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

Loaders set the weight on the bar, during the women's 59kg weightlifting event, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara,Pool)

Loaders set the weight on the bar during the women's 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Loaders set the weight on the bar during the women's 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Loaders rush to set the weight on the bar for the next competitor during the women's 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Loaders set the weight on the bar during the women's 59kg weightlifting event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

LUQUE, Paraguay (AP) — Sake is perhaps more Japanese than the world-famous sushi. It's brewed in centuries-old mountaintop warehouses, savored in the country’s pub-like izakayas, poured during weddings and served slightly chilled for special toasts.

The smooth rice wine that plays a crucial role in Japan's culinary traditions was enshrined on Wednesday by UNESCO on its list of the “intangible cultural heritage of humanity."

At a meeting in Luque, Paraguay, members of UNESCO’s committee for safeguarding humanity's cultural heritage voted to recognize 45 cultural practices and products around the world, including Brazilian white cheese, Caribbean cassava bread and Palestinian olive oil soap.

Unlike UNESCO’s World Heritage List, which includes sites considered important to humanity like the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Intangible Cultural Heritage designation names products and practices of different cultures that are deserving of recognition.

A Japanese delegation welcomed the announcement in Luque.

“Sake is considered a divine gift and is essential for social and cultural events in Japan,” Takehiro Kano, the Japanese ambassador to UNESCO, told The Associated Press.

The basic ingredients of sake are few: rice, water, yeast and koji, a rice mold, which breaks down the starches into fermentable sugars like malting does in beer production. The whole two-monthlong process of steaming, stirring, fermenting and pressing can be grueling.

The rice — which wields tremendous marketing power as part of Japan's broader cultural identity — is key to the alcoholic brew.

For a product to be categorized Japanese sake, the rice must be Japanese.

The UNESCO recognition, the delegation said, captured more than the craft knowledge of making high-quality sake. It also honored a tradition dating back some 1,000 years — sake makes a cameo in Japan’s famous 11th century novel, “The Tale of Genji,” as the drink of choice in the refined Heian court.

Now, officials hope to restore sake's image as Japan's premier alcoholic drink even as the younger drinkers in the country switch to imported wine or domestic beer and whiskey.

“It means a lot to Japan and to the Japanese,” Kano said of the UNESCO designation. "This will help to renew interest in traditional sake elaboration.”

In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, in a statement, said he was “delighted” by the inscription of traditional sake-making, the traditional technic that Japan is proud of. Ishiba congratulated those who dedicated to preserving and promoting the tradition.

Also, Japanese breweries have expressed hope that the listing could give a little lift to the country's export economy as the popularity of sake booms around the world and in the United States amid heightened interest in Japanese cuisine.

Sake exports, mostly to the U.S. and China, now rake in over $265 million a year, according to the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, a trade group.

Japan's delegation appeared ready to celebrate on Wednesday — in classic Japanese style.

After the announcement, Kano raised a cypress box full of sake to toast the alcoholic brew and cultural rite.

This story corrects the surname of Japanese official to Kano from Takehiro.

A bottle of a Japanese sake brand and wooden cups traditionally used to drink sake are prepared for decorations in Tokyo, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, before a news conference on UNESCO's recognition of Japan's sake making as "intangible cultural heritage of humanity," announced in Paraguay. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Hitoshi Utsunomiya, right, director of the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, responds to a reporter's question as Shinuemon Konishi, president of the Preservation Society of Japanese Koji-based Sake-making craftsmanship, listens during a news conference on UNESCO's recognition of Japan's sake making as "intangible cultural heritage of humanity," announced in Paraguay, in Tokyo, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Shinuemon Konishi, president of the Preservation Society of Japanese Koji-based Sake-making craftsmanship, responds to a reporter's question during a news conference in Tokyo, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, as a video feed, background, shows a group of Japanese people including Konishi early in the morning celebrate UNESCO's recognition of Japan's sake making as "intangible cultural heritage of humanity," announced in Paraguay. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A person prepares for a display as he pours Japanese sake into a wooden cup traditionally used to drink sake, in Tokyo, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, before a news conference on UNESCO's recognition of Japan's sake making as "intangible cultural heritage of humanity," announced in Paraguay. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Some Japanese sake brands are displayed in Tokyo, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, before a news conference on UNESCO's recognition of Japan's sake making as "intangible cultural heritage of humanity," announced in Paraguay. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Chef Shigeki Yagi checks the temperature of sake as he was warming it for a customer at his restaurant in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Sushi chef Minoru Senda pours sake into a glass for a customer at his sushi restaurant in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Tatsuya Ogawa, a part-time worker for the Koten sake brewery, prepares to steam sake rice in a sake making process at the brewery in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Sake brewer Mie Takahashi checks cultivation of yeast used for sake making at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Tatsuya Ogawa, a part-time worker for the Koten sake brewery, prepares rice to send into a pot to steam in a sake making process at the brewery in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Bottles of Japanese sake brands made at the Koten brewery are displayed at the storefront in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Chef Shigeki Yagi pours warmed sake into a glass for a customer at his restaurant in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A customer sips sake at a restaurant in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Seasonal employee Daichi Ushiyama adds rice with koji mold to other sake ingredients in a sake making process at the Koten sake brewery in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Seasonal employee Shigeru Kikuchi sifts koji mold over steamed rice in a Japanese sake making process at her Koten sake brewery in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Seasonal employee Daichi Ushiyama, right, and part-time worker Tatsuya Ogawa take out sheets of "sake kasu," or lees, from a filtration unit in a sake making process at the Koten sake brewery in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, as sake lees are used for cooking. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Seasonal employee Shigeru Kikuchi stirs "moromi," or fermentation mash, following the mixture of sake ingredients including steamed rice with koji mold and yeast, in a sake making process at the Koten sake brewery in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Sake brewer Mie Takahashi, back right, and her crew Daichi Ushiyama, right, and Tatsuya Ogawa prepare steamed rice with koji mold for sake making in a temperature-controlled room at the Koten sake brewery in Okaya, Nagano prefecture, central Japan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Japanese sake, that is listed as a nominee for Intangible Cultural Heritage, are displayed on Japan's delegation table, during an UNESCO World Heritage Convention, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Marta Escurra)

Part of Japan's delegation from left to right; Shuntaro Yoshino, Takehiro Kano, and Hidetaka Kinami, attend a UNESCO World Heritage Convention, where the traditional Japanese brewing of sake is listed as a nominee for Intangible Cultural Heritage, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Marta Escurra)

Japan's Takehiro Kano, ambassador to UNESCO, reacts after the traditional Japanese brewing of sake was named Intangible Cultural Heritage during an UNESCO World Heritage Convention in Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Marta Escurra)

Japan's Takehiro Kano, ambassador to UNESCO, reacts the traditional Japanese brewing of sake was named Intangible Cultural Heritage during a UNESCO World Heritage Convention in Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Marta Escurra)