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IWF120y/18 – 2008: Matthias Steiner (GER), lifting for gold and for his late wife

One of the most emotive moments in Olympic weightlifting history happened in 2008, at the Beijing Games, in the +105kg category. Born in Vienna, in 1982, Matthias Steiner initially represents his native Austria. In 2005, a conflict with his weightlifting national federation dictates his move to Germany, where he had met some months earlier a fan who had contacted him after watching his performances on TV. He gets married to her, but in July 2007, Susann tragically dies in a car accident. Despite the huge shock and some weight loss, Steiner continues training hard for the 2008 Olympics in the Chinese capital. Having obtained German nationality at the beginning of that year, he competes for his new country and is not the favourite for the gold (the best lifter on the way to Beijing was recent World and European champion Viktors Scerbatihs from Latvia). After finishing fourth in Snatch (203kg), Steiner takes maximum advantage of his most direct opponents’ failures in Clean & Jerk, and with a successful 258kg attempt, he clinches the Olympic title. His joy on the platform is euphoric – his moment of glory had arrived, after a 2008 silver in the Europeans (precisely behind the Latvian ace) and two seven placings, at the 2003 Worlds and 2004 Olympics. At the podium ceremony in Beijing, while receiving his medal, Steiner displays a photo of his late wife, causing a wave of unparalleled emotion in the venue. After the Olympic success, he wins three more medals at the highest level – in 2010, silver at the Worlds, and bronze at the Europeans, and in 2012, he is the runner-up at the continental level. He marries his actual wife in 2011 and retires from competition in 2013. Photo credit: Olympics.com

IWF120y/17 – 2023: Approval of the first-ever IWF Strategic Plan

With the momentum created in 2022 with the election of a renovated IWF Executive Board and the subsequent structural reforms in the IWF Constitution, the creation of an IWF Strategic Plan was also deemed a necessity for our International Federation. A working group is created to co-ordinate the production of this document, namely by conducting an extensive consultation with all IWF stakeholders (including its National Member Federations). In September 2023, at the IWF Congress in Riyadh (KSA), this Plan is unanimously approved by the delegates. Covering the period 2024-2032, it comprises the four pillars sustaining all the IWF activities: Safeguarding the IWF Stars; Enhancing the IWF Events; Keeping the IWF Safe; and Reaching beyond the IWF. For each of these main points, several sub-pillars were created and more than 100 action points are to be implemented in the years to come. The Plan also highlights the IWF values, “condensed” in the word “Fortius” (Stronger), which is also part of the Olympic motto. For each of its letters, an important value – F for Fair-Play, O for Objective-driven, R for Responsibility, T for Transformation, I for Inclusion, U for Unity, and S for Sustainability. The IWF Strategic Plan also includes the vision of our organisation, as a guide to its action and future decisions: “A world where people of all ages and conditions live healthier, stronger and happier lives through the exciting, empowering and clean sport of

IWF120y/16 – 1987: Karyn Marshall (USA), a pioneer in weightlifting

Before the IWF officially recognised and implemented women's events at the beginning of the 1980s, Karyn Marshall (USA) is already training in 1978 in the sport she would later excel at. In 1981, at 25, she wins her first national championships. Four years later, she becomes the first woman ever to lift the symbolic weight of 300 pounds (136kg), and in 1987, in Daytona Beach (Florida), she is one of the US hopes to win the first world championships titles at offer. In this inaugural IWF women’s showcase, nine bodyweight categories are on the programme. In eight of them, Chinese lifters show an impressive supremacy, and despite a Snatch gold for Arlys Johnson-Maxwell, an overall gold is missing from the home delegation. In the 82.5kg category, Marshall dominates operations, with a 95-125-220 outcome, thus becoming the first non-Chinese female world champion. In the subsequent editions of the Championships, she isn’t so successful, but she still earns silver in 1988 (Jakarta, INA), 1989 (Manchester, GBR), and 1990 (Sarajevo, YUG). The 1987 consecration has a special taste for Marshall: after getting a Bachelor of Science (nursing degree), she works for some months as a nurse, but for the next 10 years she is a financial analyst. When the October 17, 1987 Wall Street crash shook the world, the Daytona World Championships were just two weeks away. Despite her 10/12 hours in the office, she manages to train at night and still makes the heaviest lifts at the IWF showcase in Florida. After the end of her career, she became a

IWF120y/15 – 1950: Time limit before the lift, a necessity

In October 1950, on the occasion of the World Championships, the International Federation’s Congress was convened in Paris (FRA). Welcoming the delegates at home, President Jules Rosset expressed in his report a major concern within the weightlifting family: the time lifters were taking before actually performing their attempt. As there were no restrictions back then, Rosset said: “It sometimes lasts five and even 10 minutes, as certain athletes stage veritable comedies before seizing the weights. With such a procedure, we shall gradually lose the attendance of many people at our competitions. I think it would be good to set a time limit and then disqualify the performance of any athlete who has gone beyond it”. Despite the presidential recommendation (and a British proposal to set this limit at three minutes), delegates at the Congress could not reach a consensus, but a compromise was set: at the World Championships in the French capital, there would be a record on the average time for the lifts and a then a formal rule should be applied for the 1951 edition onwards. The three-minute tolerance was effectively approved in the early years of the 1950s and updated more than two decades later (in 1976) to two minutes. At present, at the current IWF events and the Olympic Games, there are the following time limits (whose countdowns are displayed in the attempt board – illustrative photo): two minutes if the same athlete performs consecutive lifts and one minute if a different athlete is called on the

IWF120y/14 – 1992-2004: Pyrros Dimas, a hero in Greece and in weightlifting

Being the most decorated Olympian in Greece, the birthplace of the Games, is an honour all Hellenic athletes aspire to have. This special status is for the time being reserved for a hero, arguably one of the best weightlifters of all time, Pyrros Dimas. Born in 1971 in Himara (Albania), to ethnic Greek parents, he soon demonstrates a great ability for the sport and moves in the beginning of the 1990s to Athens. At his first Olympic participation – Barcelona 1992 – Dimas gets the gold in the 82.5kg, with a total of 167.5-202.5-370. After this success, he is received like a hero at the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens (the one hosting the 1896 first Olympics of the modern era), but the world (and Greece) had only witnessed the start of a legendary journey that would include two more gold (Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000) and one bronze medal (Athens 2004) – the most significant harvest in the history of Olympic weightlifting. Competing at home, and suffering from a knee injury, the “Lion of Himara” (as he was also known), Dimas considers this last podium appearance as the most special one in his career. After the awards ceremony, in a crowded and ecstatic arena, he leaves his weightlifting shoes on the platform, as a sign of his retirement after these so inspiring Games. The fans in the stands, in a several-minute standing ovation, scream his name and this moment is widely seen as the most touching one in the two weeks of the Olympics. With personal bests of 180.5kg in Snatch, 215kg in C&J, and 392.5kg in Total, Dimas was also world champion on three occasions (1993, 1995, and 1998) and is presently an IWF Vice-President. Between 2012 and 2015, he is also a member of the Hellenic

IWF120y/13 – 1925: The first “official” World Record list

Following the consolidation of the FIH (“Fédération Internationale d’Haltérophilie”, the French version of the IWF) after 1920, and the establishment of the weightlifting programme for the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam – where one-hand movements were banned and remained a triathlon of events formed by the press, snatch, and clean & jerk, all with both hands – an FIH Rules Commission was created in 1924. One of its missions was the establishment of clear sport rules, with one obvious consequence: the “cleaning” of the performances listed until then as “World Records”. The Commission published in March 1925 the first official set of World Records, with results only going back to 1922. With some of the lifts reflecting the results of the Paris Olympic Games, held in July 1924, seven records are proposed for each of the five bodyweight categories (60kg, 67.5kg, 75kg, 82.5kg, and +82.5kg): right-hand snatch, left-hand snatch, right-hand clean & jerk (C&J), left-hand C&J, two-hand press, two-hand snatch, and two-hand C&J. By the standards of 1925, Charles Rigoulot, from France, was the strongest man in the field, with a successful (two-hand) C&J of 160.5kg in the heaviest category. The French star had been the Olympic champion in the 82.5kg, with a total of 502.5kg (for the five events still on the programme, the three with two hands, plus one-hand snatch and one-hand