News

Dmitriy Berestov believes in massive Russian results

Berestov, Olympic Champion in 2004 became Vice President of the Russian Weightlifting Federation last year and works also as a Director of a sports school in Moscow. As an athlete he popularizes weightlifting at different competitions where Olympic and World Champions take part and a great number of spectators attend. As a sport leader his intention is to develop children's and youth weightlifting not only in Moscow but all over Russia. He holds master classes at schools where the athletes and Berestov himself take an active part. „The development of weightlifting is in the focus of our Government's attention and of course it is the main task of the Russian Weightlifting Federation. We expect the mass media should pay more attention on our sport. Promotion is important to attract more young people and show them that weightlifting is the basis of all other sports which develops all the muscles. The President's Cup in December will be the best occasion to prove the excellence of our sport." Talking about the chances of the Russian weightlifters at the forthcoming World Championships and the 2012 Olympic Games, he expects medals in four categories both among men and women. The results at the World Championships in November in Paris will give a clear picture about it. (based on

Papua New Guinea weightlifter broke Commonwealth record

A 18 year old weightlifter from Papua New Guinea has covered himself in glory at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Cape Town, South Africa. Steven Kari established a new Commonwealth junior record in the Clean & Jerk with 183 kg. Steven lives and trains at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in New Caledonia where his coach Paul Coffa has already put him back into training the morning after his return from the championships. The world championships begin in two weeks in Paris where the young athlete is also expected to do well. Read the article by the following link:

Turkmenistan’s coach visiting the IWF

Participant of the traditional International Coaching Course run by the Semmelweis University, Budapest, Ahmed Shariev, junior team national coach from Turkmenistan paid a visit to the IWF's headquarters as part of the curriculum where he was met by Anikó Németh-Móra, Director. The ICCs are regularly organised with the support of the Olympic Solidarity and comprise specialized weightlifting coaching studies for three months. In the past decades, coaches from all over the world have taken part and obtained the ICC

Paris World Championships Final Entries are published!

Based on the Entry Forms received by the IWF Secretariat, the Entry list of the 2011 Paris World Championships is now officially published on the IWF website. Please note that this is just for information and the list will not be updated before the World Championships. We kindly remind all delegations to attend the Verification of Final Entries to be held on 3 November 2011 at 19:00 in Paris. Check out the Final Entries on the following link:

Adrian Zielinski (POL): A very special motivation

A year ago in Antalya young Polish lifter Adrian Zielinski (22) reached the top of his category after a memorable fight with Aleksey Yufkin (RUS) and Siarhei Lahun † (BLR). This year he is ready to defend his world champion title supported by special motivation as well. The 85 kg category competition is scheduled on 11th November, the Day of Independence in Poland (Święto Niepodległości). After 123 years interruption Poland became independent in 1918. "Who needs stronger motivation than presenting the national anthem to Poland?" - Zielinski explained his hard training

IWF PRESS CONFERENCE – RECORDS ALREADY BROKEN Video with the IWF President

Dr. Tamas Ajan IWF President announced 715 lifters out of 101 countries will participate in Paris at the Olympic Qualification World Championships. 265 women from 65 countries will compete on stage at Disneyland for the 22nd edition for Women World Championships. In Antalya we had 203 lifters of 50 countries. The previous records are 231 athletes of 53 countries. Among men there are 450 lifters to compete representing 92 nations. These numbers tower above previous records: 395 athletes of 79 countries (in Antalya there were 312 lifters from 63 countries). Attila Adamfi IWF Competiton Director said the most popular categories are women 53 kg (51 participants), men 94 kg (63 participants). Out of the 15 Antalya World Champions there are 8 lifters to defend their titles. Jean Paul Bulgaridhes President of the World Championships Organizing Committee and French Weightlifting Federation told it is the fifth time for France to host world championships (1937, 1946, 1950 Paris, 1981 Lille). "The motto of our work is to approach excellence. We must prepare the best possible conditions for the lifters to fight for their Olympic participation as Paris WWC is the second main Qualification Event for the London Olympic Games. I hope they will enjoy the circumstances we guarantee at Disneyland. There was no sense orgaznizing this event in Bercy as weightlifting is not similar size like judo or tennis in France. We open the nine competiton-day World Championships on 4th November. We expect 1200 participants to enjoy this great event in our Dome of 1400 visitors' capacity. "Originality and Magic" are the catchwords of the 2011 World Championships. This is the first time we organize a sport event at Disneyland. Their staff is very enthusiastic about the championship and as far as I think many other sport federations will follow us to cooperate with them" - he said. Anikó Németh Móra, Director of IWF explained all the WWC facilities will be provided in one compact venue: the hotels for all participants, the competition venue, meetings and training hall are all within a small circle at the Disneyland Village. The 2011 WWC is easily accessible: 30 minutes from Paris by car (32 km) or by local train (RER). She announced the World Championships starts with IWF Meetings and Congress: 2-4 November