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IWF120y/30 – 2016: Do it first, no matter your body weight!

Despite the tiny minimal differences (initially 0.5kg, nowadays 1kg) when considering a weightlifting result (thus allowing for a potential range of different outcomes), it happens on many occasions that a tie is registered, meaning that two different athletes have lifted the exact same number of kilos. Traditionally, this problem was solved in the past with a very straightforward method: if tied, the lightest lifter (the one whose body weight was inferior) would win. This method was based on simple logic: for the same weight on the bar, the heaviest athlete has some advantage, so the lightest one should be favoured. In 2016, the IWF decided to change this rule and adopt a new procedure: from 2017 onwards, in case of a tie, the athlete who has first lifted or achieved a cumulative result wins (in reality, this rule already existed since the mid-1980s, but only as a second element to untie a result, if lifters with the same result had also the exact same body weight). The idea is to enforce the sacred principle in our Sport: who lifts more, triumphs! Additional arguments in favour of this idea include an improvement of ‘active’ strategies during the competition (and not the simple comparison of the body weights), the enforcement of the principle that athletes must win on the platform (and not in the sauna), and a better understanding of the rules by neophytes in weightlifting (spectators, TV viewers, or media representatives). In practical terms, this rule obliges the lifter to look for the next kilo in order to overcome his/her most direct opponent. It has one more non-negligible advantage: if a World Record is set, and then matched, the first lifter establishing it will necessarily and logically win the

IWF120y/29 – 1977: China starts its pathway to excellence

Until the mid-1970s, the sport of weightlifting was dominated by lifters coming from the Soviet Union – they are still ranked second in the Olympic and World Championships medallists’ charts – but another powerhouse started to emerge at the highest level: China. We are in Stuttgart (Germany) in 1977, at the World Championships, and Chen Manlin (men’s 56kg category) will stay in the history books as the first Chinese lifter with a medal at the IWF showcase – in this case, two, the silver in the Clean & Jerk and the bronze in Total. A discreet debut of what would become an incredible supremacy until the present day. Two years later, at the 1979 Worlds in Thessaloniki (GRE), Wu Shude (photo) is the first-ever world gold winner (Snatch), the men’s 52kg. Wu is arguably the initial star of Chinese weightlifting, as he would also clinch the title at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, this time in the 56kg. Before that success, his teammate Zeng Guoqiang officially becomes the first Chinese Olympic champion in the Sport, lifting 105-130-235 in the men’s 52kg. The Asian delegation leaves California with a total of four titles out of the 10 on offer. In 1987, the IWF showcase is also contested by women and the inaugural edition in Daytona Beach (USA) is dominated by China (eight out of the nine gold at stake). For the record, the first-ever Chinese female world champion was Cai Jun (44kg category) with 70-75-145. These achievements lead to the organisation in 1995 of the first IWF World Championships in Guangzhou, where the host nation leads the medals chart, with seven overall titles. From 1977 to 2024, China won 1048 medals at the IWF World Championships (including 347 in Total only). At the Olympics, the Asian powerhouse also leads operations with 67 podium presences (43 gold, 16 silver, and eight bronze) – medals at the Games only comprise Total

IWF120y/28 – 2021: Ecuador celebrates its brightest Star – Neisi Dajomes

After a participation in the 1924 Olympics, Ecuador only returns to the Olympic arena from 1968 onwards. Following the Paris 2024 Games, the country has secured 10 medals in the biggest sports event on the planet. Four of them come from weightlifting – and all of them from women! Neisi Dajomes is the brightest star among those Ecuadorian idols: at the Tokyo 2020ne, she becomes the first female Olympic gold medallist for her nation, after winning the 76kg category, in 118-145-263. Born on May 12, 1998 she enters the sport through her older brother Javier (who passed away in 2018) and competed in 2011 in her first IWF event, the Youth World Championships. Two years later, she wins her first title precisely in that competition and gets the silver at the 2015 Pan-American Games. Her first Olympic participation, in Rio 2016, concludes with a seventh place. After several medals at the world and continental level, she is the Olympic champion in Tokyo (JPN). “After that win, Ecuador discovered weightlifting and started following the Sport. Moreover, it also deeply changed the way people were looking at women’s weightlifting,” Dajomes admits. Qualified for her third Olympics, she earns bronze (122-145-267) in the 81kg category last year in the French capital (photo). She becomes the only Ecuadorian female athlete with more than one Olympic medal. Weightlifting is a matter of family for Neisi – following the example of their late brother, three other siblings are also competing at the highest level in the Sport: Angie (also third in Paris 2024, in the 71kg category), Jessica, and German. Besides the three medals in the Dajomes family, Tamara Salazar (silver in Tokyo 2020ne) completes the group of illustrious female weightlifters in Ecuador.

IWF120y/27 – 1969: First medals for individual movements

Despite the change in the number of movements, there was a stable rule at the IWF events and Olympic Games: medals were only given based on the Total result of the lifters (the cumulative weight of the movements performed). In Mexico City, in 1968, a proposal to award separate medals for the Press (before its abolition in 1973), Snatch, and Clean & Jerk results (considered individually) was approved by the Congress. Delegates decided that the new rules would be enforced at the subsequent edition of the World Championships, taking place in Warsaw (POL), in 1969. The Congress (which approved the creation of two additional bodyweight categories) also urged the IWF leadership to take these matters to the IOC, for possible inclusion in the Games programme. In the end, only the change of categories was validated by the Olympic instance – otherwise, and concerning the awards, this norm is still valid today, whereby lifters at the Games are only given medals based on their Total result. At the IWF level, the 1969 showcase (only contested by men at the time) distributed therefore 108 medals (the Soviet Union led operations, followed by the United States and Poland), instead of 27 (if only Total had been considered), and this rule was never abandoned. At the latest IWF showcase (photo), the 2024 World Championships in Manama (BRN), men and women competed in 10 categories each, for a total of 180 medals, evenly allocated for the Snatch, C&J, and Total

IWF120y/26 – 1983: Women’s weightlifting under IWF’s umbrella

The road to the integration of women’s weightlifting in the IWF has been a long one. The sport was practiced by female lifters in some countries and for some time – there is a piece of funny news in a German newspaper in 1898 reporting that a club in St-Petersburg (Russia) was privately organising female weightlifting sessions for “athletic” ladies – but the prominent conservative mentality still considered the sport as fit for “strong men” only. We are also in Russia, but in October 1983, when an IWF Technical Committee meeting takes place in Moscow and includes one “unusual” topic in the agenda: weightlifting for women. Following a long and heated debate – continental representatives were also attending the meeting – it was unanimously decided that the IWF would incorporate women’s weightlifting into its scope of activities. The minutes of the meeting underlined however that despite this outcome “details are to be elaborated later and no world championship is allowed.”  Things moved fast and in March 1986 an international competition takes place in Budapest (HUN), with the presence of 23 women from five nations and three continents (Canada, China, Great Britain, Hungary, and the United States). The success was immediate and that decisive turning point opened the way for the organisation, one year later, of the first Women’s World Championships in Daytona Beach (USA, photo), and ultimately the integration of women’s events in the programme of the Olympic Games, starting from the Sydney 2000 edition onwards. Nowadays, weightlifting is a perfectly gender-balanced sport concerning the participation of men and women at the IWF

IWF120y/25 – 1957: Eleiko, from the kitchen to the fitness centre

It could be a slogan, inviting the most gourmet people to visit their fitness centre from time to time. It is not - it’s the essence of Eleiko’s history, nowadays one of the most renowned barbell companies on the planet. Originally founded in 1928, in the Swedish city of Halmstad (the headquarters of the company are still based there), Eleiko’s initial business was the production of electric appliances for the kitchen, namely waffle irons and toasters. In 1957, one of the factory’s supervisors, an enthusiast lifter, approached the owner of the company with an idea: to produce weightlifting bars. Until then, it was frequent to see training and competition bars breaking due to the material’s fatigue and weakness. Eleiko was already using high-quality Swedish steel for the manufacture of its products, so after some technical developments, the first bars were officially introduced at the 1963 World Championships, staged in Stockholm. The success was immediate and the athletes quickly adhered to this resistant and reliable equipment. In 1967, also by accident, an Eleiko employee had met a weightlifter who was using rubber tires around his plates to reduce the damage caused by the impact of the weights on the floor. The concept was created and the Halmstad Rubber Factory was then implemented. In 1969, Eleiko was certified by the IWF and has since then been present in many top-level competitions and Olympic Games. In 2011, Eleiko celebrated the 1000th World Record achieved with one of its