IWF120y/120 – 1905-2025: Happy Birthday IWF!
Exactly 120 years ago, on June 10, 1905, the premises of the International Weightlifting Federation were laid down in the city of Duisburg (GER). The initiative for such a gathering came from the German national body two months earlier. The objective was to create a world union, with the following objectives. 1. To standardise the names, execution, and evaluation of exercises; 2. To hold competitions under standardised regulations; 3. To only accept the presence in these competitions of members affiliated to the world union; 4. To strictly observe the amateur rules; 5. To fix the value of prizes to be awarded; 6. To unify the rules related to records. Despite the invitation being sent to 11 countries, only four were present on that historic day in Duisburg: Denmark, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. They are the official four founding members of the IWF! The only two points on the agenda of that inaugural meeting were: 1. A resolution on founding an international union in weightlifting and wrestling, and a decision about its name; 2. The creation of a commission, with representatives of these four nations, in charge of elaborating the details of the exercises and the running of international competitions. The first name of the world body in charge of governing weightlifting (and wrestling at the time) was “Amateur Athletic World Union”. Other nations slowly joined the new organisation, which had 16 members in 1913. In 1920, Weightlifting became the only sport governed by the Federation, and in 1972, the definitive name of ‘International Weightlifting Federation’ was adopted. Happy Birthday IWF!
