News

WFA Electoral Congress

The Weightlifting Federation of Africa (WFA) organized its Electoral Congress in Algiers, ALG. 14 Member Federations participated and the IWF was represented by Dr. Tamas Ajan President together with Major Genral Intarat Yodbangtoey Vice President, Mr. Mohammed Hasan Jaloud Executive Board Member and Dr. Fathi Masmoudi Executive Board Member. Mustapha Berraf, President of National Olympic Committee of Algeria and Maj. Gen. Ahmed Nasser, President of Association of African Sports Confederations also participated on the WFA Electoral Congress. Before the elections, the Congress unanimously accepted Reports and appreciated presentations made by Attila Adamfi IWF Director General on the new TCRR and 2018 YOG and by Ms. Timea Horvath IWF Development and Education Manager on IWF Development projects and Olympic Solidarity programs. Hosts of upcoming African Championships were confirmed as follows: - 2017 African Championships: Vacoas, MRI, 20-27 July 2017 - 2017 Youth and Junior African Championships: Kampala, UGA, 7-14 October 2017 - 2018 Youth and Junior African Championships: Cairo, EGY (date to be confirmed) The Congress re-elected Mr. Khaled Mhalhel (LBA) as President and Mr. Manareddin Eshelli (LBA) as General Secretary. Furthermore, the following officials were elected: First Vice President: Salim Musoke (UGA) Vice Presidents: Kevin du Plooy (RSA), Abdellaziz Brahimi (ALG), Mahmoud Mahgoub (EGY) and Mustapha Chaouachi (TUN) Executive Board members: Alex Randriamanarivo (MAD), Ahmed Chahnaoui (MAR) and Chimdi Ejiogu (NGR) Technical Committee: Abdulbasset Alheddad (LBA), Horst Sayler (SWZ) and Akram Ssempasa (UGA) Coaching and Research Committee: Constantin Enama (CMR), Armand Pambou (CGO) and Ravi Bhollah (MRI) Medical Committee: Dr. Mohamed Eraky (EGY), Dr. Christopher Adomakoh (GHA) and Dr. Mohamed Elias Latrech (TUN) The new Executive Board on its first meeting appointed Pius Ochieng (KEN) and Ben Nunoo Mensah (GHA) as members and appointed Robert Rose (SEY) as member without voting power. Also the Chairmen of the Committees have been appointed: Technical Committee: Mahmoud Mahgoub (EGY) Coaching and Research Committee: Salim Musoke (UGA) Medical Committee: Kevin Du Plooy (RSA) Almois Ben Esmaiel (LBA) has been appointed as Deputy General Secretary and Abdulmoneim Riad M. Sufeljin as Financial Director. Congratulation to all

Asian Championships, Competition documents

The documents for the Asian Championships to be held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from 21 – 29 April, 2017 were uploaded. The Invitation and Regulations as well as all the forms are accessible through

Birthdays every four years

Igor Ivanovich Nikitin is one of the best in weightlifting history, however not only his achievements made him an outstanding personality of the sport. The Russian champion is the only Olympic Silver medallist who can celebrate his birthday only in every four years.  With that said, he born exactly 65 years ago, in a leap year on February 29th. Today is the last day of the month but 2017 is not a leap year; therefore Nikitin officially cannot celebrate his birthday this year. We still would like to wish him a very Happy Birthday!! He started to practise weightlifting at the age of 18 after his official military service in the Soviet army in 1970.  He became a member of the weightlifting team in 1977 and after winning the Silver Medal at the European Championships in 1978, he won the Olympic and World Championships Silver medals as well. In his own bodyweight category he set 5 world records (three in snatch, two in total) till his 1984 retirement year. Between 1994 and 1998 he was the coach for the Russian Team and leaded the team to the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. Out of the team two athletes, Aleksey Petrov  (91kg bodyweight category) and Andrey Chemerkin (+108kg bodyweight category) became Olympic Champions.

Charles Vinci was born 84 years ago

Charles Robert Vinci Jr was born 84 years ago on February 28th, 1933. He is the last US Olympic Champion who won the Gold Medal. One of the best lifters of all times won first time at the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games then at the Rome 1960 Olympic Games in men’s bantamweight of 56 kg category.  Born in Cleveland in the second half of the 50’s, he became Pan-American Champion. He won two Silver Medals at the World Championships (1955, 1958) and set 12 world records. Hence, between 1954 and 1961 he earned several titles as Champion of the United States – only exception was the year of 1957. He started to practise weightlifting at the age of 12 and had hope for victory at his 3rd Olympic Games but during his exercise he had an unfortunate accident that put an immediate stop to his sport career. However he never stopped practising even after his heart bypass surgery. His daily motivation was: „Go to bed early. Get up early to train. Go to

Jack Hughes, one of the sport’s oldest enthusiasts passes away

Jack Hughes (USA) passed away at the age of 96. National Champion in 1953, Jack Hughes was also very successful in powerlifting, and as a master lifter. However, he will be most remembered in our sport as a referee. He served our sport at countless national and international events over several decades. His integrity and conscience became legendary. A humble servant of the sport of weightlifting, even after stopping to be an active Technical Official, he was unable to live without the sport and attended every single Olympic Games, save the last one, and World Championships, active and eager to help still well into his nineties. A native of Akron, Ohio, Hughes lived in Los Angeles and had planned to watch the 2017 IWF World Championships in Anaheim, California later this year. Sadly enough, that will never happen. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him. The IWF expresses its deepest condolences to Mr. Jack Hughes' family. Source: USA Weightlifting 

Youth World Record Review

Due to the introduction of the 8th bodyweight category for Women (90 kg, +90 kg for Senior and Junior, 75 kg,+75 kg for Youth), the IWF proceeded to the review and the update of its statistical data. To settle the first Youth World Records in 2009, the Continental Weightlifting Federations were requested to send their own Continental Youth Records as point of reference. After checking all Youth Worls Records (considering results achieved with actual bodyweight referring to the new categories) in the IWF database from 1998, the list was now corrected. Access it on the IWF