USA Weightlifting entered its bid to host the 2022 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships. The proposed location to host the event is the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC) in Atlanta, Georgia, with a tentative start date of November 27th.
USA WEIGHTLIFTING BIDS TO HOST 2022 IWF World Championships
The 2022 IWF World Championships is without a home ever since China Weightlifting Association (CWA) announced they could no longer host the event due to the recent outbreaks of Covid 19 across the country. China still employs strict quarantines and policies surrounding Covid 19, so it would’ve been a logistical nightmare to pull off the event in such circumstances.
After a 28-year hiatus, the US hosted the IWF World Championships in 2015 in Houston, Texas. Then in 2017, Anaheim, California, had the honor of hosting the event. Both of those events were successful and produced some memorable moments, including Lasha Talakhadze of Georgia posting a 454kg (1,000.9lb) total which secured his first World Championship title.
If USA Weightlifting is able to secure the event, this would be the second time that they’ve taken over after a potential host had to drop out. In 2017 Malaysia was slated to host the competition, which ultimately ended up being held in California when Malaysia withdrew.
Following China’s withdrawal from hosting the event, the IWF alerted member federations that they had 15 days to submit bids if they wanted to be considered the replacement host.
USA Weightlifting proposed Atlanta, Georgia, as the host city in part because the North American Open Finals will be held at the GICC from December 1-4th; therefore, the 2022 IWF World Championships could begin on November 27th and finish synchronously with the North American Open Finals. The GICC is also directly connected to the free ATL SkyTrain to the international airport. It’s also in close proximity to many hotels that competitors and attendees can stay at.
According to Barbend.com, USAW said that they will help to ensure smooth logistics, “USAW plans to work with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s Government Relations division to make every reasonable effort to ensure visas are delivered for the IWF Congress and/or World Championships, a route that was effective for the International Table Tennis Federation’s Annual General Meeting in November 2021 in Houston.”
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Even though we might not get the spectacle that China planned to offer, we know that the athletes are sure to put on another amazing display of what the human body is capable of.
We will keep you posted on any updates regarding the final destination of the 2022 IWF World Championships.
Kiel DiGiovanni
Author