News

IWF Executive Board Statement

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has been made aware of a potential major issue concerning an athlete competing at the IWF World Championships. Upon receiving the information, the IWF Executive Board called an emergency meeting and agreed to launch an immediate investigation. As part of any investigation, all professional advice will be followed. The IWF is committed to acting swiftly and decisively to protect the integrity of weightlifting. The IWF will make no further comment until the investigation has been

IWF Honorary Vice President Chang Chao-kuo Receives Chinese Taipei’s Top Sports Award

The International Weightlifting Federation Honorary Vice President Chang Chao-kuo received Lifetime Achievement Award from Chinese Taipei’s Sports Administration on December 9 , 2022 for his over six decades of dedication to the sport. Chang contributed to the globalization of the sport and the development of woman weightlifting when he served as 1st vice president of IWF. The life honorary president of the Chinese Taipei Weightlifting Association led weightlifters from Chinese Taipei to break records and won world medals including four gold medals, two silver and four bronze in the Olympic Games. Weightlifting is his everlasting passion and the award marks his lifetime commitment to the sport. Chang said he and his family will continue dedicating to the development of weightlifting. Chang was born in a remote area of Chinese Taipei’s western Yunlin county. He learned martial arts skills in his young days and managed to develop related business including the Ching Han Tan pharmaceutical products. The earnings benefit his supports for athletes and the contribution to the sport world of Chinese Taipei led to the lifetime achievement award. Dubbed as father of weightlifting sport in Chinese Taipei, Chang doesn’t only commit himself to enhancing skills of athletes but also cultivating their morals. Chang organized events to promote the family value of respecting parents and the spirit of gratitude and repayment in the society when he was head of Chinese Taipei’s sports

Bomb-out, then a world record for teenager Nasar at weightlifting World Championships

By Brian Oliver Karlos NASAR (BUL) missed all three of his snatch attempts but broke the 89kg clean and jerk world record by 3kg on another remarkable day at the IWF World Championships in Bogotá, Colombia. The Olympic 96kg silver medallist Keydomar VALLENILLA (VEN) won the contest on total with a career-best 175-210-385 at this weight. “I’m so pleased with this,” he said, clutching his gold medal. “This is the first (world title) for Venezuela.” Vallenilla’s best clean and jerk was 10kg lower than Nasar’s, but the Bulgarian was already out of the running on total after those snatch failures. He had prepared for competing in the world’s fifth highest capital city by training for 40 days at mid-altitude in Bulgaria but, he said, he had been badly affected by the recent death of a close friend. Nasar, who was 18 last week, made 212kg with his first clean and jerk before failing with a junior world record attempt at 217kg. He went for 220kg on his final attempt to take the senior world record from Antonino PIZZOLATO (ITA), who was not fit to compete here. Why so high, when 218kg would have been enough for the record? “I have lifted 225kg in training many times, and I went all or nothing,” he said. His record-breaking lift took the clean and jerk gold ahead of LIU Huanhua (CHN) on 215kg and Brayan RODALLEGAS (COL) on 211kg. Rodallegas was third in snatch and clean and jerk, and second overall on 170-211-381, the same total as bronze medallist Liu, who was 9kg behind in the snatch on 166kg but made all three clean and jerks. Liu’s final effort at 215kg denied Kianoush ROSTAMI (IRI) a bronze medal on total. Rostami, who won at 85kg at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, took a silver medal in the snatch and finished fourth on total with 174-206-380. He had failed to qualify for Tokyo because of injury and a missed entry deadline, and said before competition that he was feeling good after two months of intense training. Afterwards he said he was “pleased for my country and myself”. Two of China’s top athletes withdrew at the last moment on the day, TIAN Tao (CHN) from the 89kg and SHI Zhiyong (CHN) from the 81kg. Tian Tao explained on social media that it was a strategy to wait for the time when the athletes feel in their best form to make a big total, because only their best performance will count in qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Both Shi Zhiyong and Tian Tao abided by the qualifying rules by participating at the IWF World Championships, the first Paris 2024 qualifying event, by weighing in and being introduced to the audience. That was the first of five and now they must participate in four more qualifying events, two of which are compulsory, the 2023 IWF World Championships in Saudi Arabia and the 2024 IWF World Cup in Thailand. The other two can be chosen from continental championships in 2023 and 2024, and IWF Grands Prix in Cuba and Qatar next year. “The strategy is simple – to catch one of the five events when I am on the best form,” he said on social media. Tian Tao said he had been feeling the effects of altitude in Bogotá, and Shi Zhiyong said he had been injured. In Shi Zhiyong’s absence in the 81kg category, China still won. LI Dayin (CHN), who said he will be going up to the Olympic weight category of 89kg, built a lead of 7kg in the snatch by making 171kg, which is 4kg below his own world record. He made 171-201-372 to finish ahead of Rejepbay REJEPOV (TKM) on 164-202-366 and KIM Woo Jae (KOR) on 162-195-357. It was the same finishing order in the snatch. In the clean and jerk Rejepov won gold, Li silver, and Andres CAICEDO (COL) bronze with 197kg. Rejepov went for double glory on his final attempt, a clean and jerk world record of 209kg that would have given him victory on total. He cleaned it but could not complete the lift, and slammed the platform in frustration. "I was so close," he said

Record-breaking teenager Pei wins world title in first international competition

By Brian Oliver PEI Xinyi (CHN), who is young enough to compete as a youth, won a senior world title in her first international competition at the IWF World Championships in Bogotá, Colombia. Pei, who was 17 in October, set a youth world record with her first ever lift, bettered it and secured a snatch gold medal with her second, and bettered it yet again with her third to build a lead of 4kg half-way through the women’s 64kg A Group. There were two more record-breaking lifts as Pei made a sweep of youth world records and claimed victory on 105-128-233. Pei failed with her final attempt of 135kg but still finished well ahead of Rattanawan WAMALUN (THA) on 101-126-227 and the Pan American champion Nathalia LLAMOSA (COL) on 101-123-224. What made Pei’s performance even more impressive is that she is really a 59kg lifter. She was deliberately entered in the less pressurised 64kg for her first competition, and weighed in at 59.3kg. That means she was giving away more 4kg in weight advantage to most of her rivals. If Pei had been 300 grammes lighter and competed instead at 59kg here on Thursday, a repeat of her 105-128-233 performance would have put her ahead of two Olympic champions, KUO Hsing-Chun (TPE) and Maude CHARRON (CAN), as well as two of her senior team-mates, LUO Shifang (CHN) and LUO Xiaomin (CHN). Wang Guoxin, coach of the China women’s team, said before the World Championships that he would not put too much pressure on the young lifters and would encourage them to learn through competitions. “Our goal at the World Championships is to let athletes gradually find their rhythm of competing in major events,” he said last week. Did it work for Pei? “Yes, I was nervous at the start, but very happy,” she said, before confirming that she will now return to 59kg. She is the youngest member of China’s national team, which she joined in December last year. “I have learned a lot from elder members of the team, they teach me about things I don’t know and help me a lot,” Pei said. “They have helped me to grow up and be more confident.” Pei, who has no history of weightlifting in her family, took up the sport at junior school in 2014 before becoming a youth champion in Zhejiang Province in 2016.  Now, at her first attempt, she is a senior world champion. Women 64kg Total Podium @IWF Llamosa took silver in the snatch and bronze in clean and jerk, while Wamalun had bronze in snatch and silver in clean and jerk. The European and Asian champions Mariia HANHUR (UKR) and PHAM Thi Hong (VIE) both failed to make a total in a session that featured as many no-lifts as good

Rahmat Erwin makes history with world record and gold from B Group

By Brian Oliver at Gran Carpa Américas Corferias in Bogotá Rahmat Erwin ABDULLAH (INA) won a gold medal and set a world record from the B Group in the men’s 73kg at the IWF World Championships in Bogotá, Colombia. “It’s amazing – nobody has ever done that before at the World Championships,” said the IWF President Mohamed Jalood. Rahmat’s team-mate Rizki JUNIANSYAH (INA) finished second on total. Lifting in the A Group, he went for 198kg with his final attempt to overtake Rahmat and improve two of his own junior world records, but he failed. Five of the A Group lifters failed to make a total, including two medallists from the Tokyo Olympic Games, Julio MAYORA (VEN) and Mirko ZANNI (ITA). There was another last-lift victory for the host nation in the day’s other medal event at 67kg, and another Olympic champion was beaten, making it three in two days. Rahmat made his world record clean and jerk of 200kg at the second attempt. “I have done it in training and I’m very happy, but it was very hard,” said Rahmat, who was so exhausted he was flat out on the ground for six minutes in the warm-up area afterwards. He won a bronze medal in Tokyo from a B Group and said the decision to try it again was “strategy, not injury”. He lifted 22kg more than his entry total. Rahmat made 152-200-352, Juniansyah 155-192-347 and bronze medallist Alexey CHURKIN (KAZ) made 153-190-343. Churkin also competed in the B Group, which produced three of the top five on total. The finishing order in the snatch was Juniansyah on 155kg, Bozhidar ANDREEV (BUL) on 154kg, and Churkin on 153kg. In the clean and jerk it was Rahmat, Juniansyah and Churkin, with the B Group lifter Masanori MIYAMOTO (JPN) fourth on 187kg. In the men’s 67kg Francisco MOSQUERA (COL) had two chances to overtake the Tokyo champion Chen LIJUN (CHN) in a tense contest in which the top four finishers were separated by only 4kg. He got the bar above his head at the first attempt but dropped it, then came back and made it to earn a huge cheer from the home crowd. After making the winning lift and throughout the medal ceremony, which featured five lifters, Mosquera kept throwing his arms wide and blowing kisses to a section of the crowd where his wife, son, mother and trainer were sitting. This win was the highlight of his career and he said, “They have been there for me through this process, good times and bad, and I want to thank them and God.” Mosquera, 30, made a career-best total of 325kg and is hoping he will get another chance at glory by competing at the Olympic Games for the first time at Paris 2024, for which this was the first qualifying event. “I could not be in Tokyo last year (Colombia was restricted to only three places because of a long and complicated doping dispute) but in Paris I hope the federation will select me,” he said. Chen won the snatch with 148kg and started early and low in the clean and jerk. He led Mosquera, who was fourth at half-way, by 5kg. The silver and bronze snatch medals both went to Thailand, to Witsanu CHANTRI (THA) on 144kg and 18-year-old Weeraphon WICHUMA (THA) on 143kg. Chen, 29, finished 15kg below his best total on 148-176-324, and six of his rivals had 12 lifts to come between them. He had to wait 18 minutes, during which time 20-year old Fehmi GENC (TUR) guaranteed gold in clean and jerk on 182kg, the number Mosquera needed for victory. Mosquera made it with the final lift of the session to finish 143-182-325. Wichuma made 143-180-323, and Genc was fourth on

Colombians celebrate as Alvarez beats two Olympic champions

By Brian Oliver Yenny ALVAREZ (COL) defeated two Olympic champions and sent a crowd of 1,800 noisy spectators into wild celebrations when she became the host nation’s first champion of the week at the IWF World Championships in Bogotá. Alvarez made her final lift of 133kg to claim the biggest win of her career, the 59kg world title. It brought the crowd to their feet and Alvarez said, “It was so good to win for these people in my home country. I am so passionate about this sport.” The 59kg Olympic champion Kuo was second and the 64kg winner in Tokyo last year, Maude CHARRON (CAN), was third in a very entertaining session that, unlike others before it, had far more good lifts than no-lifts. In the week before the World Championships, hosted by Colombia for the first time, Alvarez  had said, “I want to be a world and Olympic champion and to be an example for future generations.” She has lived up to the first part. At last year’s IWF World Championships in Uzbekistan, Alvarez finished second to Kuo and made career-best numbers in snatch, clean and jerk and total. Last night she beat all of them to make 101-133-234. That final lift improved her best clean and jerk by 6kg. Kuo, whose only other defeat in the past six years came when she went up to 64kg and found DENG Wei (CHN) in world-record form, was a more than gracious loser. She waited in the warm-up room for Alvarez to return from the platform after that winning lift and applauded her. “I am happy with my performance because I have had injuries, I had a lot of home time during Covid and I will do better in my next competition,” said Kuo. She said she had expected a very strong challenge “from Colombia and from Luo Shifang from China – she’s very young for me!” There was only 5kg between the top five lifters and China’s two strong contenders did not make the podium on total because Alvarez, Kuo and Charron all had a good night. LUO Xiaomin (CHN) won the snatch and made 103-126-229 for fifth place and 21-year-old LUO Shifang (CHN), making her first appearance in senior competition, failed with her final attempt that might have won the title, at 133kg, and finished fourth on 101-129-230. Luo Shifang was second in the clean and jerk behind Alvarez and Kuo, who made 102-130-232. There was only 2kg between the top six in the snatch, where the medallists were Luo Xiaomin on 103kg, Charron on the same number and Kamila KONOTOP (UKR) on 102kg. Charron, who won at 64kg in Tokyo, was understandably happy with her performance, as she showed with a jaunty dance off the platform after her first clean and jerk. She had never competed at less than 63kg before, and had been suffering a knee injury. There was a notable performance in 43rd place of the 52 entries, the most of any weight category. Alanoud ALSHEHRI (KSA), who made 70-77-147, was the first female from Saudi Arabia ever to lift at the IWF World