I've come to the conclusion that a lot of New Zealand’s competitive weightlifting population do not understand what VOE is. Here is my attempt at educating you, I very much hope this makes sense.
VOE stands for Verification of Entries. Why would entries need verifying? Let’s go back to when you initially entered…
When you enter a major event you will include a bunch of information including what weight class you intend to compete in and an entry total. If I’ve already lost you read more about weight classes and entry totals via these links and come back here after. Entry is completed weeks if not months in advance, and some of those original details might no longer work for you by the time the actual competition rolls around. Rather than allowing a free-for-all where anyone can make changes at any time (which would be horrific for event scheduling and organisation), the sport has a built in rule where there is a specific time period right before the competition where entry changes can be accepted. This window of time is what VOE is. Important to note here that VOE is only about making changes- if you don’t don’t have any then you don’t do anything and your original entry details stand.
Traditionally VOE is a short (sometimes hours) window of time 2-5 days before the competition starts (can be further out for very large and international events). In the past a team delegate was required to come into the competition venue and make changes in person. This sounds ridiculous but again all Weightlifting rules are made with major internationals in mind and tend to be pretty long-standing; teams arrive early to recover from travel/adjust to the local conditions so it isn’t unreasonable to expect someone official would be available to make changes. As far as I am aware everything has now evolved to being run online.
Currently within New Zealand I am seeing VOE used two ways; still a window of time a few days out from the competition starting, or a deadline where changes can be made to entries at any point until a specified deadline. Changes are made via specified means; through the event entry portal, email and/or text message. Athletes are free to make their own changes, although in some cases coaches will on athlete’s behalf. As an event organiser I personally preferred a set window where all changes come through at once (cc. ‘horrific’ above).
Why might you need to use VOE and make changes? I see two main drivers; strategy or necessity.
Strategy
You raise or lower your entry total to change your initial ranking/which session (A, B, C etc) you compete in, or you go up/down a weight class for the associated competitive opportunities of doing so.
Why?
While you don’t know who else has entered or what they’ve put as an entry total at the time you enter an event, you will have all this information before the end of VOE. The actions you might take depend on what’s realistic for you and what your personal goals are. Here are some examples
You walk around at 88kg and are entered in the M89 category. The entry list indicates you will be more competitive in the M96 so you move up because winning medals is your priority, and you will easily be able to ensure you weigh at least 89.01kg at weigh in.
You are listed in the B session but want to compete in the A. If you added 30kg to your entry total you would move up to the A session and would still be able take safe openers, so you make this change.
You are listed in the A session for your weight class which is scheduled to compete first thing in the morning, while the B session competes the night before. You struggle to lift in the morning so lower your entry total so that you are moved to the B- because the time of day is going to have more of an impact on performance for you than lifting with the other top athletes.
One thing to be aware of here is that all your opposition also has all this information and the ability to make their own changes- if lots of people do it things might not work out as you intend.
Necessity
More commonly, athletes make changes as a result of a change in circumstances (expected or not) since entering. The most dramatic of these is withdrawing- on this, if you know before the end of VOE you’re not going to be able to compete please respect the event organisers enough to tell them.
Changes to weight class is generally people moving up; something has gone wrong that has either resulted in weight gain or an inability to focus on a safe cut (such as a hectic schedule or life stress), or they were always over the limits of their weight class and telling themselves lies that they would magically weigh less by comp day (cc. me)
Changes to entry total is most commonly to lower it; something has happened since entering with training (injury, illness or life-interruption) and their original entry total would now mean stressful and/or unrealistic openers.
Other changes I’ve made to entries are things like preferred name if it hasn’t come through correctly from entry, or club/coach where an athlete has changed hands since entering.
VOE deadline
Regardless of whether a long or a short window, there are two givens with VOE; it will always conclude as close to the start of competition as is realistic for organisers, and it will have an end point after which you can’t make any further changes.
The time between the end of VOE and the start of the competition is critical. As a result of VOE there might end up being changes to the competition schedule, and if this happens there can be major flow on actions required, such as communicating the changes to athletes and coaches, updating the associated paperwork for each session, rejigging the technical officials and media (livestream) team to fit the new schedule, and making sure all other relevant parties (e.g. catering, photography, venue managers etc) are aware and on top of any changes.
The process of VOE can sometimes have little to no impact on an event, sometimes huge. It is an important part of the pre-event dance however and hopefully this has added a bit of explanation around its relevance. After entering an event the next step is to ensure you are across its associated VOE process (timeframe, method of making changes) so you know the drill if it becomes relevant.