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IWF Intercontinental Commission meets in Astana

Hosted by IWF Vice President Zhanat Tussupbekov, the IWF Intercontinental Commission's meeting took place in the country's capital, Astana. The IC is composed of the Presidents and General Secretaries of the Continental Federations and, last but not least, the President and General Secretary of the IWF. The Astana gathering was also attended by the IWF's 1st Vice President and the Director General. All 5 continents were represented - by President , General Secretary or both - in the 2-day IC meeting, the first one held separately, away from the combustion and tension of World Championships. As participants pointed out, the meeting chaired by IWF President Dr. Tamás Aján provided a unique opportunity and was fruitfully used to discuss issues of common interest, get updates from the IWF on items of particular concern to the Continental Federations. Unity, as key to progress and reinforcing the status of weightlifting on a global scale, was emphasized and, in general opinion, clearly manifest at the meeting. Inserted in the schedule, the IC members were honour guests at the Electoral Congress of the Weightlifting Federation of Kazakhstan, at which President Tussupbekov's mandate was reconfirmed for another 4-year term. Participants also paid a visit to the new, elegant and perfectly outfitted office of the IWF General Secretary, Mohammed Jalood and that was where they concluded their working

Tulio Hernán Martínez Leal passed away

We are very sad to announce that the former President of the Colombian Weightlifting Federation Mr.Tulio Hernán Martínez Leal died today after battling disease for a long time. Under his presidency, the Colombian Federation made huge progress, producing many medals at high level international competitions (including Olympic Games and World Championships) and Colombia organized the Junior World Championships in Cali, in 2008. He was a great leader who treated his athletes and his colleagues as part of his family. May he rest in

WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING’s latest issue is out!

No.143 of WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING special issue on the 2017 IWF World Championships Anaheim, USA is out. Check it out the best moments and

Yasmin Zammit Stevens named Malta’s Sportswoman of the year

Maltese weightlifting has made history once again with Yasmin Zammit Stevens named Malta’s Sportswoman of the year 2017. Jesmond Caruana was nominated for "Official of the year" and Shelby Mangion Vassallo was nominated for "Youth athlete of the year". Yasmin Zammit Stevens finished on top after 8 sport journalists from different media voted for who they thought had the most success in 2017. Last year, Zammit Stevens was the first Maltese female weightlifter to compete at the European Championships and at the Universiade, the first Maltese woman to win individual gold medals at an international weightlifting event, broke over 20 national records and qualified for the Commonwealth Games set to take place in Gold Coast this April. Jesmond Caruana finished in a close 2nd place in his respective category. This was the 8th time Caruana has been voted into the finals with consistently high results every year. First time finalist, Shelby Mangion Vassallo, was also among the 5 finalists for youth athlete of the year, celebrating a very successful year leading up to the youth Olympic Games. The Malta Weightlifting Association is overjoyed with the tremendous success 2017 has brought. This recognition confirms that the tireless work by the association is paying off with more and more success year after year. Check out the video on YouTube Source: Jesmond Caruana, Malta Weightlifting Association

IWF oversees anti-doping education seminars in suspended Member Federations

Lausanne; 16 February 2018: The latest anti-doping education seminar has concluded in Azerbaijan as the IWF continues to oversee anti-doping education seminars in its nine suspended Member Federations (MFs) and support them bring about cultural change. MFs must organise anti-doping seminars at least every four months, as part of the IWF’s extensive series of criteria that they are obliged to fulfil. Since December 2017, anti-doping seminars have been held in Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, Moldova Turkey and Ukraine. The purpose of the seminars is to educate athletes, coaches and officials on the dangers of doping and provide more information on IWF anti-doping policy, anti-doping rule violations, prohibited substances, ADAMs and whereabouts information, WADA and NADOs. Representatives from National Anti-Doping Agencies and medical experts make presentations to provide the very-latest information and scientific data. The seminars and their content is strictly overseen by the IWF and MFs must provide the IWF with detailed reports following the seminars. The IWF Monitoring Group, consisting of independent anti-doping experts, examines and evaluates all the presentations and reports of the MFs to ensure the seminars are effective as possible. IWF President Tamas Ajan said: “Anti-doping education is vital in helping change cultures, particularly in high-risk countries where doping is more prevalent. We of course need to ensure we have robust anti-doping measures in place to protect clean athletes and catch athletes who cheat. But, it is equally important to have extensive education programmes in place to encourage cultural change and prevent the minority of athletes who cheat from cheating in the first place. “When we suspended the nine MFs we sent out the strongest possible message about how committed we are to protecting clean athletes. We also made it clear that we would work with these countries to make real and lasting change and put in the necessary anti-doping measures to address their doping issues. These anti-doping seminars are effective way of doing that. But there is a lot more that needs to be done and a lot of criteria they need to fulfil before they can fulfil their obligation to ensure clean sport. The IWF, through the Monitoring Group, will continue to work with them to achieve

OWF Elite Training Camp

With the financial assistance of the IWF Development Program, an Elite Training Camp was held at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in Mont Dore, New Caledonia from the 24th January to the 4th February 2018. The purpose of this training camp which was organised by the Oceania Weightlifting Federation, was to bring together the best regional lifters who have not only qualified for the Commonwealth Games but are also – most of them – medal prospects for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games coming up April 4-15. A similar training camp funded by the IWF Development Program was held prior to the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games where Oceania regional lifters were very successful by winning four gold, five silver and five bronze medals. The camp produced some outstanding and inspirational performances.  These are some of the performances: Lui (Samoa) 21 years old snatch 180Kg, clean & jerk 220kg Total 400Kg in the +105Kg Category. Steven Kari (PNG) 150kg snatch, 207kg clean & jerk in the 94kg category A superb performance was put up by Morea Baru (PNG) in the 62kg category with 133kg snatch, 167kg clean & jerk 300kg total – which equals the winning performance at the recent world championships in the USA Sanele Mao (Samoa) in the 105kg snatch 160kg clean & Jerk 200kg – just missing 205kg 17-year-old junior female lifter from Samoa – Feagaiga Stowers clean & jerk 140kg in the +90kg category Another excellent performance from 18 years’ old Nauruan sensation, Charisma Amoe-Tarrant, also clean & jerk 140kg in the +90kg category Manueli Tulo (Fiji) snatch 110Kg, clean & jerk 140 for a 250Kg total in the 56Kg category. Leading coaches from the region also attending the camp were: Jerry Wallwork (Samoa), Joe Vueti (Fiji) and Tina Ball (New Zealand) The OWF is very confident, of surpassing the successful medal results from Glasgow. We wish to thank also the Australian Weightlifting Federation for sending Bowen Stuart their Information Technology & Communication Manager to webcast the final training sessions. The two training sessions can be seen on this link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPF8ZXyUMP4g-BRJ0p-DeJtBrmNXWhfCz Source: Paul Coffa, OWF General