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Interview Sam Coffa (Part 3): “From where do I take my energy? I just don’t stop!”

In the third and final part of his interview, Sam Coffa comes back on the technical changes occurred in the last decades, but confidently considers that while there is always room for improvement, “nothing has substantially changed”. He is also firmly convinced that the work of the Executive Board is and will be decisive for the future of the sport in the Olympic Games. “One step backwards and we lose everything,” he warns. The Chair of the IWF Technical Committee concludes this pleasant talk by sharing some personal details of his current life. At 89, this globetrotter (he has been in 102 countries) still makes a daily walk in the morning and enjoys being with his four children, nine grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. With his contagious smile, he recognises that his extraordinary career was a “sweet revenge” for the difficult early life in Italy. Let's come back to technical matters. What has changed in weightlifting in these last decades? Or do you think the sport is essentially the same? I think in substance, nothing changed. The Press movement, for instance, was abolished, and this eliminated many lifters, who had specialised in the Press. But the essence of weightlifting remains intact. It’s basically a very beautiful and elegant sport. I wish I could have done it as good as some of the great lifters, but it was delightful to watch all those superb lifts. The Snatch is a fast and elegant movement, the Clean and Jerk is just terrific, as it provides a real sense of strength. Essentially, I don't think there has been such a big change other than when we eliminated the Press, but what has changed is the technical side of things, the technical rules. And you were personally behind many of those changes? I still have a lot in my mind which I haven't been able to produce, but with some humility, I must say, I don't think anyone has done more to change the technical rules as I have. The elimination of the three minutes, that was a brilliant move, in my opinion. But many others, like the introduction of the jury monitoring system, the elimination of the body weight advantage, and the one-kilo increment. It used to be two and a half kilos, but I thoroughly studied the question and we came to the conclusion that the one-kilo solution was a good one. It proved right. Do you think we now have a good competition format? I think we do. I'm not saying it couldn't be improved, it could. There is always the discussion that the time could be shortened, and the competition could be sped up a little bit more. But it takes time and I am quite busy. It’s not just attending meetings, it's replying to the whole world who writes to me. And trying to solve sometimes the details that could be easily solved with common sense. I give you an example: someone came to me about the colours of the Appeal Card, which should be the same as the one allowing the entry in the warm-up area. They had printed it in another colour… Was this wrong, and against the rules? I replied to this person, ‘Look, what is the objective of this card? When you put it up, what is the objective? It's to show the technical controllers that you're appealing. Do you think it’s relevant if it’s purple or white? Will anyone complain about this?’ That’s the kind of problems we have sometimes... At the time of this interview, in May 2025 Do you like the two-platform solution? I'm a purist or, to use your words, a conservatist. I could never see the seniors being on two platforms. For me, the World Senior Championship should be for the best weightlifters in the world. We don’t need big numbers for that. If we keep it reasonable, you can better promote it. Maybe for the youth or juniors, if you've got too many, I can stomach it. We did the experiment twice and it worked. What is the future of our sport in the Olympic Games? I think the future of our sport is in the hands of the Executive Board. There's no turning back from doping and there's no turning back from good governance and that sort of thing. One step backwards and we lose everything. Therefore, the President and the Executive have to be strong and make wise and rightful decisions. You live in Australia, which is far away from everything. You are a true globetrotter. How many countries did you visit? How many countries have I visited? I know that because my grandson was asked to do a project at school. And he came over to me and he said, ‘I want to do a project on you’. I said, ‘Very good. Let’s sit down and find out what you want’. And the first question he asked was, ‘How many countries have you been?’ I had no idea. So I looked at my passports, and I also looked at my technical official card, in which every trip must be registered. And the conclusion is 102. I believe that's good... Family-wise, you told me you have four children... Three boys and one girl... …and how many grandchildren? How many have I got? Nine. And one great-grandchild, a little boy. What is your routine life in Australia? What are you doing when you are not travelling? It's quite mundane really. We all love sports. My children all did their own thing and I never pushed them to do anything. Iolanda, my daughter, did some school weightlifting but she's very deep in calisthenics, which is a big sport in Australia. She's got a daughter who is exceptionally good at Calisthenics. Often my son rings me up, ‘We're going to watch football tonight’. We go and then we have something to eat. We also get together for the big celebrations, Easter and Christmas. Presenting medals at the 2024 IWF Worlds (second from the right) Any special tradition you would like to share? We do certain things that people say, 'What the hell is that?'. For instance, in the wintertime, we used to prepare a calzone with broccoli. It started one year for Anzac Day [celebrated each year on April 25, as a remembrance day for all Australians and New Zealanders who died in situations of war, conflict or peacekeeping operations]. I used to play the trumpet, and I used to go there at dawn, when the sun comes up and you have to play the last post, like they do in the army. But that was early in the morning, six o'clock or half past five. So when we came back, it was cold, and my wife had this food for lunch. It was hot and delicious! It became a tradition that every time I'd come home from such events, you'd eat calzone-broccoli. But you wouldn’t do that at any other time. Things like this. We have those idiosyncrasies, which I'm sure many families have, and we like them. With IWF President Mohammed Jalood From where do you take your remarkable energy? I just don't stop! In the early days, I did a lot of writing, reading - especially when I was learning English. I don't know how many times I've read for instance 'The Count of Monte Cristo' or you know the classics. Now, I just don't have the time to concentrate and so I do things which appeal to me, like cooking a lot. Every morning I go for a walk, not a very long walk, but I go for a walk and I think a lot, you know, I really do. At a certain moment, we acquired a magnificent property near the beach, with a nice garden. I used to go there on a Friday and stay there for the weekend. And some of my best writing and speeches have come whilst digging in the ground… So I've kept myself busy. And including my mind, of course; I think that's where the energy comes. Do you think your successful career was a sweet revenge for the difficult life you had in the beginning? In a word, yes. I wasn't born in a place where things were given to you. You had to work. And I worked hard in my short time in the village before I migrated to Australia. But because my mother and father believed I had something extra that I could give, they tried very hard to find a position where I might do something meaningful. So I did a stint at the post office delivering telegrams, but at the same time learning Morse code and sending telegraphic messages. I also did a stint at the bar coffee where my uncle and aunt had two children: one was a doctor, one was a professor, so no one of them would go for a barman. That’s why they called me. I also learned to be a barber, which was my second trade. The barber himself had two daughters. And he definitely had it that the first daughter was going to be my wife. He just liked me, but it was just before I migrated… and actually knew my future wife, already in Australia! As I said before, I was practical and I think I've been in the right moment, at the right time. In this long road, what is THE moment you specially remember or are most proud of? Marching behind the Australian flag at the 1964 Games. Why? It was a moment in time that will never come back. Other items will always come back in different forms, but that one will never come back. Two obvious questions for the end. Firstly, who is the lifter/idol you admire the most since you got involved with weightlifting? And why? Naim Suleymanoglu. He was a weightlifting prodigy. At youth age he was breaking senior world records. He was one of the few lifters who lifted three times his bodyweight in the Clean & Jerk. Three Olympic gold medals. A magnificent athlete. Secondly, what was the most memorable competition (or competition moment) you witnessed? The 1987 World Senior Championships in Ostrava – Czechoslovakia. There were world records broken or attempted in every category. It was an enormously successful championship, filled to capacity. I was seated alongside Lyn Jones [former IWF Coaching and Research Committee member, from Australia] and we were pinching ourselves to believe we were watching such an event. Anything left to say? I bless the day my father chose Australia for our family to migrate to. Where else in the world a young 15-year-old migrant boy has the opportunity to become the Mayor of one of the Cities of Melbourne, act as a door keeper for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and in the 2000 Sydney Olympics be in charge as President of the Weightlifting Federation of the Host Country. Speaks volume of Australia as a nation! That was a nice conclusion. Thank you and all the best, Sam! By Pedro AdregaIWF Communications Part 1 of Sam Coffa’s interview can be found here Part 2 of Sam Coffa’s interview can be found here As part of the 120 daily posts published for the IWF’s 120th anniversary, Sam Coffa was portrayed on May 17, 2025

Interview Sam Coffa (Part 2): “I am good at convincing people, I can be quite persuasive”

In the second part (out of three) of this exclusive interview, Sam Coffa recalls the end of his competitive career and his entry into politics, having served as Mayor of Hawthorn on two occasions. Not many will know that the chair of the IWF Technical Committee was also a dedicated soccer referee for 18 years and that he was “disqualified” from the Australian Weightlifting Federation for almost a decade. When he was rehabilitated, Coffa became the President of the national body for 25 years, and made also his entry into the IWF sphere. One of his first and most important assignments was the leadership of the Women’s Commission, a role that he particularly cherished. His decisive contribution was pivotal for the entry of the women’s events in the Olympic programme, in 2000 in Sydney. So your athletic career finished soon after the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo...I just competed until 1970 and also became a national coach. In that same year, I took the Australian team as manager coach to the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. We were quite successful there and we brought four gold medals. At the same time, I was also the Technical Coordinator of the Australian Weightlifting Federation and Treasurer of the Victorian Weightlifting Association. But my passion was the technical side of it. Still today, you are a world reference on weightlifting’s technical side… That's what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a good referee and very quickly I became a Category Two referee. But in Edinburgh, I convinced the then General Secretary of the International Federation, Oscar State, if he could give me the opportunity to be examined for Category One, as we had only three Category One referees in Australia. One was blind of one eye, one had one eye missing, and the other one used to fall asleep, so instead of six eyes you only had two eyes… Given the situation, he was very nice to me and he took me under his wing. I refereed three sessions at those Commonwealth Games, they examined me and I got 98 percent, so I was pretty good – that’s how I got my Category One status. I said, ‘This is my future’, but soon after that things got complicated. Why?You might not know this but I was disqualified by the Australian Federation for 10 years. The president at the time was a self-made millionaire and he saw me as a potential leader. In order to get rid of me, they conjured up a couple of reasons why I didn't do this, why I didn't do that at the Commonwealth Games. To make a long story short, they accused me of not liaising in Scotland with the person they had indicated – I didn’t even know what ‘liaison’ meant… Another reason was that the Federation was pushing for one of our athletes – Nick Ciancio – to move one category up in order to beat Louis Martin, an English guy, originally from Jamaica. I didn’t do that and Ciancio eventually won a gold medal in his category, the Light Heavyweight. I was always a strategist man and I preferred to get the gold than to potentially lose to Martin, who was a world champion. When I arrived in Australia and I presented my report they kept me asking why I hadn’t strictly followed their rules. And I said, 'Listen, when I left Australia it was to win gold medals. He won the gold medal. What more do you want?’ He said, ‘When you leave the country and you have a team, you have to abide by the rules.' It was simply to get rid of me. And they got rid of me. How did you deal with this situation?Despite the sanction, they didn't disqualify me. So, every year, you are supposed to renew your membership by paying a fee. And I continued doing so – every year, I used to send a bank check of four pounds with my nomination. They would come back, each time, and say, ‘We regret to inform that your membership has not been accepted.’ They would never indicate a reason, so there was nothing I could do. They did this for nine years, and back then you could not appeal, there was no court of arbitration… In a way, you were out of the sport…Yes, and because I was out of the sport, I became involved in local politics… …you were Mayor of Hawthorn on two occasions, right?I had a political election and I won, and I stayed on the council for 14 years. And also to keep fit, I started to follow my son's soccer team. And I became a football referee for 18 years. Australian football?No, no, soccer. And it was good for my son. But then it became like a profession, because I used to get good money. Not many people know about this. I had a family of four children, and if it hadn't been for the football, I don't know how I could have managed. Sometimes you had a midweek football match, and then on Saturday - two in the morning, and a major one in the afternoon -, and then Sunday, two junior matches again. So I had to keep fit, and I did this for 18 years! As the Mayor of Hawthorn, with his daughter Coming back to your mandates in the city council…Under my leadership, as Mayor, we built a recreation centre, a big one, with a weightlifting dedicated facility. When it came the inauguration day, I officially invited a couple of big names in the sport, including Australian star Robert Kabbas [he would win, in 1984, a silver medal at the Olympics] and the German Olympic and world champion Rolf Milser. But I couldn’t invite him officially without going through the President of the Australian Weightlifting Federation. So I went to meet him and told him what I wanted to do. I was also giving £1,000 pounds in those days for a world record, free accommodation for them, and some sponsorship. It was a very exciting event. Came the competition and the only thing that happened was that Kabbas injured himself, so we replaced him. Also, the German guy could not improve the world record, but at the end of it the President of Australian Weightlifting came to me and said, 'Oh, by the way, about your membership for next year, put it in and it should be all right.' Did he keep his promise?Yes, but it was the worst thing he could have done! Because one year later, they kicked him out as President and I became the President. And that's how my ‘second’ weightlifting career began. We were in 1979. By then, I had built a career, let’s say, as a top person: I was a politician, but also a businessman. When I arrived at the presidency, I understood the Federation owed about $72,000 under this leader who was himself a self-made millionaire. That’s why they thought, 'No, we can't have this.' So they made a coup, and I became the President. I was in the lead for 25 years… …until 2005? But now [May 2025] you are again the President.Yes, they called me back. Again, because they were broken and because I was supported by my brother Paul, who by that time had become a promotional and financial guru. How did your political experience help in your sports career as an administrator?I think I was good at convincing other people when I was on the council. We were 12 people there. I know to be persuasive, and for that you have to debate, and debate well. I also learned very quickly about the older councillors, how they used to operate. And I understood, for instance, that there is no logic in losing. I mean, in the end you need to have votes. From a strategic point of view, you only got one chance to speak to the council and I decided as a general rule that I would speak towards the end of it, when everybody is tired. When I knew I would lose the argument, I would propose a postponement (that was normally accepted), and then prepare another ‘assault’ for the upcoming meeting. That's how I got the recreation centre built because there was no consensus and no appetite for it. But, with perseverance, I just wanted them to believe it was good for the community, it was good for sport, it was good for health. So, yes, I learnt that ability to discuss and debate, and that's how I became involved in weightlifting. And how did you get involved with the IWF?After I became President of the national federation, the first meeting I attended was in 1998 in Jakarta. We had the World Senior Championships there for women, but at the same time there was an electoral congress. I was proposed to be a candidate for the technical committee, and I thought, 'Yeah, I think I would like that.' I was elected, and no matter what I brought up, changes that I had in mind that we could do and so on, there were always voices saying, ‘We don't want to do this, we don't want to do that.’ And I quickly became very disillusioned. I wanted to achieve things, not just sitting in meetings and listening to people with no vision. My intention was to leave after four years, but much to my surprise, at the next Congress, I nominated for VP and Executive Board and became a vice-president. I came in and I could then start to make a mark. My first appointment was to be the chairman of the Women's Commission. And during that time we did a lot of work. And I think people saw that I was working and that I got up there and spoke. I mean, I wasn't that good, but I was good enough. Receiving the Life Membership of the Commonwealth Games Australia Were you always convinced, even before that nomination, that women had a place in weightlifting?Oh yes! To bring you back to when I joined the club in Australia, it was a boys' club. Girls were not allowed in. And it was me who convinced the council to change our constitution to allow girls to come in and we became the Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club, not only the Boys Club. I had the privilege of serving as general secretary of the club when the first woman president was elected, so I've been on the avant-garde about women in weightlifting. I couldn't see why the women couldn't practice our sport. I worked hard for that recognition and I was partly responsible for the Olympic Games qualification system when the IOC decided on the inclusion of women in the programme of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. But they only wanted to give us three categories for them. As I thought this was not right, I convinced the Executive Board to then change the categories. So we eventually reduced the men's categories in order to make room for more women. And I remember writing an article saying 'When less means more'. It was the right thing to do. I still think that's one of the best things I've worked on. Which other highlights would you recall?The financial part. IWF’s financial statements were just taking one A4 page – half income, half expenses. I was then saying to the Board, ‘In my youth club, I'm the general secretary and I know that the financial statements of this club, which is a small club, has five pages and two pages of audit. Here, we don't even have an audit…’ After this, they worked very hard to get rid of me. I grew up on them. I think they could see that I could be useful, and by the time the Sydney Olympics came around, I was ready to take over the technical committee. I was ready to challenge anyone because I had made an impression on the world. That’s when I became First Vice-President for a couple of terms. And the Chairman of the Technical Committee. Was it special for you that women entered the Olympic programme in Australia?I think it was inevitable and it was the right time to strike. The world was ready for the movement: we were having World Championships open to women since 1987, so when this happened, of course I was very happy. We achieved what we wanted to achieve, a gender equal sport, which is important. Do you still think the IWF is conservative?I don't know if the people sitting around the table know exactly what the word 'conservative' means. Really, I don't. I'm not sure If we can call it ‘conservatism’. I think we need to think from a practical point of view. If you don’t think like that, we would have been out of the Olympic Games, and if we had been out of the Olympic Games, we would have ceased to exist for sure. Moreover, we need to work by joining our forces. We did that during our most recent turbulent times and it saved us. There was a real possibility that we could have been finished but unity of purpose by the Executive Board under the strong and decisive leadership of Mohammed Jalood, saved the day. By Pedro AdregaIWF Communications Part 1 of Sam Coffa’s interview can be found here. As part of the 120 daily posts published for the IWF’s 120th anniversary, Sam Coffa was portrayed on May 17, 2025

Busy week for the IWF leadership in Lausanne (SUI)

After being present in Lausanne (SUI) for the IOC President Handover and the celebration of the Olympic Day on June 23, the IWF President remained some more days in the Olympic Capital and had the opportunity to hold other several important meetings. From left to right: José Quiñones (IWF General Secretary), Mohammed Jalood (IWF President), Kit McConnell (IOC Sport Director), and Achilleas Tsogas (IWF CEO) In the Olympic House, Mr Jalood, accompanied by IWF General Secretary José Quiñones and IWF CEO Achilleas Tsogas had fruitful discussions with Christophe Dubi, Olympic Games Executive Director, with outgoing IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell, with the new Sports Director Pierre Ducrey, and with the Sports Associate Director David Luckes. Meeting with James Carr, ASOIF Executive Director (first from the left) The IWF President also met ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic International Federations) in the Maison du Sport International (where the IWF Headquarters are located), being received by its Executive Director James Carr. On the side of institutional partners, the IWF leadership also had a working lunch with Benjamin Cohen, Director General of the International Testing Agency. The IWF President Mohammed Jalood with FIBA General Secretary Andreas Zagklis In Mies (close to Geneva), Mr Jalood, Mr Quiñones and Mr Tsogas were guided by the FIBA General Secretary Andreas Zagklis for a visit to the siege of the International Basketball Federation. Fabio Azevedo, FIVB President, and Mohammed Jalood, IWF President Still in Lausanne, the IWF delegation was invited to visit the FIVB (International Volleyball Federation) headquarters, being received at the highest level by the FIVB President Fabio Azevedo. IWF

IWF/ITA “Clean Sport Education Webinar” gathers 320 attendees online

The 2025 edition of the IWF/ITA “Clean Sport Education Seminar” gathered around 320 attendees online on June 24, including 162 athletes and 97 coaches in the five continents. Moderated by Armando Urban, a member of ITA’s Education Team, the participants in the webinar were welcomed by Cyrille Tchatchet, IWF Athlete Commission and WADA Athlete Council member, and Melody Exhenry, IWF Anti-Doping manager. Throughout the one-hour seminar, several topics were presented: Anti-Doping Rule Violations, Strict Liability principle, Prohibited List, Supplements, Testing procedures, and Reporting. Besides the theoretical information, some practical cases were also made available. Cyrille Tchatchet The athlete’s approach was emphasised by Tchatchet, an Olympian lifter in Tokyo 2020ne as part of the IOC Refugee Team. “Education is of paramount importance in all these procedures. Mistakes are easy to happen, so the more we know about these matters, the more we can ensure we have the correct behaviour. I am now deeply involved in these topics, but earlier in my career, I would have liked to have more insights on anti-doping topics,” considered Mr Tchatchet. From the International Testing Agency side, Mr Urban especially stressed out the risks of having an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) associated with the intake of supplements, with ITA clearly defending a food-first approach to cover and provide all necessary nutrients athletes need during training and competition. The ITA lecturer was also very clear on the many risks the ingestion of prohibited substances may have on the lifters’ health.  These periodical webinars complete the IWF/ITA educational programme in this area – on our main yearly events, in-person seminars are organised and an information booth is also available during the competition. IWF

World Standards established for new IWF bodyweight categories

Following the implementation of new bodyweight categories from June 1, 2025 the IWF is pleased to announce the World Standards for the Snatch, Clean & Jerk and Total in each of those categories. In order to guarantee these World Standards are consistent, fair and credible, a technical approach was established and rigorous mathematical formulas were used.  As a general principle, valid for all bodyweight categories in both genders and age groups, a 97% ratio was applied to the existing World Records of the previous bodyweight categories.  The rationale behind this value is that the World Standards must remain at the same time high enough to maintain the ‘prestige’ of this top-level performances, but somehow achievable in a reasonable lapse of time. This fine balance is regarded as the appropriate approach in order to maintain the sport’s integrity while supporting future growth. It is also an understandable and straightforward concept, easy to be explained and enforced within the weightlifting community, media and fans following the Sport. The complete explanation of the principles as well as the new World Standard charts can be

Interview Sam Coffa (Part 1): “We chose Australia because it was very far!”

Salvatore ‘Sam’ Coffa is a living legend in the weightlifting world. At almost 90, he is a privileged witness of our International Federation’s rich history. For more than seven decades involved in our Sport, as an athlete, coach, official, and successful administrator, Coffa is also a remarkable storyteller. With his outstanding vitality and outstanding memory, he sat down for a couple of hours and recalled his life. An existence marked by initial difficulties in his homeland (Sicily, Italy) but also with many achievements in his adoptive country, Australia. As part of the IWF’s 120 years celebration, we publish the first part of his exclusive interview, where he recalls his childhood and teenage years, his introduction to weightlifting, and his athletic career, culminating in the dream of his life, the participation in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Let's start from the beginning. You were born in 1936, in Sicily. And then you left for Australia in 1951. How were your childhood and teenage years? What was your family context? The family context was a post-war one. I was about 10 years old when the war ended – as you may imagine, living in Italy, those were really difficult times… Education-wise, could you go to school?In education terms, I entered school late because as I was born in January I had to wait until I was six. But the family is very poor, and they want me to start work, so they said, 'You don't go to school.' They got my uncle, who was a teacher, to train me and I eventually succeeded in the exams. This just gives you an idea that things were tough. No food, not much to go about. And I lived in those few years under fascism. Mussolini told us that we had to wear green pants, black shirts, and march in the street to the beat of the drum. That is something I have never accepted: someone telling me what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. But do you still have memories of that?Oh, yes. I have memories because my mother didn't have a way to produce green pants. She did not have the material to make it! She eventually sought help from another uncle who owned a bar. In this bar, there was a billiard table, and he had just removed the green cloth and put a new one so with this old green one she made a pair of pants. But this material was like sandpaper, which provoked a rash in my legs, a kind of allergy. So that's why I remember it so vividly! Sam Coffa (left) at the age of four, with his older sister The idea of leaving those precarious conditions then made its way…I thought, no, I cannot live under these conditions. Somehow, we must seek alternatives. We decided we could go to three locations: Switzerland, Argentina, and Australia. My father thought that Switzerland was too close, we would be going back every fortnight, every week, and we would waste money. The idea was to go overseas. Stay there five years, six years, make a few dollars, and come back. And that was the plan. And so we chose Australia because it was very far. Did you have anyone there from your family already?Yes, I had one uncle, the one who coached me for my school work. He eventually provided accommodation for me and my father when he arrived in Australia. Don’t forget I was still in my teenage years… However, and despite not speaking a word of English, within 18 months we started a business. And the rest of the family, remained in Italy?Yes, we are four siblings – I have a brother and two sisters. I am the older boy, so I quickly became the breadwinner of the family. I learnt English quite quickly and after some years, my father wanted us to go back. I decided that I would not go back, I just said to my father, ‘Sorry, you can go back, I'm staying’. In the meantime, I had also met who would become my future wife… And he said, 'No, this is not good, either we stay or we all go’. As my sister got engaged in Italy, she would not come to Australia. We couldn't fulfill what my father was saying. Either all in Italy or all in Australia. In the end, some remained in Europe and we stayed in Australia. My younger brother Paul, and the rest of the family, joined us in 1956. Despite the move, those first years in Australia were also not easy…Very complicated. None of us spoke a word of English! Not one word. My father had many problems, but I used to go and do the shopping. I could then start translating some words and read the few signs in the shop. And soon after that, you launch a shoe-repairing business?To be more exact, our business was bespoke orthopedic shoemaking. We used to make shoes for people who had something wrong with their feet or their legs, particularly children, if they were born with bendy legs and all this. We worked together with the hospitals. We also repaired shoes, bags, and all sorts of things like that. And how weightlifting came across in your life?We were already in Australia. Back in the village, in Italy, believe it or not, I was the goalkeeper of the local football team. At the age of 12, I was the same height as what I am now... So, I was considered to be a giant, but I never grew… So when I arrived in Australia for reasons which I would never know, I had this idea that I would want to go to the Olympic Games. Nothing less than that?I just wanted to be an Olympian, and I looked at myself in the mirror and I thought ‘What can I do’? I was not brave enough to be a boxer. I didn't mind wrestling because I had still big legs. And a strong torso. Or weightlifting. Things like this. So I chose wrestling as number one - I did Greco-Roman wrestling for quite some time. We used to wrestle on canvas mats, which left burns on my cheeks. And they never healed. Because as soon as they would heal a little bit, you'd go back and blood would come out. And it was terrible. At the same time, I was going out with my girlfriend then. So she said, ‘You know, I don’t want to go out with a guy like this, with a destroyed face!’ So that’s the end of my career as a wrestler. Competing at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth (AUS) That was definitively a short career…The nearest thing to it was weightlifting. And so I quickly went to the local boys club and said, 'You know, I want to be a lifter.' And they said they had no coaches and no specific equipment. They told me ‘You can bring your own equipment. And you try it by yourself in the corner of the room.' It was a big basketball court. And did you have any equipment?No, I didn't have any equipment, but the person I was living with had some homemade material. Just one bar with a screw at the end and a 40kg weight. I could get some additional weights and started doing some training twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. But you know, when you do something new, some people would come in and look and say ‘Can I do some too?’ And that's how I started. I knew nothing about weightlifting. I read Bob Hoffman's [US weightlifter and bodybuilder, co-founder of the ‘Strength and Health Magazine’, in 1932] books about weightlifting, the Press, the Snatch, the Clean and Jerk, the Total, and all that. And we started there. And then, instead of two, we were three, then four, five, and so on… And then I had a team of about ten youngsters who wanted to do weightlifting like me. Without coach. I then became the coach. And then the committee of this youth club said, 'Well, look, you are one of the biggest groups.’ We were now a weightlifting club! It grew in front of me. And I started to worry because I didn't have any knowledge of the sport. So we asked the committee to do something about it. Firstly, to get a proper set of weights. Did it work out?Yes, the Rotary Club of Hawthorn came to our rescue and they bought us a set of weights, then they somehow found somebody who had done weightlifting, and he came in to give us a couple of lessons. And the Hawthorn Club officially started. Sam Coffa (left) with his weightlifting teammates When did you start competing? The club itself started competition in 1958. This man gave us a few hints, and in the end they gave us another room to progress. And we grew from there, really. With that, we also completely ruined the floor and had to repair it! I started to evolve as a coach and we had 25, 30, 40 people in this room. We started to lobby the council, and the local government, to see if we could find something else. Come the year 1962 and I was selected for the Commonwealth Games in Perth. I had won the state and national title and I ended up being a Commonwealth Games representative. The council thought this was terrific for the community, as I was the only one from that club that went to the Commonwealth Games. They thought they should capitalise on that and they did. We managed to get a purpose-built weightlifting centre in Hawthorn! It wasn't elaborate but we had a big hall, we had a kitchen, we had a sauna, and so I was in charge of it. We stayed there for some years until 1964 when two members of the club went to the Olympic Games, and this put another pressure. We urged the council to provide us with even better facilities… And you are one of these two Olympians. You had fulfilled your goal! How was the feeling, the long trip to Japan…I had made a long trip before, coming to Australia, but by boat… The plane was something new for us. We were kids and we jumped in the overhead where you put the luggage - we didn't know what we were doing! The first stop was a training camp in Sydney. This was also completely new. We went to the port, and there you could buy crayfish, lobsters, and king-size prawns. I tasted some and it didn’t taste good. However, the night before we left the camp, we were offered a nice dinner. On the table, there were prawn cutlets. Big prawns, king-size. And I thought, 'Wow, this is sophisticated’. And I said to my friend, ’We've got nothing to eat here, only prawns. What are we going to do?' Well, he said, 'We just have to eat some.' And of course, I tasted one. It was delicious. I've never stopped eating them! Also a trumpet player! Before recalling the competition in Tokyo, and as a resident in Melbourne, the 1956 Games were perhaps your first Olympic “experience”. Were you there as a spectator?The 1956 Games in Melbourne were the catalyst for me getting into weightlifting. I was lucky enough that the training hall for the weightlifting was within 200 metres from my shop. Honestly, just one street out. And so at midday, for lunchtime, I used to take my bike, go there, and watch the greats of America, like Tommy Kono [bio here]. So you never watched the competition, just the training? At this stage, I was only watching the training, and taking pictures, because I used to do a bit of photography, and then go back and get signatures. Then I thought, ‘This is what I want to do!¨ I went to this training hall day after day and the man in charge there said, 'Listen, you're coming in every day. What about if you stay at the door to open it? If you do a good job, I'll give you the position of doorman at the Olympic Games.' I just jumped at it. And I was at the Olympic venue door when the super heavies were contested. I opened the door and shut the door when it finished at one o'clock in the morning. It was something that blew my mind. And that's when my brother Paul arrived in Australia. And so he joined also the club. And he was the same as me. Same category. And I was extraordinarily good in the Press, which was one of the elements. But he was very good in the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk, but he was terrible in the Press. So in all the time we competed together, he was always beaten because he just couldn't catch me after the Press. And so he decided at a very young age to go into coaching. That’s why he never had the chance to compete at the Olympics. We then come back to your 1964 Olympic experience in Tokyo.I quickly realised I couldn't get anywhere like the top people because they were evolving in a professional way. In my case, I was training, but I was still working in the family business. I had to. I was married with four kids. I had to feed them. It was hard. It was difficult to accept that even though I considered myself to be as strong as they were, I just couldn't compete with them. There was something else… What?In those days anabolic steroids were just coming in. In 1962, I saw the first symptoms of, I didn't know honestly, had no idea what steroids were. Before the Commonwealth Games, I was ranked number two. So I was selected as a potential medalist, of course. The number one was a Canadian. I had never met him, but I saw him training. And just by looking at him, I thought something was wrong. This guy was handling weights that just blew me out of the water completely. There was an improvement of 25 kilos or something like that in a matter of months. I just couldn't believe it. But we took it philosophically. So I competed and finished fifth at the Commonwealth Games. After that, I started to read about it and then found out by Tokyo what it was all about. What are your best memories from Tokyo?It was a buzz! To march behind the flag of Australia! To be selected for the Games, we had to be citizens of Australia. So we had to go through the routine of becoming Australian citizens. I had to do it, I did it, and I became an Australian citizen in 1959. And I was very proud of it! Besides that special moment, the most important thing for me was the introduction of professionals like the American basketball Dream Team. I remember going to the bus to welcome them. I knew to play the trumpet and I had brought mine from Australia. So I played some music for them! That perception of professionalism in sports was a turning point in my career. By Pedro AdregaIWF Communications As part of the 120 daily posts published for the IWF’s 120th anniversary, Sam Coffa was portrayed on May 17, 2025