Why Don’t Strongman or Powerlifters Compete in the Olympics?
Strongman and powerlifting are gaining popularity as we see athletes lift impressive weights in respective events. Many gym goers are also confused to why Olympic weightlifting is included in the Olympic games but our strong athletes are no where to be found on the Olympic games. There are reasons to why strongman and powerlifting are not in the Olympic games and it is not as simple as some people may think. First, let us debunk some myths about the two sports:
1. Strongman and Powerlifting allow PEDs while the Olympics has anti-doping policies
This is simply untrue. Both strongman and powerlifting federations have long lists of banned substances. Take USAPL as an example. They publicize a list of athletes that failed the drug test and showed the penalty imposed. However, for strongman competitions, it can be more complicated. More and more strongmen came forth to admit to using steroids and passing drug tests. Recently, the World Strongman Organization is working harder on creating fair playing-field and promised to take more action to keep games clean.
2. There are no competitive female athletes
That is another myth as we see popular strongwomen making headlines! Gabi Dixon’s Hercules Hold broke records and caught a lot of media attention. Female powerlifters who can deadlift more than 3 times their bodyweights are commonplace in regional competitions as well! Not to mention the amount of powerlifting girls that are competitive internationally!
However, there are other reasons to why strongman and powerlifting are yet to be included in the Olympic.
How to create an Olympic event?
- International Federations have to submit a proposal and explain how it fits the Olympics’ events criterias
- Olympic Programme Commission has to approve the event after consulting
- Athletes
- Federations
- National Olympic committees
New events were added to different Olympic games regularly. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Karate, skateboarding and sports climbing successfully made their debut. The Olympics programme committee approved Karate as it is a popular sport in Asia, which promises popularity and accessibility. As a criteria for new events was to have support in the host country, if powerlifting or strongman has to enter the Olympics, the host country has to have a huge audience for such events. But these are the most popular speculations to why powerlifting and strongman are not on the Olympic programmes yet.
Complicated rules
In the case of powerlifting, there are 3 different sets of rulebooks to follow. The two biggest federation (IPF and USAPL) have complete different rules when it comes to benching. Committees and federations will have to come together and agree to which set of rules apply if powerlifting is to become an Olympic sport. Audiences will also have some troubles understanding the rules to “red light white light”, squat depth, deadlift lockouts. Such difficulties may lead to less audience and ticket sales for the host country.
For strongman competitions, while events are entertaining, audience will need to have briefing to how events work. The multitude of events can confuse the audience and create deterrence.
Strongman and Powerlifting are not international enough for the Olympics
While we see Strongman in Nordic countries and America, it is simply a fact that these sports are not inclusive to the world. Top athletes are highly saturated in certain countries. Many countries have yet to produce Strongman athletes or powerlifters that can join the biggest competition in the world or “get a pro card”. The lack of international accessibility does not go in line with the Olympic spirit – bring the world together. However, as we see these sports gaining popularity worldwide, the inaccessibility point may no longer be true in the future!
Top strongman and powerlifting athletes have to agree to the Olympic policies
Unfortunately, the International Olympic Committee does not allow the participation of “professional athletes”. In other words, athletes with a pro card in the strongman and powerlifting sphere are not able to join the Olympics even if the sports are suddenly made available. This can be similar to the boxing event in the Olympics where only amateurs boxers are present.
Apart from that, athletes need to adhere to not using the Olympics as a money-grabbing opportunity. For athletes that have competed in the World’s Strongest Man or Arnold Strongman Classic and won over 80k in prize money can get banned from the Olympics as well, if strongman is to become an Olympic sport. As powerlifting competitions issue prize money as well, powerlifters will have to choose between being a pro or competing at the Olympics when the time comes!
Conclusion
As mentioned above, we can expect new events to be added to the Olympics’ events! As karate was added to Japan’s Summer Olympics, we may expect to see strongman or powerlifting in Olympic events hosted in the West! Strongman and powerlifting are gradually expanding into different countries. We see USAPL entering other regions such as Hong Kong and Korea, and maybe someday such expansion can convince the Olympics Committee to admit these sports into their programme!
