News

Great French Champion Marcel PATERNI passed away

As we learned from the French Weightlifting Federation, the great champion Marcel PATERNI, who was not only a great athlete, but also a great coach passed away recently. Marcel PATERNI, born September 22, 1936, was a French weightlifter who was a bronze medallist at the World Weightlifting Championships in 1958 in Stockholm and in 1961 in Vienna in the middleweight category. He was silver medallist at the European Weightlifting Championships in 1957 and 1958 and bronze medallist at the European Weightlifting Championships in 1961 and 1962. In the light-heavyweight category, he won bronze at the European Weightlifting Championships in 1960 and 1964 and world record holder in press with 150.5 kg in 1959. He participated in three Olympic Games in 1956 in Melbourne, 1960 in Rome and 1964 in Tokyo. After his athletic career, Marcel PATERNI was also a national coach and helped the French team to further success. The IWF and the weightlifting family extend their condolences to the FFHM and the PATERNI

Oceania’s largest weightlifting event concluded

At the sixteenth edition of the currently ongoing Pacific Games, the weightlifting competitions were held between 9th and 13th of July in Apia, the capital of the picturesque island of Samoa. The venue, that was specifically built for weightlifting was the perfect location to host this grandiose triple event, including the Pacific Games, the Oceania Championships (Gold Level Qualification Event) and the Commonwealth Championships (Silver Level Qualification Event) in all three age groups. Jerry Wallwork, President of Samoa WF and his experienced team delivered an excellent show and a well-organized event. Samoa demonstrated again, that it is the powerhouse of weightlifting in Oceania, winning 33 medals (8 women, 25 men). Australia was a close second on the medal table, was left only one medal short compared to Samoa (20 women, 12 men), while Papua New Guinea clinched 25 medals (15 women, 10 men). The rest of the medals spread out widely among the countries and athletes including WLF, ASA, TGA also taking home a prize. On the Commonwealth Championships medal table, India piled up a whopping 45 medals, while Samoa, PNG and New Zealand performed well in this field too. As of the team classification, Nauru, Samoa and Papua New Guinea women and men teams did an outstanding job in all the three competitions. "From the 26 sports present on the Pacific Games, undoubtedly weightlifting was one of the most popular ones beside rugby. Dignitaries regularly visited the competitions including Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, Samoas Head of State, Prime Minister and many Ministers, the President and CEO of the Pacific Games Council and the President and General Secretary of ONOC. Weightlifting is highly popular in Oceania and enjoys great support from the government and various stakeholders." "It is not the first and hopefully not the last time Samoa organized an excellent Championships," said Dr Tamas Ajan, who was also present at the competition and the OWF annual Congress prior to

Successful Administration and Management Seminar in Bolivia

An Administration and Management Seminar was held in the framework of IWF Development Program in Santa Cruz, Bolivia 4-7 July 2019. Mr Phil Andrews, CEO of USA Weightlifting was the expert of the seminar and presented about many intriguing topics to the audience, such as sports management, administration, promotion, management of economic resources, prevention and education in the fight against doping and fight against sexual harassment. It was a transmission of knowledge and experiences with much intervention of the audience on the problems referred to all the aspects indicated and consequently a strong need to reinforce the knowledge with practice and work. Approximately 20 coaches, technical officials and administrators submitted questions and answers, working on areas such as good governance, Anti-Doping, protection of athletes, emergence and support of Women’s Weightlifting, recruitment and development of athletes, and specific issues in Bolivia related to Government funding and how the Federation might be successful in the face of those challenges. During the course of the Seminar, the participants attended the Bolivian National Championships, which was organized to a high standard and featured promising local athletes. "Thank you to the IWF and Bolivian Weightlifting Federation for the opportunity to assist to develop the sport in the region. There are some clear signs of hope of development for Weightlifting in the nation of Bolivia. There are some growing teams, emerging coaches and a willingness to change the way of thinking in the face of funding challenges." “It’s clear that there is a desire, and sporting ability, for Bolivia to rise in the rankings as a nation,” Mr Andrews summed up his

IWF Coaching Seminar and Open Events in the Czech Republic

The Czech Weightlifting Federation organized a Coaching Seminar within the framework of the IWF Development Program at the Masaryk University in Brno,  28 -30 June 2019. On the same day, unique three-days event called CZECH WEIGHTLIFTING OPEN(CWO) 2019 also started. Friday was dedicated to the IWF Coaching Seminar. The lectures mainly focused on the fields of training methods and nutrition. Later that day, an Anti-Doping Seminar was held by IWF Legal Counsel Ms. Lilla Sági about whereabouts submission, TUE applications, and the iLiftClean Platform. Also, on the first day, a special event was organized solely for university students, where amateur athletes had the opportunity to compete with professional weightlifters. On the second and third day, a Conference was held, debating the topics of sports training and nutrition in strength sports, welcoming everyone who were not only interested in the competition but the scientific parts of the sport too. Both the Conference and competitions were organized by the Czech weightlifting Federation in partnership with the Faculty of Sports Studies on the Masaryk University. Among the forty participants of the IWF Coaching Seminar there were weightlifting coaches, conditioning coaches, and academics as well. Ninety lifters competed in the CWO 2019 and another twenty attended the Conference. The IWF welcomed the initiative and hopes that the Czech Weightlifting Federation will continue its hard work to teach coaches and raise new generation of lifters with different training methods and nutrition to develop the sport of weightlifting in the Czech

XVI Pacific Games

The weightlifting sessions will be ongoing from 9 to 14 July in Apia, Samoa at the biggest Pacific Games in history. Prior to the competition, Oceania Weightlifting Federation held its annual Congress with the participation of 19 Member Federations, where the 2020 Oceania Championships was awarded to Nauru. The Games were declared open at the 7th of July with a three-hour celebration of Samoan culture at the Apia Park, where more than 5000 athletes and team officials marched. As the highlight of the ceremony Ele Opeloge, legendary Samoan weightlifter, only Olympic Silver medallist of the country lit up the Olympic light. In relation to the Pacific Games, the Oceania Championships (Gold Level) and the Commonwealth Championships (Silver Level) and Qualification event on the road to Tokyo 2020 are held simultaneously. All combined, representatives of 26 countries arrived in Apia, 109 women and 105 men, rounding up the weightlifter headcount on the island of Samoa to 214. The Pacific Games can be followed directly from the iwf.net here, while you can check the schedules at the official website of the Games here. Start

Tokyo Ready for Olympic Games as Test Event Wraps Up

By Kevin Farley The first day of competition of READY STEADY TOKYO 2020 Olympic Games Test Event produced high drama and new world records as dozens of athletes lifted on the same stage where next year’s Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo, Japan.   In the day’s first session, HOU Zhihui (CHN) set a new world record in snatch in the women’s 49kg bodyweight category, with a 95kg lift. HOU, the silver medalist at the 2018 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Ashgabat, TKM previously held the record of 94kg with a lift she made at the IWF World Cup in Fuzhou, CHN in February. HOU won the event with a 205kg total. JIANG Huihua (CHN) won silver in the women’s 49kg bodyweight category with a 204kg total. TAKAHASHI Ibuki (JPN) took home host nation’s first medal of the Test Event with a bronze in the total with 171kg. LIAO Quiyun (CHN) took the crown in the women’s 55kg category with a 218kg total. HAM Eunji (KOR) won her nation’s first medal of the test event with a 183kg total, for silver, while YAGI Kanae (JPN) took home bronze with a 193kg total. In the men’s 61kg session, QIN Fulin (CHN) won gold with a 305kg total with teammate LI Fabin (CHN) 4kg behind for silver with 301kg. HIRAI Hayato was Japan’s first male medalist with a 270kg total for bronze. HUANG Minhao (CHN) set a new world record in the men’s 67kg snatch with a 155kg lift. Combined with a 173kg clean & jerk, he won gold with a 328kg total. LEE Chango (KOR) took home silver with 295kg and ITOKAZU Yoichi (JPN) won bronze with a 294kg total. 2018 World Champion CHEN Lijun (CHN) did not record a snatch, but did post a 180kg clean & jerk. In the afternoon’s first session, CHEN Guiming (CHN) won the women’s 59kg session posting a 229kg total. ADOH Mikiko (JPN) won silver with a 220kg total and KIM Sohwa (KOR) took bronze with a 204kg total. In the women’s 64kg bodyweight category, 2018 World Champion DENG Wei (CHN) continued her dominance, posting a 248kg total for gold. Silver medalist, HAN Sojin (KOR) finished 31kg behind with a 217kg total. KIM Yera (KOR) also finished with a 217kg total for bronze. Japan claimed its first gold medal of the event in the women’s 71kg bodyweight category. ISHII Miku (JPN) swept gold with a 96kg snatch, 115kg clean & jerk and 211kg total. She was the sole athlete in this bodyweight category. 2018 World Champion ZHANG Wangli (CHN) picked up gold in the women’s 76kg bodyweight category with a 270kg total. KIM Suhyeon (KOR) took silver with a 242kg total and teammate MUN Minhee (KOR) went home with bronze with a 228kg total. Korea swept the podium in the women’s 81kg bodyweight category, as only two athletes battled for gold. KANG Yonhee (KOR) came out on top with a 220kg total with teammate LEE Jieun taking silver with a 207kg total. In the men’s 73kg bodyweight category, 2018 World Champion SHI Zhiyong (CHN) won gold with a 345kg total. MIYAMOTO Masanori (JPN) took home silver with 341kg while YUAN Chengfei (CHN) took bronze with a 337kg total. A spirited 81kg competition ended with 2018 World Championships bronze medalist LI Dayin (CHN) taking gold with a 365kg total. 2018 World Champion LYU Xiaojun (CHN) claimed silver with a 350kg total with KIM Woojae (KOR) earning bronze with a 330kg total. Team China claimed more world records as the event concluded Sunday in Japan’s capital city. In the men’s 96kg category, TIAN Tao (CHN), the silver medalist at the 2018 World Weightlifting Championships, took home gold and set a new world record in clean & jerk with a 231kg lift. It was previously held by 2018 World Champion MORADI Sohrab (IRI). HAN Junghoon (KOR) claimed silver with a 343kg total. JIN Yunseong (KOR) was crowned champion with a 386kg total, the only competitor in the men’s 102kg bodyweight category. The men’s 109kg category featured the first athletes from countries beyond the Japan-China-Korea Friendship cup. But it was 2018 World Weightlifting Championships silver medalist YANG Zhe (CHN) who took gold, with a 406kg total. YANG attempted, but just missed setting the world record in the snatch, missing his 197kg final attempt. BOCHIKOV Rodion (RUS) claimed silver with a 388kg total while SEO Huiyeop (KOR) was the bronze medalist with a 386kg total. Chinese Taipei claimed its first gold of the competition in the men’s +109kg bodyweight category with CHEN Shih-Chieh (TPE) taking the top spot with a 415kg total. A hometown crowd filled the Tokyo International Forum with loud cheers as MURAKAMI Eishiro (JPN) took silver with a 412kg total. ALBEGOV Ruslan (RUS) ended with a 343kg total, good enough for bronze. In the women’s 87kg category, WANG Zhouyu (CHN) dominated the field, winning gold with 278kg, 48kg over silver medalist’s KLINGSEIS Marissa Eileen (USA) performance of 236kg. PASKHINA Ksenia (RUS) won bronze with a 222kg total. The final session of the day produced the most drama of the competition as +87kg 2018 World Champion KASHIRINA Tatiana (RUS) and LI Wenwen (CHN) battled for the top of the podium. LI took a 1kg lead over KASHIRINA in the snatch with a 141kg at the break. LI came out on top with a 326kg total and a new junior world record 185kg clean & jerk. KASHIRINA finished in second with a 322kg total. KIM Jihyeon (KOR) took bronze with a 258kg total. 2016 Olympic Champion MENG Suping (CHN) withdrew from the