News

Weightlifting mournes the death of Dr. Mahmoud Hussien Shoukry

The International Weightlifting Federation and the Egyptian Weightlifting Federation mourns the death of Dr. Mahmoud Hussien Shoukry and his wife who tragically passed away in a car accident. Member of the IWF Scientific and Research Committee from 1988-2000, Member of the IWF Executive Board from 2005-2009, Dr. Mahmoud Hussien Shoukry was Member of the IWF Technical Committee since 2009. Born in 1947, he held function the President of the Egyptian Weightlifting Federation in past cycles and was awarded with the IWF Silver Order in 2010. Weightlifting Family lost an outstanding personality and a great expert. Our sympathy and condolences goes to his Family and to the Egyptian Weightlifting

Olympian Juhani Salakka passed away

Olympian and long-term General Secretary of Finnish Weightlifting Federation from 1975 to 1991 Mr. Juhani Salakka (born Sept. 13, 1950) passed away on February 17, 2015. Mr. Salakka died of pneumonia in his hometown hospital in Finland. Mr. Salakka was determined to achieve his goals as a weightlifter. He had set goals of becoming a Finnish Champion, a Nordic Champion and to participate in the Olympic Games, and he achieved each one of his goals. He was crowned a five-time Finnish and Nordic Champion as well as placing tenth in the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games in the 75 kg weight class. His best lifts in the 67.5 kg class were all Finnish records: he snatched 132.5 kg, clean-and-jerked 161 kg and made his best total performance of 290 kg. In the 75 kg class his best performances were 140 kg + 170 kg = 310 kg. After finishing his lifting career 'Jussi' worked long and hard for the Finnish Weightlifting Federation. He will always be remembered as bringing weightlifting known to other sports by emphasizing the health aspects of Olympic lifting performed correctly. Mr. Salakka will be missed in the Finnish and Nordic weightlifting families dearly as well as by his wife and family. The International Weightlifting Federation presents its deepest

Japan Weightlifting Federation President at the IWF Secretariat

Mrs. Yuriko Koike, President of the Japanese Weightlifting Federation (JWA) paid a visit to the IWF Secretariat and held discussions with Dr. Tamas Ajan, IWF President, Attila Adamfi, Director General and Aniko Nemeth-Mora, Director, International Relations. Topics such as Japan’s involvement in the international weightlifting activities in the coming years as well as the country’s possibility of hosting major events in the lead up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were considered during the meeting. Following the discussions, Mrs. Koike joined by the IWF President and his colleagues were received by Junichi Kosuge, Japanese Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Hungary. The cooperation between the IWF and the Japanese Weightlifting Federation will be even more strengthened in the

WARNING – COBALT

As you know cobalt and is listed as a prohibited substance from the 1st January 2015 under the S2 group PEPTIDE HORMONES, GROWTH FACTORS, RELATED SUBSTANCES AND MIMETICS IN the WADA Prohibited List. Cobalt is increasingly being found in vitamins and nutritional supplements therefore the IWF is advising all Member federation and Athletes to carefully review all used products in the light of the new

Weightlifting celebrated in Kazakhstan at the best athletes and coaches awards

The traditional and annual awarding ceremony organized by Minister of culture and sport, took place in capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. This year, Kazakhstan Olympic Committee and culture and sport minister have awarded at one go eight athletes. From the 4 spots available, two weightlifters received the best male athletes’ title for the year 2014: Four time world champion and two time Olympic gold medalist (2008, 2012) weightlifter Ilya Ilyin and first ever Kazakh ethnic weightlifting World Champion, who won gold at the 2014 IWF World Championship in Almaty Zhasulan Kydyrbaev. Best Female athletes for the year 2014 showcased Asian Games silver medalist and 2014 IWF World Champion weightlifter Zulfiya Chinshanlo. Two weightlifting coach received the title of best coach for the year 2014: Toyshan Bektemirov (coach of Ilya Ilyin and Zhasulan Kydyrbaev) and Victor Ni (coach of Zulfiya Chinshanlo). Federations of the year 2014 in Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan Weightlifting Federation, Kazakhstan Boxing Federation, Kazakhstan Speed Skating Federation, Kazakhstan Aquatics Federation and Kazakhstan Canoe Federation. Congratulations to all and wonderful achievement! Source:

Coaching Seminar in Ghana

Widely recognized expert and Coaching and Research Committee Member Dr. Kyle Pierce is upbeat about Ghana’s strong potential in weightlifting, saying that Ghana would be a force to reckon within the near future. Speaking at a seminar organized by the Ghana Weightlifting Federation in the framework of the IWF Development Program held in the Media Centre of the Accra Sports Stadium, he underlines this important opportunity as a follow-up to the project this past summer in which new coaches were trained to promote and coach the sport of Weightlifting in Ghana. The seminar was aimed at educating the 27 coaches who successfully underwent a three month training course that reviewed and reinforced methods of coaching Weightlifting that were taught during the summer project. A long-term plan for training the young Weightlifters was developed. The training plan for these young athletes is to be integrated with their physical development and each phase of training is to be built on the previous phase. The focus will be on general physical development and technique in earlier years with specialized and more intense training added gradually in successive years. Identifying new talents and motivating them to focus on their technique in preparation for the 2015 All African Games was a major issue discussed during the