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IWF120y/36 – 1952: Tommy Kono (USA) wins his first Olympic gold

Tamio “Tommy” Kono is today considered one of the greatest weightlifters in history, but we can say his ascension to fame was basically due to hazardous circumstances. He was born in Sacramento (California, USA) to Japanese descent parents in 1930. When he was 12, the US government decided during World War II that his family (like many other Japanese-American ones in the country) should be relocated to an internment camp. Suffering from asthma, the location of the camp – in the Californian desert – helped him recover from this condition. Moreover, he discovers weightlifting inside the camp and starts training there with other relocated friends. It is evident that the young champion-to-be has a talent for the sport, and after being liberated from the camp at the end of the world conflict, he is some years later enrolled in the US Army. In 1950, his destiny could have been the Korean War, but it was decided to keep him in the country, as his Olympic potential was already notorious. The decision proved wise, as he went on to earn the gold medal (67.5kg category: 105-117.5-140-362.5) at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, followed by a second title four years later in Melbourne 1956 (82.5kg: 140-132.5-175-447.5). At the Rome 1960 Games, he still gets a silver medal in the 75kg bodyweight category (140-127.5-160-427.5). In parallel, he is a six-time world champion, from 1953 to 1959. Finally, he also won three Pan-American titles (1955, 1959, and 1963) and established 22 World Records throughout his amazing career! Also a bodybuilder, he is elected Mr Universe on four occasions – 1954, 1955, 1957, and 1961. After his retirement, he became a coach, namely heading the US team to the 1976 Games in Montreal. Based in Honolulu, Hawaii, since 1955, Tommy Kono died there in April 2016, a couple of months before completing his 86th

IWF120y/35 – 1969: European Federation sees the day in Warsaw (POL)

The first decades in the life of the International Weightlifting Federation were essentially dominated by the influence of European countries: nations from the Old Continent founded the IWF and the first 25 editions of the recognised World Championships were all staged in Europe. The city of Philadelphia, in the United States, was the first one to “break” this hegemony, in 1947. Despite this dominance, most European activities were done within the frame of the International Federation – Pan-Americas and Asia took their “independence” earlier, having found their continental bodies in 1951 and 1958, respectively. But, some months before the organisation of the World Championships in Warsaw (POL) in 1969 – the global showcase was also “integrating” the European Championships – a letter signed by nine European federations had been sent to all members in the Old Continent urging for the necessity to create a continental body. In September – when the event was staged in the Polish capital – those “seeds” had grown and delegates from 19 European nations unanimously approved the creation of the European Weightlifting Federation (EWF). The first president of the organisation was Janusz Przedpelski (POL), who remained at the helm of the EWF until 1983. Five years later, in 1988, the initial Women’s European showcase took place in San Marino, and in 1990 the continental body decided to “separate” the European Championships from other events, thus making it the annual highlight of a complete European calendar of competitions. The EWF presently has 46 national members (plus four additional associate federations, whose territories have no National Olympic

IWF120y/34 – 1984: The beginning of a solid Olympic presence for Chinese Taipei

Outside our sports community, it is hard to find someone capable of identifying the most successful sport in Chinese Taipei: the answer is weightlifting. Out of the 43 medals achieved by the island at the Olympics, 11 (leading the chart) were earned by lifters. It all started in 1984, when the Games were only available for men: in the 60kg, Tsai Wen-yee opened the way with a bronze – he remains the only male Olympic weightlifting medallist for Chinese Taipei. The subsequent 10 podium presences were all achieved by women, after female competitions were admitted in the Games, in 2000. On that successful debut in Sydney (AUS), Li Feng-ying and Kuo Yi-hang got respectively the silver in the 53kg and bronze in the 75kg category. From the 2008 Games onwards, and until last year’s edition in Paris, female weightlifters from Chinese Taipei have always medalled. In Beijing, Chen Wei-ling became the first-ever gold medallist in the 48kg category, while her teammate Lu Ying-chi earned silver in the 63kg. Chen Wen-huei closes the list of single medallists, with a bronze (64kg) at the Tokyo 2020ne Olympics. Two athletes deserve however a special mention, as they clinched at least two Olympic medals in the Sport: Hsu Shu-ching has two victories in the 53kg (London 2012 and Rio 2016) and Kuo Hsing-chun (photo) was three times on an Olympic podium: gold in Tokyo 2020ne (59kg), and two bronze (in Rio 2016 and Paris 2024). Kuo (or “Tana” as she is also known) is arguably the best weightlifter the island has produced: besides her Olympic achievements, she is also a five-time world champion and winner of six continental championships. At 31, she has established 11 World Records so far throughout her career.  

IWF120y/33 – 1972: Weightlifting pays a heavy price on Olympics’ saddest day

The 1972 Olympic Games in Munich (GER) had entered its second week and were consensually considered a huge sportive and organisational success. The weightlifting competition was also well advanced, but everything came to a shocking halt on September 5. At around 4h30 in the morning, eight Palestinian militants, from a group called “Black September”, infiltrated the Olympic Village and penetrated the building hosting the Israeli delegation taking part in the competition. The group kills two athletes at the beginning of the operation and retains nine others as hostages. After a long day of unfruitful negotiations, terrorists and hostages were taken to a German military airport, supposedly to be flown to Cairo, in Egypt, as per the group’s demand. A rescue ambush plan was however executed by the police, but it failed and all the hostages lost their lives during the operation. Out of the 11 Israeli victims, four were part of the weightlifting family (four others were from wrestling, and one apiece from shooting, fencing, and athletics). Three lifters – Zeev Friedman (28 years old), Yossef Romano (32), and David Berger (28) – and one referee (Yakov Springer, 52) tragically died in what remains the saddest day in Olympics’ history. On September 6, after a memorial for the victims – attended by 80’000 people gathered in the Olympic stadium for the football game Germany-Hungary – the Games resumed following an unprecedented suspension for 34

IWF120y/32 – 2024: Lima tests with success the two-platform format

With the steady improvement of the number of lifters taking part in the IWF events – thus testifying on the universal development of the sport in the five continents -, the number of sessions and days at the major competitions has been under consideration. The choice between having more (less charged) or fewer (with continuous sessions from morning to evening) days has in many cases reached its limits, so a new solution was tested at the 2024 IWF World Youth Championships, held in Lima (PER) from May 22-26: the simultaneous use of two platforms in the same venue. This scenario is not new for many national members (who are using it at their domestic events), but at the IWF level, this was a premiere. With one platform featuring male lifters and the other one welcoming female action, this format allowed a faster running of the event, attended by 277 athletes (137 men, 140 women). During the five-day competition, spectators on the site and those following the event remotely could enjoy a more “compacted” action, with fewer stops between the lifts running on both platforms. Athletes, officials, and organisers praised this innovative solution and the system will be used again in the Peruvian capital this year, for the joint organisation (also a premiere) of the IWF World Junior and Youth Championships, taking place from April 30 to May

IWF120y/31 – 1970: Vasily Alekseyev emerges to glory

Born in January 1942, it was not before being 18 that Vasily Alekseyev started to practice weightlifting. It was a wise decision, as he became the uncontestable star of the 1970s, in the super heavyweight category. The Soviet talent trained with a coach until 1968, but then decided to proceed alone and the results appeared very soon. In 1970, he establishes his first World Record (he would set 80 global marks during his career!) and wins the World Championship title in Columbus (Ohio, USA). It is the start of a golden decade that will include two Olympic titles, in Munich 1972 and Montreal 1976. As the Games were also counted as World Championships, he will therefore establish an extraordinary series of eight consecutive victories at the highest level – 1970 to 1977. In parallel, he is also eight times European champion from 1970 to 1978. He is still today, the most titled lifter in the history of the IWF World Championships. At the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, he overrated his capacity in Snatch and bombed out. He retired from competition immediately after those failed Games. Performance-wise, Alekseyev had no problems during the transition from the three to the two-movement competition (implemented in 1973), having established some landmarks throughout his career – he was the first man to lift more than 600kg in the three movements (press, snatch and clean & jerk), with a personal best and WR of 645kg (in 1972), and more than 400kg in the two-movement competition (445kg being his last WR); the Soviet champion was also the first athlete to successfully perform a C&J of 500 pounds (227kg), in 1970. After his retirement, he remained active as a coach (namely during the 1992 Games in Barcelona), and got involved in politics (he was elected in 1987 to the Soviet Union’s Congress of People’s Deputies). He passed away in 2011, after serious heart problems. One of his two sons, Dmitry, was also a national-level successful