News

Rio 2016: Sohrab MORADI (IRI) M94kg became Olympic Champion exactly 1 year ago!

“I trained for two years at my own home. People always asked me why I was training and I knew why I was training. I had a goal.” Live through the fantastic weightlifting competitions again: Men

Rio 2016: Kianoush ROSTAMI (IRI) M85kg became Olympic Champion exactly 1 year ago!

“I wasn’t thinking I was going to win. Sometimes the weights change and sometimes the bodies change. If I have more time in the future I will set more Olympic records and more world records.” Did you know he was also 2016 Jenő Boskovics Award winner for Lifter of the Year among Men? Live through the fantastic weightlifting competitions again: Men

Rio 2016: Jong Sim RIM (PRK) W75kg became Olympic Champion exactly 1 year ago!

“Even when the training was tough I did my best and trained even harder.” Live through the fantastic weightlifting competitions again: Women

London – Rio – Anaheim: through a Competition Manager’s eyes

Last August 6th, the biggest show on Earth was about to start. The Weightlifting venue was starting to fill with people from all parts of Rio and from around the World. Millions of people were watching on TV and were excited to see fantastic athletes lift tremendous weights. For the Rio 2016 Weightlifting staff, it all started during the London 2012 Games. At that moment, I was appointed as the Rio 2016 competition manager. My background as a Weightlifting training center coordinator and a physical education professor in a university got me covered, but that could never fully prepare me for the complexity of the Games. At this point, the participation of the IWF officials and secretariat was decisive. Special praise must be given to the technical delegates Mr. Sam Coffa and Mr. Attila Adamfi, cornerstones of this preparation. Together we accomplished many things. We were happy to see new camera coverage with different angles and modern technologies in the sport of Weightlifting. Thanks to this, the television audience reached an all-time high, surpassing other very popular sports. Weightlifting reached both old and new fans. On the sport side, rules and traditions of the sport were strictly observed. However, we still had room to innovate. The color of the discs was adapted to match the Rio 2016 look, creating a unique photo memory, experience and feelings for athletes and coaches. More television sets were made available in the warm-up area as well as an extra attempt board in the field of play. The newly implemented ‘Last Call Room’ was a success, allowing the television broadcasters to better ‘tell the story’ of the athletes, coaches and officials. Out of the competition venue, the Olympic Village was no more than 5 minutes away by bus, meaning no stress regarding transportation to athletes. The training hall had 50 platforms stocked with plenty of equipment. The same equipment was used in the Spectator Experience Area, where the general audience could enjoy, take photos and even practice some Weightlifting (sometimes even in the presence of the great Mr. Pyrros Dimas). Still talking about the equipment, platforms, discs and barbells were kept as legacy from the Games been used now days by a National Training Center, administered by the Brazilian Navy. One year after the Games I am proud and happy to be involved in a new challenge in a now very active Member Federation. Under the leadership of Ms. Ursula Garza Papandrea (IWF Vice President and USA Weightlifting President) and Mr. Phil Andrews (USA Weightlifting CEO) I now have the role of Events Senior Manager in USA Weightlifting. New role, new challenges: at the end of 2017 we will host the World Championships in Anaheim, California, USA. Once again, I am sure we will all have great memories to revisit one year after! See you all there!   Pedro Meloni USA Weightlifting Senior Events Manager Former Rio 2016 Sport Manager    

Rio 2016: Nijat RAHIMOV (KAZ) M77kg became Olympic Champion exactly 1 year ago!

“I spent 95% of my time training. I guess I was ready for this.” Live through the fantastic weightlifting competitions again: Men

IWF announces the establishment of its Sport Program Commission

The International Weightlifting Federation is pleased to announce the establishment of its Sport Program Commission. Based on the IWF Executive Board’s decision on 14 June 2017 in Tokyo, JPN, the composition and the Terms of Reference have already been confirmed. The IWF Sport Program Commission will act as an advisory body to the IWF Executive Board on strategic and technical matters related to the sport and, in particular and as a priority, to address the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Weightlifting programme, including the Olympic Qualification System, the competition format, event field size and the men’s bodyweight categories to be contested. Furthermore, the IWF Sport Program Commission will focus on items such as the examination of sport innovation opportunities (e.g. new events, new disciplines, new formats) and areas of social inclusion; e.g. the participation of Refugee and Transgender athletes at IWF events, etc. The membership of the IWF Sport Program Commission is as follows; Nicu Vlad, IWF Vice-President & Chairman of the Technical Committee Attila Adamfi, IWF Director General Reiko Chinen, Technical Committee Member & Tokyo 2020 Weightlifting Manager; Matthew Curtain, Director of Sport & IF Relations of the Commonwealth Games Federation & former Weightlifting official (1998-2013); Tom Goegebuer, Athlete Representative, triple Olympian & Belgian Weightlifting Federation President; As Advisors, the IWF Sport Program Commission will be complemented by: Andrew Ryan, Executive Director, representing the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) Adam Schneider, Director, representing IWF’s strategic Media partner, Lagardère Sports IWF President Dr. Tamás Aján said ‘With a bespoke and diverse combination of proven Games knowledge, event experience, technical expertise, and industry-related credibility, the IWF Executive Board has full confidence in the forward-thinking ambitions of the newly established Sport Program Commission. The body will seek to build upon many of the successes achieved and accomplished by past IWF Executive Boards, Committees and Commissions. The Sport Commission will however also address many of the challenges the sport is currently facing by exploring new, refreshed and innovative opportunities to consider, embrace and evaluate for adoption.’ The composition of the Sport Commission representing all major stakeholders – athletes, technical experts, Multisport Games organisations, ASOIF and Media and Marketing partner - is a guarantee to involve and consider the viewpoints of all those associated with Weightlifting. The Commission will evaluate the sport’s status and propose creative solutions to improve the sport’s position in the continuously changing world of international sports, demanding nothing less than the highest level of integrity in the Olympic sport of Weightlifting. The first meeting of the IWF Sport Program Commission will be held on 4–5 September 2017 and the Commission will make the first report to the Executive Board at its next meeting in Bucharest, ROU on 30 September – 1 October