News

Iranians gave a warm welcome to Behdad Salimi

Iran's national team finished the 2011 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Paris with a historical result. By collecting five gold, two silver and four bronze medals, Iran could stand at the third place of this championships. Following the splendid success, senior politicians congratulated the victory and hundreds of weightlifting fans went to the airport to welcome the weightlifting team. Among the athletes, the world's strongest man Behdad Salimi received an amazingly warm welcome as he arrived in his hometown, a northern city of Ghaemshahr located by Caspian Sea. Thousands of people from Ghaemshahr gathered in the city center as Salimi arrived and welcomed him as a hero, and demonstrated their pleasure over Salimi's great success. By Sara

Chinese weightlifter Liao Hui is suspended

Further to the increased press queries in regard to the suspension of the Chinese weightlifter Liao Hui, Dr. Tamás Aján IWF President stated as follows: "Mr. Liao Hui is an emblematic figure of the international weightlifting field. He is one my favorite athletes not only due to his sport performance, but also due to his personal character. He had an exemplary and respectful conduct on all events he participated in. His disciplined behavior, courtesy and outstanding personality leaded him to be a role model for all. Mr. Liao Hui was under provisional suspension from 30th September 2010. This is when the athlete and his federation were informed of the out-of-competition test result done on the 2nd September prior to the IWF 2010 World Championships held in Antalya, Turkey. In case an athlete is found positive, all medals, results, and records achieved after the date of the Adverse Analytical Finding are withdrawn and cancelled. Tested in 2010, Mr. Liao Hui immediately requested the B sample. Following the result of the B sample, the appeal at the IWF Doping Hearing Panel was requested by the athlete. The IWF Doping Hearing Panel heard Mr. Liao Hui and took a decision in accordance with the IWF Anti-Doping Policy. They confirmed the result and imposed a suspension of 4 years on the athlete ending on 30th September 2014. I wish to ensure the weightlifting community that the IWF followed the strict procedure set out in the IWF Anti-Doping Policy in compliance with the applicable rules and the WADA Code. I feel personally sorry and I am looking forward to Mr. Liao Hui's return to the weightlifting

World champion Novikava turned 30

After three World Championship silver medals, Paris finally brought the winning gold to Nastassia Novikava (58kg bodyweight category) who celebrated her 30th birthday during the WWC in Paris. The champion's life was nothing but just celebration during the last week crowned by her birthday party. Novikava born in Zhodzhina (BLR) was very talented mostly in track and field, sprint and jump. A weightlifting coach lived next to the Novikava family and his stories on weightlifting attracted the young girl very much. Her mother looked with particularly bad eyes that Nastassia wanted to join the world of strength. Discovering Nastassia's abilities her first coach promised gold medals to her mother, whom he could not convince as she found weightlifting not feminine enough, and was afraid of her daughter lifting. "I have been very dedicated and I promised my parents to prove it was worthwhile dealing with this sport" Nastassia said. "For me it was no question: I wanted to continue anyway." Q: How did your mother receive the news of your very first World Championships gold? A: She has never come to my competitions; she did not even watch the contest of Paris. She just heard as my father was shouting from the other room. They opened a bottle of champagne immediately. Q: In 2004 you were 5th, in 2008 you had 3rd place at the Olympics. The logic of numbers and your first place in Paris, predicts your first place in London. How will you start your preparation at the beginning of January? A: At the beginning of the year I always had troubles during my career. I only argued with my trainer. But now one thing is certain, this is not how I will start in January. I can't think of anything else but the Olympic

Patrick Schamasch IOC Medical Director is a great fan of our sport

- First of all I am quite impressed by the venue in this unique parc, Patrick Schamasch said after visiting the Dome. I was impressed by the high quality of the competition fight until the last minutes. I follow weightlifting since Seoul Olympics in 1988. Thanks to dr. Tamás Aján and thanks to the French Federation now I understand a little bit more the background of weightlifting. I had a good chance to discover the technique behind all the movements. Dome is a special place where I can easily imagine the first decades of weightlifting around similar circumstances. Here the public is very interactive. This tremendous atmosphere reminds me my Athens memories. That venue was fantastic too, very special for weightlifting. -What is your most memorable moment in this sport? - Athens impressed me very much. My hero is Pyrros Dimas who continued competing after three Olympic gold and won a bronze on home soil. I will always remember as he was standing under the weight and he was smiling towards the public. Yesterday I saw a lifter under a huge weight also turning to the public while being all smiles. These moments I consider the real meaning of sport. - IWF just launched a campaign announcing 'Say no to doping!' and one of the main charaters to promote clean sport is Dimas. - That is another aspect I have been working together with IWF a lot. I remember well the world championship in1995 when IWF reported to be the first federation to use high resolution. After this event President Samaranch said he needed to have high resolution in Olympic Game in Atlanta and he had it. So, I think the campaign is done by IWF in conjunction with WADA is a very important one. I am sure the way IWF is tackling the doping issue is exceptional. IWF might be the only federation which tests all the athletes at the Games. This campaign is a great idea and I do hope this campaign will be joined by all the federations. - What are the next steps taken by IOC? -IOC President Jacques Rogge had announced his very strict zero tolerance policy in 2001. In London we will have 5000 tests. What we will do more and more is to switch from the mere detection of the substance. We try to convince the federations to move slowly towards the acceptence of the athletes biological passport which means determination of the individual profile of each athlete.If some data are outside the limit of the individual profile than it can cause a problem. We try to push slowly the federations to accept it. By the moment I can tell you six federations already accepted the individual passport. I had discussions with IWF leaders as well and I do hope the federation will move towards this

Andrei Chemerkin enters the Weightlifting Hall of Fame

As a final chord of the Paris World Championships, in front of the teams and delegates from the largest field ever at World Championships, Andrei CHEMERKIN (b. 1972) Russian hero received the Diploma and the plaque certifying his membership in the Weightlifting Hall of Fame. The latest entry into this prestigious society deserved the membership by his Olympic Champion title (1996, Atlanta), world championship victories through 8 years and several world records - all the time in the +108kg / +110kg categories. The certificates of membership were presented to  CHEMERKIN by Mr. Alain Lunzenfichter, Chairman and IWF President Dr. Tamás Aján.

Paris 2011 Closing honours WWC Stars and Teams

A Closing Banquet in true "Disney style" with country and rap music wound up the 2011 edition of the World Championships held in Paris. On behalf of the IWF, Dr. Tamás Aján, President thanked Mr. Jean-Paul Bulgaridhes, FFHMFAC President and the Organising Committee for 9 days of spectacular and unforgettable competitions. The top 3 lifters by Sinclair for both women and men were honoured with trophies:1-EVSTYUKHINA Nadezda (RUS)2-KASHIRINA Tatiana (RUS)3-ZHOU Lulu (CHN)and1-LU Xiaojun (CHN)2-AKKAEV Khadzhimurat (RUS)3-KLOKOV Dmitry (RUS) The team classification was extremely close: among the women CHN won by just one point ahead of RUS (510-509), leaving KAZ in a strong third place (439 p.). For the men, the top two were the same (CHN and RUS) and IRI became the third best team. The ELEIKO-IWF Press Commission Best Lifter Trophies were allocated by the journalists to ZHOU Lulu (CHN) who set up a total world record in the +75kg category and to SALIMIKORDASIABI Behdad (IRI) who managed to break Rezazadeh's 8 year old snatch world record with his 214kg lift.