IWF announces the establishment of its Sport Program Commission
The International Weightlifting Federation is pleased to announce the establishment of its Sport Program Commission. Based on the IWF Executive Board’s decision on 14 June 2017 in Tokyo, JPN, the composition and the Terms of Reference have already been confirmed. The IWF Sport Program Commission will act as an advisory body to the IWF Executive Board on strategic and technical matters related to the sport and, in particular and as a priority, to address the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Weightlifting programme, including the Olympic Qualification System, the competition format, event field size and the men’s bodyweight categories to be contested. Furthermore, the IWF Sport Program Commission will focus on items such as the examination of sport innovation opportunities (e.g. new events, new disciplines, new formats) and areas of social inclusion; e.g. the participation of Refugee and Transgender athletes at IWF events, etc. The membership of the IWF Sport Program Commission is as follows; Nicu Vlad, IWF Vice-President & Chairman of the Technical Committee Attila Adamfi, IWF Director General Reiko Chinen, Technical Committee Member & Tokyo 2020 Weightlifting Manager; Matthew Curtain, Director of Sport & IF Relations of the Commonwealth Games Federation & former Weightlifting official (1998-2013); Tom Goegebuer, Athlete Representative, triple Olympian & Belgian Weightlifting Federation President; As Advisors, the IWF Sport Program Commission will be complemented by: Andrew Ryan, Executive Director, representing the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) Adam Schneider, Director, representing IWF’s strategic Media partner, Lagardère Sports IWF President Dr. Tamás Aján said ‘With a bespoke and diverse combination of proven Games knowledge, event experience, technical expertise, and industry-related credibility, the IWF Executive Board has full confidence in the forward-thinking ambitions of the newly established Sport Program Commission. The body will seek to build upon many of the successes achieved and accomplished by past IWF Executive Boards, Committees and Commissions. The Sport Commission will however also address many of the challenges the sport is currently facing by exploring new, refreshed and innovative opportunities to consider, embrace and evaluate for adoption.’ The composition of the Sport Commission representing all major stakeholders – athletes, technical experts, Multisport Games organisations, ASOIF and Media and Marketing partner - is a guarantee to involve and consider the viewpoints of all those associated with Weightlifting. The Commission will evaluate the sport’s status and propose creative solutions to improve the sport’s position in the continuously changing world of international sports, demanding nothing less than the highest level of integrity in the Olympic sport of Weightlifting. The first meeting of the IWF Sport Program Commission will be held on 4–5 September 2017 and the Commission will make the first report to the Executive Board at its next meeting in Bucharest, ROU on 30 September – 1 October
