Like pit crews but in weightlifting. How loaders keep the Olympic sport going

PARIS (AP) — A hulking weightlifter raises a bar of more than 300 pounds (135 kilograms) and swiftly drops it the ground, followed by cheers cascading down from the crowd. Before another competitor can step up, a handful of people seated nearby scurry up the stairs and onto the stage to reset.

They remove discs and bolt new ones on either side, clean the bar and reposition it in the perfect spot. Every few tries, someone wipes down the platform like a basketball court. Weight attempts change on the fly mid-competition, so they are constantly asked to make multiple adjustments.

Weightlifting would not be possible at the 2024 Paris Olympics or anywhere else without loaders, who perform a role similar to pit crews changing tires and refueling race cars. It's a fast-paced, essential task to make sure the bar weighs what it is supposed to weigh — quickly — and the conditions are their best for the top lifters in the world to do what they have spent the past four years training for.

“The priority is to stay calm because if you are not calm, you’re going to get in a rush and make many mistakes,” loader Jessy Graillot told The Associated Press on Thursday. “We have to stay calm and communicate a lot with the team. We all have work to do, and we know what to do.”

Graillot is one of 14 loaders at the Paris Games, all from France's under-23 and under-20 weightlifting teams. Many of them went through a test event to get a sense of the responsibilities, and the entire co-ed group split evenly between seven men and seven women had two hours of training before weightlifting began Wednesday.

“We just practiced how to load the bar, what are some of the protocols that we have to follow in order for everything to be perfect and to look perfect, as well, because it is the Olympics, so everything needs to be in order,” loader Lea Marie Antonio said. “They told us there have been no mistakes since London 2012, so no mistakes were made in the loadings of the bars in the Olympics since 2012. I think if we don’t make a mistake, we can call it a good night.”

Avoiding mistakes at a major international event carries with it some natural stress, but Laurène Fauvel does not consider it pressure. Her biggest issue is when she and her fellow loaders get criticized by Olympic lifters or fans on social media when someone slips.

“Some athletes or the public say, ‘Oh, the loaders are not cleaning good,'” Fauvel said. "It’s just 1% of the public, but it’s sad to have this feedback."

Slipping was an issue on the first day of weightlifting, Hampton Morris said after becoming the first U.S. man to win an Olympic medal in the sport in 40 years, but he said the paint from the Paris 2024 logo was the problem. Nothing loaders can do about that.

They are not earning medals, but they do have a sense of whether they are doing a good job at any given time.

“I think it’s a bit of a feeling,” said Graillot, who is 21. “When you make mistakes, when we are in a rush, we don’t feel confident. When we feel confident, I think it’s a success.”

Just getting here is a win, and it is an experience the French Weightlifting Federation wants them to have seeing the Olympics up close. Fauvel enjoys seeing the lifters' rituals and has learned more about rules and from speaking to experienced members of the jury who have judged events for decades.

“They wanted us to actually see what it’s like to be in the Olympics and what it is that we work for, actually, so that's why they called us to be on the team," said Antonio, a 19-year-old from eastern France.

Graillot, who trains alongside Antonio, sees parallels to auto racing pit crews — with a bigger dose of patience to get it right.

“Maybe we can compare it because we are a team and we all have one job to do,” he said. “But it is way more calm. We don’t have to be in a rush like in racing.”

It's an important job but also a fun one for the French weightlifters who hope to one day — perhaps in Los Angeles in 2028 or Brisbane in 2032 — be at the Olympics themselves. Yamm Thomasson said of the time he his having, “C'est magnifique.”

“You feel all the chemistry of the Olympics,” Thomasson said in French with Graillot interpreting. “It’s a beautiful opportunity. It is once in a lifetime.”

___

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games