News

IWF Constitution Translated Into Additional Languages As Governance Reform Continues

The IWF Constitution, independently-drafted and then approved by Member Federations in August 2021, has been translated to Arabic, French, Russian and Spanish as part of the IWF’s ongoing governance reform efforts. The implementation of the provisions of the new Constitution is well underway and the IWF will hold a Special Congress on 30 January, where the members of the independent Ethics and Disciplinary Commission, responsible for determining eligibility of candidates ahead of the IWF Electoral Congress on 25-26 June 2022, will be elected. “This marks another important step in the IWF’s governance reform ahead of our Special Congress at the end of this month, “ said IWF Interim President Dr Michael Irani. “The translation of the Constitution into four additional languages ensures that the vast majority of federations have the opportunity to access the document in their native language. Our focus is now firmly on the Congress at the end of this month and ensuring we remain on the right path, in line with the requirements set out by the IOC.” The new Constitution is seeking to establish vital principles including athlete representation, gender equality and independent oversight.  A minimum of three athlete representatives will serve on the reformed IWF Executive Board, and women will fill at least 30% of elected positions. Ethics and discipline matters will be handled independently of the IWF Executive Board, building on interim arrangements that had already been put in place in recent months. In addition to this, the robust eligibility criteria and term limits outlined in the Constitution will ensure that the future IWF Executive Board benefits from a regular influx of new talents and will notably deprive National Federations with a high number of doping cases will not have access to board-level

IWF Special Congress – Agenda and related materials

Please be informed that the agenda of the Special Congress can be downloaded from here. All materials related to point 3 of the agenda “Approval of the proposed changes to the IWF Constitution and Rules” can be downloaded from here. Please note that the IWF Executive Board is preparing a list of appointments of the Members for the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission (EDC) and the Independent Investigative Chamber (IIC). The final list of appointments will be sent to all Member Federations in advance of the IWF Special

The IWF Mourns the Passing of Maître François Carrard

With the passing of Maître François Carrard, the IWF has lost a trustful advisor and a great friend. His contribution to sport in general and to weightlifting in particular is without parallel. Throughout his exceptional career, Maître Carrard brought to bear his legal training, his constant willingness to help resolve even the trickiest situations and his deeply amiable personality. It was a winning combination. Maître François Carrard @ASA Profiles As the IOC’s long-time Director General, Maître Carrard provided much-needed leadership and rigour while the Olympic Movement transitioned from largely voluntary administration to a professional basis. He was instrumental in reforms at the IOC, in the creation of WADA, the creation of CAS and so much more. Weightlifting was one of the many sports lucky enough to been able to count on his steadfast support. “Throughout the IWF’s efforts to reform our governance, we were so fortunate to have been able to count on the support of Maître Carrard. All those of us who had the real pleasure of working with him shall miss him dearly,” said IWF Interim President Dr Michael Irani. “Francois could always be relied on to give the right advice, in the right way. We are deeply saddened that he will no longer be by our side.” The IWF extends its very deepest condolences to the family and colleagues of Maître

University of Lausanne and International Weightlifting Federation To Team Up

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) and the University of Lausanne, through its Institute of Sport Sciences (ISSUL) are teaming up in the context of a research project on international sport federations’ organizational performance. The overall research project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation for a period of four years. The project addresses two key questions. Firstly, how international sport federations’ organizational performance at a global level (sporting, economic, media, social and societal performance) can be measured efficiently and effectively. And secondly, how findings can inform and guide the federation’s strategic management. For this purpose, the researchers Prof. Emmanuel Bayle and Josephine Clausen (Ph.D) have developed a conceptual performance measurement model that is tailored to the reality of international sport federations. “The IWF has made great strides in terms of improving its governance,” said IWF Interim President Dr Michael Irani. “We have adopted a new constitution, developed new mechanisms for incorporating athletes in our decision making and more. But there is always more that can be done. The IWF is grateful for this chance to engage with independent experts, in order to improve our future work.” The overarching objective of the UNIL research project is to help international sport federations analyze, understand, monitor and manage their organizational performance holistically. Based on the fine-grained analysis of a federation’s organizational capacity, specific lines of actions can be defined within the various dimensions covered in the performance measurement model. Over a period of six months starting in January 2022, the goal of the collaboration between IWF and ISSUL is to apply the performance measurement model to the IWF and to help the federation in making informed decisions. “We are excited to collaborate with IWF on this first application of our performance measurement model. Our goal is to collaborate with federations that seek to analyze their performance holistically in relation to their mission and their strategic objectives and to help them steer their organizational performance based on informed decision-making,” said senior ISSUL researcher Josephine

IWF Congress Successfully Approves Election Process And Timeline

IWF General Congress @IWF/Isaac Morillas The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) successfully held a Congress of its Member Federations today, in Tashkent and online. 101 Member Federations took part (69 in-person, 32 online), approving a clear set of dates and steps related to the holding of elections for the IWF Executive Board and other Committee positions. “Thanks to today’s decisions, the IWF has been able to finish the year as it started: on track towards meaningful reform and culture change,” said IWF Interim President Dr Michael Irani. “We were asked to deliver three things: new governance, clean competitions and faces in our leadership team. We’ve already delivered the first two. The third is certain to happen because of the provisions mandated by our new Constitution for more athletes and more women on the IWF Executive Board. And now we have a firm date.” Elections had initially been scheduled to take place during today’s Congress. They were suspended last month, on the basis of advice from the IWF’s independent Legal Commission and will now take place on 25-26 June 2022. Further key dates for the electoral process, which will now be restarted, were also confirmed: IWF Extraordinary Congress - 30 January Call for Candidatures - 2 March Deadline for the completion of candidate vetting by the EDC - 30 April On the agenda for the IWF Extraordinary Congress of 30 January will be amendments to the IWF Constitution aimed at speeding up the electoral process, on the basis that it will be repeating some steps that were recently undertaken. It should be noted that there are no proposals to weaken the strict eligibility criteria against which candidates will be vetted. Today’s IWF Congress also featured a range of reports from the IWF leadership team, as the IWF works towards the forthcoming IWF World Championships, successful weightlifting competitions at Paris 2024 and securing the sport’s Olympic

Host Countries Confirmed for Future IWF Events – IWF Executive Board Meeting

IWF Executive Board and Future Host Country Representatives @IWF/Isaac Morillas Today at the IWF Executive Board meeting, the future IWF World Championships were awarded as follows: 2023 IWF Youth World Championships - Albania IWF Junior World Championships - Mexico IWF World Championships - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2024 IWF Youth World Championships - Peru IWF Junior World Championships - Spain 2025 IWF World Championships -