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– First of all I am quite impressed by the venue in this unique parc, Patrick Schamasch said after visiting the Dome.

I was impressed by the high quality of the competition fight until the last minutes. I follow weightlifting since Seoul Olympics in 1988. Thanks to dr. Tamás Aján and thanks to the French Federation now I understand a little bit more the background of weightlifting. I had a good chance to discover the technique behind all the movements. Dome is a special place where I can easily imagine the first decades of weightlifting around similar circumstances. Here the public is very interactive. This tremendous atmosphere reminds me my Athens memories. That venue was fantastic too, very special for weightlifting.

-What is your most memorable moment in this sport?

– Athens impressed me very much. My hero is Pyrros Dimas who continued competing after three Olympic gold and won a bronze on home soil. I will always remember as he was standing under the weight and he was smiling towards the public. Yesterday I saw a lifter under a huge weight also turning to the public while being all smiles. These moments I consider the real meaning of sport.

– IWF just launched a campaign announcing ‘Say no to doping!’ and one of the main charaters to promote clean sport is Dimas.

– That is another aspect I have been working together with IWF a lot. I remember well the world championship in1995 when IWF reported to be the first federation to use high resolution. After this event President Samaranch said he needed to have high resolution in Olympic Game in Atlanta and he had it. So, I think the campaign is done by IWF in conjunction with WADA is a very important one. I am sure the way IWF is tackling the doping issue is exceptional. IWF might be the only federation which tests all the athletes at the Games. This campaign is a great idea and I do hope this campaign will be joined by all the federations.

– What are the next steps taken by IOC?

-IOC President Jacques Rogge had announced his very strict zero tolerance policy in 2001. In London we will have 5000 tests. What we will do more and more is to switch from the mere detection of the substance. We try to convince the federations to move slowly towards the acceptence of the athletes biological passport which means determination of the individual profile of each athlete.If some data are outside the limit of the individual profile than it can cause a problem. We try to push slowly the federations to accept it. By the moment I can tell you six federations already accepted the individual passport. I had discussions with IWF leaders as well and I do hope the federation will move towards this solution.