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Description

In olympic weightlifting, attempt selection can make or break your final performance. Each lifters gets three attempts in each lift, and the highest successfully made lift counts towards their final total, with the highest total being the winner. Choose too heavy of an attempt and you risk missing the lift. Choose too light of an attempt and you risk falling behind in placement. The decisions behind attempt selection must take into account athlete readiness, goals, past performance, and psychological factors on the day. In addition, there is a balance between what an athlete may want to attempt, and what their coach deems a better choice. This capstone delves into the question of attempt selection in two parts. First, I conduct a numerical and statistical analysis of performances from top-level international weightlifting competitions to look for trends and correlations between attempt selection and final ranking. Second, I dive into a psychological analysis of how various factors, especially the athlete-coach relationship, influence decision making.

Publication Date

4-30-2026

Keywords

weightlifting, coaching, risk

Go big or go home? Risk vs Reward in Olympic Weightlifting

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