 14.9 in relation to “athletes participating in outlaw ‘federations’.” Taking the “outlaw” insult to its logical end, a senior IPF official recently referred to state restrictions against non-tested federations as “necessary weapons against that evil [drugs in sport].” He commented with ghoulish frustration vis-à-vis his own country, “We’ve been promised co-ordinated police activity here to break up the local WPC [affiliate] but nothing much happens, only sporadic arrests of their principals on a case-by-case basis.”

The Olympic movement is a war against freedom, and the IPF shares the IOC’s aggressive anti-drug fundamentalism. Whether a lifter uses steroids or not, he should not support a course of action that would trample upon another lifter’s freedom. Respect for individual rights and dignity means keeping powerlifting out of the Olympics

[Luigi]

cliffs for your cliffs ?

i would love to see powerlfiting in the olympics as long as it was drug tested likfe all other sports. would be a great watch

[Riccardo]

Hahaha yea Theres a lot of stuff in there its a huge article so I did the best I could. Yeah Personaly I would Like to see it as an olympic sport however the aggresive attitude of the IOC towards drugs in sport could potentially be bad for powerlifting is what this article is sort of getting at. Also what limitations would be placed on equipment would it be the status quo or something like soft suits only. It would alienate other federations that have less strict controls over things like pre work out sups, equipment and drug testing.

Ultimately it would lead to a smaller number of competitors in the sport. The article refers to the IPFs description of other federations, interestingly, as "outlaw" federations and pressure from the IOC on government could potentialy result in further marginalisation of these alternative federations as it would no doubt be the IPF who would become the governing body of powerlifting considering its stance on drugs.

[Wookie]

I've said it before that the big question is not whether powerlifting will become an Olympic sport (I highly doubt it will), but whether Olympic weightlifting will stay an Olympic sport (I think it will given some of the increases in severity of testing over the last 4 years).

Given the prevalence of drug use across powerlifting, and the fractured nature of the sport globally... I just can't see how it could become an Olympic sport. Don't tell me that if IPF-style powerlifting got Olympic status, that the multi-ply and untested lifters wouldn't jump ship immediately in pursuit of a medal.

[vracula]

Lifters who wear costly immobilizing garments named after Japanese swords are not criminals

:pfft:

[Russ]

OL lifters from all countries that use PF lifts for training would get on board.