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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.

Paris topped Antalya by numbers

519 athletes participated in Paris 2011 Weightlifting Championships. It means we had more more lifters to compete in Paris comparing to Antalya. Numbers by continents                                           Women                 Men            TotalEurope                                 86                       135              221Asia                                     60                         92             152Africa                                   12                         13               25America                               44                         52               96Oceania                               10                         15               25                                           212                      307             519In Antalya                            203                      312            

Iranian Hercules bewildered everyone with his snatch techniques

Disneyland Weightlifting Dome witnessed its last but greatest competition, after thousands of people raised to their feet applauding Iranian modern-day Hercules Behdad Salimikordasiabi when he snatched 214kg and broke the world record previously set by Iranian icon Hossein Rezazadeh, who had snatched 213 kilograms in 2003 Asian Championships.Salimi, the World Championship and Asian Games gold medalist, was successful on his first attempt at 201 kilograms, then lifted 209 kilograms for the second, and finally elevated 214kg overhead in his third attempt. He then lifted 250kg in the clean and jerk, and was crowned as undisputed champion of the event after he lifted a total of 464kg. Iran's Sajjad Anoushiravani won a bronze medal after he snatched 198kg, and selectedtwo silver medals after he clean and jerked 241kg and reached a total of 439kg. Korea's bronze medalist Sang-Guen Jeon, proved himself as a good rival for the Iranian athletes in clean and jerk, after he decided to take 254kg overhead and stood in second place right after Behdad Salimi. But the Korean lost his hopes to come in second as he was not successful in his third attempt. Men's +105kg Press Conference: Speaking at the press conference, Iranian world champion Behdad Salimi expressed his pleasure over his results and setting new world record in snatch. Salimi declared that he has joined Iran's national team five years ago and has been training with Iranian silver medalist Sajad Anoushiravani for two years. Being asked over the opinion of Hossein Rezazadeh about breaking his snatch record, Salimi said Rezazadeh was very happy when seeing an Iranian weightlifter could break his record in snatch. And that he has always been encouraging him to set new world record in super heavy weight class. Iranian gold medalist then stressed that he also wanted to set new world record in total in Paris 2011 championships, but could not perform well in his last clean and jerk attempt. Adding as his true rivals were absent at this competition he did not have fierce contest. He hoped to have more challenging competition in the London Olympics to break the world record in total too. When asked about the referees' decision to remove his armband as it was illegal, Iranian champion said it was only an armband in which he kept the verses of holy Quran, a way to ask for help from God. Iranian silver medalist Sajad Anoushiravani also said he joined Iran's national team 8 years ago, but due to some injuries he had to leave the camps but has joined the team again since two years ago. He expressed his satisfaction for receiving the silver medal, saying he has always told to his team mates that again two Iranian weightlifter would win the gold and silver medals at 2011 world championships. Korean bronze medalist Sang-Guen Jeon, also present at press conference, said his record at Paris 2011 was his best in the past years. Adding right before 2008 Beijing Olympics, he participated in a national selection competition in Korea and there he made an overall of 440kg, but his total was 433kg he made at Paris 2001 world championships. When asked why he did not make improvements in the past three years, Jeon explained that he was injured, his ankle broke seriously while he was water skiing in 2009 and went under medical treatments, and accordingly he could not participate in Korea's training sessions and could not prepare himself very well for the competitions. He later stressed he would make better performances in London Olympics, promising to win gold medal in clean and jerk. He said the Korean team, which is going to compete in the coming 2012 Olympics, would be selected in April.

Zhou Lulu crowned in +75 kg

The audience enjoyed the dual between Russian and Chinese competitors. It was unexpected Opeloge (SAM) had no correct lift at all in snatch. Armenian Hripsime Khurshudyan had a serious elbow injury on 130 kg and she had to withdraw. In snatch both athletes had their best performance as Zhou Lulu equalled the world record (146 kg), while Kashirina's (RUS) junior and senior world record was broken by Kashirina (147 kg). From far distance Olha Korobka (UKR) followed them with 127 kg on the third place. In clean and jerk the crucial moment came by the first attempt of title holder Kashirina. She made a mistake (175 kg), Zhou played upon the chance (175 kg). Kashirina had to jump to 181 kg but it was clear 13th is not her lucky number. It was a bad day for the 20 years old Russian lifter and she even had to sustain how Zhou rived the world record total from her (328 kg). Korobka collected two more bronze medals (157 kg clean and jerk, 284 kg total). Women's +75kg press conference: Women's +75kg category ended with Chinese weightlifter Lulu Zhou setting new world record in total and winning two gold and a silver medals. Speaking at press conference, China's champion who was competing in her first world championships said she started weightlifting in 2003 and that she accidentally got involved in this sport. When she was in primary school, she was selected by weightlifting coaches to train and later compete as she had enough physical abilities to lift heavy things. Russia's silver medalist Tatiana Kashirina, who also won a gold medal in snatch and set new world record at the move, expressed her disappointment over her result. She said she really did not know what happened and why she made poor performances in clean and jerk. "I don't know what really happened, I concentrated very much on my attempts in clean and jerk, but I did not perform well and I could not show my full power," Tatiana said while still crying for her loss. Ukraine's bronze medalist Olha Korobka also attended the press conference expressed her satisfaction over the results. The three medalists said that they were the only weightlifters in their family and that they were the only heavy members of their