Nearly 1,300 athletes are on the preliminary entry list for the first Paris 2024 qualifying event, the IWF World Championships in Bogota, Colombia in December.

Although that number is expected to drop nearer to 800 by the final entry deadline, when nations select their preferred athletes, it presents organisers with a big challenge.

Mohamed Jalood, the IWF President, is keen on having two platforms in Bogota because he believes the alternative, long days with early-morning starts, can be a safety concern and can affect results.

He told insidethegames that plans were in place to have two platforms at all Olympic qualifying events that attract large entries from next year - and he expects big numbers at all of them, not least because the spread of medals was the widest in the sport's history in Tokyo last year.

A decision on Bogota, where the World Championships is scheduled to run from December 5 to 16, depends on the suitability of the venue, supply of equipment, and the final entry numbers, for which the deadline is November 5.

Jalood recalled his personal experience at the 2003 IWF World Championships in Vancouver, Canada - a key qualifying event for Athens 2004 - when many hundreds of entries led to some days running from 6am until late at night.

"If there are too many athletes and only one platform it can affect results," Jalood said, during the Asian Championships in Manama, Bahrain.

Because weigh-ins are two hours before lifting starts, both athletes and technical officials will be "in the wrong mood, not properly prepared, not properly rested" if their competition begins early in the morning.

"This can affect results, and it can cause injuries.

"I remember there were a lot of injuries in Vancouver because athletes were not prepared for starting at 6am.

"If we can go with two platforms in Colombia it's more comfortable for technical officials and, more important, for the lifters.

"We will find a solution to this."

There is talk of the 2023 IWF World Championships in Saudi Arabia - a compulsory event for all Olympic hopefuls next October - attracting more than 1,000 entries.

Mohammed Alharbi, President of the Saudi Arabia Weightlifting Federation and an IWF Executive Board member, said the venue in Riyadh would have ample room for two platforms and he was already planning to accommodate extra technical officials.

Under the Paris qualifying rules, which are explained here, athletes must compete in the 2023 IWF World Championships in Riyadh, the IWF World Cup in April 2024, which is pencilled in for Thailand, plus three more events from a list of five that features this year's IWF World Championships in Bogota, two Grand Prix events next year in Cuba and Qatar, and the various continental championships in 2023 and 2024.

The single best performance from five competitions counts, which Jalood believes is an improvement on the Tokyo qualifying system that was split into three six-month sections, all of which counted towards a final points score.

That was strong on compelling athletes to undergo anti-doping tests, according to Jalood, but it was unfair on athletes who were injured or had other mishaps in one six-month period and failed to qualify despite performing well in the other two.

He cited the examples of two Olympic champions from Iran, Sohrab Moradi and Kianoush Rostami, both of whom fell foul of the system, and also pointed out that athletes were able to use the points system to qualify in a weight category in which they had not lifted, as Lydia Valentin of Spain did.

"Our system now is completely different and it is simple," he said.

Because weightlifting is out of favour with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the number of athletes competing in Paris is down to 120, compared with 196 in Tokyo, and the medal events have been cut from 14 to 10 - but the entry numbers are up.

Jalood has been in the sport for nearly 50 years as an athlete - he won an Asian Championships bronze medal for Iraq in 1979 - and administrator at national, continental and global level.

In all that time, he has never seen so many entries as the IWF has had for Bogota, and he expects that trend to continue.

"Look at Tokyo and the spread of medals around the world," he said, while pointing out that there were zero doping positives.

"Canada had a gold medal, the Philippines for the first time, Italy won medals for the first time in 37 years, Mexico was there.

"The weightlifting map is growing, more and more countries are developing the sport.

"Look at what is happening here in Bahrain, organising a competition for the first time and trying for medals in Paris.

"The culture of weightlifting is is changing."