News

Official candidate list for IWF Electoral Congress released

May 24, 2022 - Lausanne, Switzerland  Today, the independent Eligibility Determination Panel (EDP) chaired by Swiss lawyer Gabriel Nigon released the official list of approved candidates for the upcoming IWF Electoral Congress.In a letter shared with the IWF Member Federations and candidates, Mr. Nigon, on behalf of the EDP, thanked all the candidates for their submission. The letter further provided a detailed explanation of the methodology and process used by the EDC to determine the eligibility of each candidate including detailed investigative background checks. Included in the letter was a link sharing the names of the approved candidates for the position of IWF President, Executive Board and various Committee positions.The objective eligibility criteria to be met by all candidates are listed under Article 13.12 and 37.2 of the newly approved IWF Constitution (which can be downloaded from the IWF website). All approved candidates must abide by IWF election and candidate conduct rules.IWF Interim President, Dr. Michael Irani said, “I would like to thank the Eligibility Determination Panel and chair Mr. Nigon for all their hard work. This is a great day for the IWF as we are one step closer in completing the final task asked of us by our Olympic partners – by utilising and following the IWF’s new constitution (completed in January 2022), and introducing robust independent anti-doping procedures we finally come to a transparent and well defined Election process to bring in a new era of IWF leadership and direction.”The IWF Congress is to be held 25-26 June in Tirana,

Pathway to Paris 2024: Weightlifting qualification system explained – Part 1

Weightlifting will once again feature at the Olympic Games, with five medal events for both men and women scheduled for Paris 2024. (...) After the excitement of Tokyo 2020, weightlifting will be once again back on the Olympic competition programme at Paris 2024 but with a number of differences compared to the last Olympic Games. In total, 120 athletes competing in 10 categories (five for women and five for men, four less in total than Tokyo 2020) will demonstrate their extraordinary strength as they fight for the ultimate prize in sport - an Olympic gold medal - at the South Paris Arena 6. But before any of that can take place, weightlifters will need to qualify for the competition - no easy task in itself. Considering the significant changes to the categories, athletes will face a challenge to qualify for the Olympic Games in just over two years' time. (...) How many athletes will compete in weightlifting at Paris 2024? In total, 120 athletes will compete in the Paris 2024 weightlifting competition, a drop from 196 in Tokyo and a further drop from the 260 who competed at London 2012 and Rio 2016. As the host country, France will be allocated four quota places (two for men and two for women). There will also be 10 quota places reserved for continental representation and six quota places for Universality places which will be decided by the Tripartite Commission in 2024. Each NOC will only be able to qualify one athlete per weight class, and three per gender across all weight categories - down from four each at Tokyo 2020. For each weight category established at Paris 2024, a maximum of 12 athletes will compete - two less in each category than Tokyo 2020. What are the requirements for athletes to be eligible for a quota? To be eligible to participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, athletes and NOCs will be required to comply with the following:  Athletes must be born on or before 31 December 2009. Athletes (including those from the host country and those who may be eligible for the Universality quotas) must participate in the 2023 IWF World (Senior) Championships (Q4 of 2023) and 2024 IWF World Cup (Q2 of 2024), except for truly exceptional circumstances Athletes must participate in a minimum of three of the following events (athletes from the host country and those who may be eligible for the Universality quotas must participate in at least two): 2022 IWF World (Senior) Championships/Q4 2022 2023 Continental (Senior) Championships (or Continental Senior Games if they are officially replacing the Continental Senior Championships) / Q1- Q2, 2023 2023 IWF Grand Prix I / Q2-Q3, 2023 2023 IWF Grand Prix II / Q3-Q4, 2023 2024 Continental (Senior) Championships, Q1-Q2, 2024 Athletes and their NOCs must be clean in terms of Anti-Doping Violation. More details can be found on the official IWF document (page 4) (...) Source: MENG Lingcheng -

Parents & Guardians: A Guide to Clean Sport

Parents and guardians of young athletes have many roles. As well as being their child’s number one fan, they are their taxi driver, nutritionist, psychologist. Alongside this, parents and guardians also have an important role in their child’s development as a clean athlete. This requires an understanding of anti-doping rules, and just as importantly, an ability to positively influence their child’s values and behaviours, which in turn can prevent doping. We invite parents, guardians, all athletes, and others who work with young athletes, to tune in as our expert panellists discuss this important topic. Joining us are Dr Lubna Sibtain, whose daughter was the first female swimmer and youngest female Olympian from Pakistan, and Jodi Brown, a former international netball player, parent, and member of Drug Free Sport New Zealand’s Education Team. They will share their experiences and provide practical tips on how parents and guardians can learn about, and take an active role in clean sport. As always, we are pleased to deliver these webinars in English with simultaneous translation to four additional languages – Arabic (العربي), Spanish (español), French (français) and Russian (русский). Topic: Parents and Guardians: A Guide to Clean Sport Registration Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aGL42DYbRx6x8WEeVgAj0g Event date: Tuesday 31 May 14:00–15:00 CET Panelists: Dr Lubna Sibtain, IOC Certified Sport Physician and parent of young Olympian Jodi Brown, Drug Free Sport New Zealand and International Netball Player Moderator:  Mairi Irvine, ITA Education Team

Entry List is Now Available for the 2022 IWF Youth World Championships

The entry list of the 2022 IWF Youth World Championships is now available here. Just as the entry lists of 2022 IWF Junior World Championships, this  version includes the current ranking based on entry totals and it is automatically updated in case of any change in the athletes' bodyweight category or entry

31st SEA Games

IWF General Secretary, Mohammed Jalood visited the Southeast Asian Games currently running in Hanoi, Vietnam. This is the second time Vietnam is hosting the SEA Games, the first one being in 2003. The event was originally scheduled for  2021  but due to the COVID Pandemic it was postponed to 2022. Mr. Jalood also met the official mascot of the Games, Sao La, both supporting the clean sport. The weightlifting competitions last 4 days and athletes are competing in 14 categories. One of the biggest name competing at the event is Hidilyn Diaz (PHI), Tokyo 2020 Olympic

The ITA imposes two-year sanctions on six Egyptian weightlifters

THE INTERNATIONAL TESTING AGENCY (ITA), LEADING AN INDEPENDENT ANTI-DOPING PROGRAM FOR THE INTERNATIONAL WEIGHTLIFTING FEDERATION (IWF), REPORTS THAT SIX EGYPTIAN WEIGHTLIFTERS HAVE ACCEPTED EACH A TWO-YEAR PERIOD OF INELIGIBILITY AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THEIR ANTI-DOPING RULE VIOLATIONS (ADRVS) STEMMING FROM SAMPLES COLLECTED DURING THE 2019 AFRICAN GAMES IN RABAT, MOROCCO. The six cases concern Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs) for the presence of the prohibited stimulant 5-methylhexan-2-amine (1,4-dimethylpentylamine) collected on 29 and 30 August 2019 during the 2019 African Games in Morocco. The prohibited substance is classified as a Specified substance by the World Anti-Doping Code. The cases were first prosecuted by the Organizing Committee of the African Games (COJAR). Following the conclusion of the results management process by COJAR, the individual results of the athletes obtained at the African Games were disqualified and the matter was referred to the ITA for the continuation of results management under the applicable IWF Anti-Doping Rules in order to determine the applicable sanction for the period following the African Games. The ITA reports that in line with the IWF Anti-Doping Rules the following athletes have accepted a retrospective period of ineligibility of two years – 22 January 2020 until 21 January 2022: Samar Habashy; Mohamed Abdelrahman Elsayed; Ibrahim Moustafa Wahid Shaaban Sara Samir Elsayed Mohamed Ahmed Farag Salma Ahmed Mahmoud Awad Abdelalim Mahmoud Selim The athletes have not participated in any event since the date of sample collection, therefore there are no additional results to disqualify. Under Article 12 of the IWF Anti-Doping Rules when three or more ADRVs sanctioned by the IWF are committed by athletes, officials or athlete support personnel within a 12-month period, the member federation can be suspended, fined and/or have other rights withdrawn. As a result, the matter of the consequences to be imposed on the Egyptian Weightlifting Federation will be referred by the ITA to the IWF’s Independent Member Federation Sanctioning Panel for its determination.