Impetus
The impetus for this blog post has been developing over time, but it came to a head recently when I was contacted by the second of two YELP marketers. The first one tried to sell me on marketing through YELP by showing me what he had done for a powerlifting gym. I explained to him that I had a weightlifting gym and he countered by telling me that the guy in the next desk was a powerlifter. I had no idea what that was supposed to mean.
Just last week the second marketer called and tried to explain that they had a new filter that would help people looking for Olympic lifting to find my gym. I tried to explain to him that my sport was called weightlifting and that anyone entering weightlifting in a local Google search could find my gym.
Just the latest
It seems that these two were just the latest in a string of marketers who think they can market my gym to the general fitness market by invoking their own brand of nomenclature. I’ve tried to be civil, but “the torture never stops.”
Let’s begin with the definition of the name of my sport
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) is the governing body of the sport and its constitution states
“The objective of the IWF is to govern the sport of weightlifting……”.
The Technical Competition Rules states that
“In the sport of weightlifting the IWF recognizes two (2) lifts which must be executed in the following sequence:
a) The Snatch
b) The Clean & Jerk
The constitution also states that each member nation must agree to recognize the constitution, and that the official language of the organization is English. It further states that representatives of each member nation must recognize the constitution. There are 186 member nations.
Furthermore the Oxford English Dictionary, the supreme authority for English lexicography (sorry, Funk and Wagnalls) states that it is the sport or activity of lifting barbells or other heavy weights. There are two standard lifts in modern weightlifting: the single-movement lift from floor to extended position (the snatch ), and the two-movement lift from floor to shoulder position, and from shoulders to extended position (the clean and jerk ).
So what we have here is an agreement by the expert representatives of 186 nations that the English word weightlifting refers to a sport that contests the snatch and the clean & jerk.
By the way, I never encounter the inaccurate reference when dealing with people outside the U.S.
Why it’s my sport
Weightlifting is my sport because:
· I saw my first competition as a spectator in 1962.
· I entered my first competition as a lifter in 1967
· I coached my first athlete in a meet in 1969
· I coached in my first International meet in 1977
· I coached in my first Olympic Games in 1984
· I coached in my first World Championships in 1990
· I was inducted into the USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame in 2007
I have credentials in no other sport so weightlifting is stuck with me.
Audacity
I think that a certain decorum should be involved when dealing with someone who has extensive credentials in any specialized activity.
· Marketers should not be able to use their own nomenclature when speaking to practitioners.
· What terminology individuals outside of the weightlifting community choose to employ amongst themselves is fine, but standard terminology should be employed when the two groups interface. I don’t like civilians speaking to me and using misnomers like powerlifting, Oly or Awly (vomitive).
· Olympic lifting or Olympic-style weightlifting is a violation of international trademark held by the International Olympic Committee.
· Those of us who have earned our place within the weightlifting community have earned the right to determine what our sport is called and how it is referenced.
Join me
We members of the weightlifting community should come to expect respect and dignity for our sport. We should patiently ask outsiders to refrain from rudeness and use correct, accurate and respectful terminology or perhaps we should just ask them to refrain from putting their ignorance on display.
Didn’t mean to go off on a rant here but I was a biology major and we are big on terminology.