College Weightlifting At The FISU America Games
Who Am I
My name is Calvin Lackey, and I’m currently captain of Lindenwood Univery’s Olympic Weightlifting team. I discovered Weightlifting in high school attempting to learn the lifts on my own. After securing a college scholarship from Lindenwood University my progress exploded and in my junior year I earned the title of university national champion. My current best lifts are a 129kg/282lbs snatch and a 171kg/375lbs clean and jerk.
What is Olympic Weightlifting?
Olympic weightlifting, commonly known as just "weightlifting,"describes the competitive execution of two movements: the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. This strength sport dates back to the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, making it one of the oldest athletic disciplines. It's important to understand the difference between weightlifting and powerlifting, another strength sport which competes in the Back Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlift, and is not part of the Olympic Games.
Weightlifting in College
In the United States, weightlifting isn’t just represented at the olympic level but also at the collegiate level. College competitions are run through the USA Weightlifting Federation, as opposed to the NCAA. The National University Championships (NUC) is an annual competition organized by USA Weightlifting. This is probably my favorite competition venue because it is held at the Arnold Sports Festival, the biggest convention and competition venue for strength sports and fitness. To qualify for university nationals, you must be 25 years old or younger, submit a current college transcript (or have graduated within the last year), compete in a USA Weightlifting-sponsored National University Qualifier (NUQ), and lift the minimum qualifying total in your weight class which you can find through USA Weightlifting’s website.
For more info on college weightlifting check out my full article which includes a FULL list of college programs here
Competing Internationally:
In college weightlifting there exists some exciting opportunities for the best college weightlifting student athletes to showcase their skills on the international stage. The main opportunity exists through the organization FISU.
I reached out to David Griffin at University of Texas for more info on the FISU games. David organized the most recent FISU competition in November of 2024.
What is FISU?
FISU is the international governing body for university sport and attempts to unite university students across the globe through sport.
FISU hosts two main types of events:
World University Championships:
In the even years, all around the globe they host separate FISU World University Championships for individual sports (like our weightlifting world championships but for university students)
World University Games:
In the odd years they host the World University Games (formerly the Universiade) for both Summer and Winter sports.
FISU America:
In the past 30 years, all of the World University Games have been held in Europe or Asia and have proved to be cost prohibitive for many member federations of the Pan American region, David said.
Funding proves to be a problem for many weightlifting organizations in the Pan American region. Even the extremely wealthy country that is the United States was unable to get funding for the 2024 FISU America Games through USA Weightlifting. Griffin helped to organize funding and selection procedures for this competition so a big thanks to him!
In 2007, FISU America was founded as a way to bring the same university international sport experience to those across the Americas. The first FISU America Games was held in 2018 in Sao Paulo, Brazil and functions as a multi-sport games event, essentially the Pan American University Games, to be held in even years. The second edition was held in Merida, Mexico in 2022 and was the first edition to have weightlifting on the program, and had USA Weightlifting’s full participation. The most recent edition (2024) was held in Cali, Colombia. It was just announced that the 4th edition of the Games will be held in 2026 in Lima, Peru, with weightlifting on the program!
UniUSA
UniUSA is the US national federation for organizing and sending teams to FISU events. We worked closely with the federation during the organization process and throughout the games to ensure transportation, food, and logistics were accounted for during the event.
III FISU America Games - Cali, Colombia
This event was announced publicly in February 2024 and Griffin brought it to USA Weightlifting’s attention. Although having sent a team to the 2022 FISU America Games, USA Weightlifting declined to field a team or send any official representation for the 2024 event. With Griffin being on the 2022 FISU America Games coaching staff, and seeing what a positive impact it made on those who participated, he decided to construct and lead the team himself, independent of USA Weightlifting.
Griffin utilized the same selection procedures that USAW would have used if they fielded a team, and utilized the 2024 University National Championships and 2024 USAW Nationals Week events as qualifying events, with the participation at University Nationals being mandatory for consideration (this was the same rule for the 2022 event). Once those events concluded, we sent out invitations to the top 10 ranked athletes per gender and proceeded until they fielded a full team and coaching staff (which was limited to only 5 credentialed coaches for this Games event). The event was completely self funded, as was the 2022 edition, with athletes and coaches paying their own way, $1895 + airfare for the full trip. Many took to university channels or crowdfunding campaigns to help finance their opportunity.
After organizing the USA’s athlete selection and traveling to the 2024 FISU America games Griffin shared his recap of the success of the USA’s squad:
The team consisted of 20 athletes from across the country, representing 16 different universities. East Tennessee State University contributed four members to the team, Lindenwood University produced two athletes, and then the other 14 members were the sole representatives from their respective schools. The team performed incredibly well against their Central and South American peers competing against student-athletes from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, and Mexico. The US team earned 18 total medals, including 10 golds, 5 sliver, and 3 Bronze. The USA finished atop the medal table in weightlifting with 18, Colombia was second with 14, and Mexico finished third with 11.
Here is a full table showing the results of the USA team at the recent FISU games.
Future of Collegiate International Weightlifting:
It is both David and I’s hope that college weightlifting continues to grow and give athletes competing at college programs or just competing in weightlifting while also being enrolled in college an opportunity to train for something bigger than themselves.
After visiting the 2024 Paris Olympic Games this past summer I realized how a sporting event can take over a city. With everyone in the city being overcome with the spirit for international sport and competition. The Pan American village at the FISU events represents a small-scale version of this experience I had in Paris. Sports represent a unique opportunity for unity at the world stage and any opportunity for further international competition should be encouraged.
It should also be noted that University Programs and further international competition provides a clear pathway for athletes that will go on to compete at a much higher international level such as representing Team USA at senior international events. Some notable athletes include Kendrick Farris and Jared Fleming competing at the college level and going on to represent the USA in senior international competition.
For more info on college weightlifting be sure to check out my article How To Go To College For Weightlifting and check out my Full List Of University Programs.