News

1st IWF Street Weightlifting Competition – Schedule Change and Online Stream

Tomorrow the 1st IWF Street Weightlifting Competition will begin with 14 athletes competing in 7 teams (1 female and 1 male athlete per team). Due to weather forecast, IWF and the Organizing Committee decided to bring the start of the competition earlier to 1PM CET. The event will be at Quartier du Flon in Lausanne, Switzerland but those who won't be able to join us in-person, will also have a chance to follow the competition. The livestream will be available on the IWF Facebook, IWF YouTube Channel and Olympic Channel. In addition on Monday 25th April, at 17:00 local time the event will be broadcasted in China on Huya, on the biggest streaming platform of China. We will also share behind the scenes clips, interviews and short videos on the IWF Instagram page so follow us there. See you tomorrow!

IWF Welcomes the Sports World to its Headquarters in Lausanne

April 22, 2022, Lausanne - Today, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) welcomed members from the Olympic sport community to its headquarters at the Maison du Sport International in the Olympic capital of Lausanne. Due to the impact and restrictions brought about by the pandemic, the IWF was unable to celebrate the move of its headquarters to Lausanne a year ago.The joyous occasion was graced by various executives from the sport world, including delegates from international sport federations and other sport stakeholders. Tokyo 2020 Olympic Champion Meso Hassona, 2021 World Champion and World Record holder in Snatch, Lesman Paredes, and Tokyo 2020 Olympian, Yazmin Stevens, all Athlete Ambassadors of the IWF, also celebrated this day with us.In the short welcome by Dr. Michael Irani, the IWF Interim President, he said: “It is very important to celebrate our move here to Lausanne as it also marks a move to a new and bright future for the IWF and for global Weightlifting. We are conscious about our past issues, but today we look forward with confidence and optimism. So we are very pleased to see so many members from the sports world present at the IWF office inauguration at the Maison du Sport International in Lausanne” IWF General Secretary Mohammed Jaloud welcomed everyone saying “We are delighted to finally welcome you to our headquarters in the Olympic Capital. We are looking forward to establishing closer ties within the sports world in Lausanne and hope to see all of you more often. This a celebration of the new and reformed IWF which we bring to you with our global star athletes.” The IWF shall continue the celebrations onto the next day where it unveils its novel concept of the 1st IWF Street Weightlifting Competition, held in the heart of Lausanne at Le Flon. The exhibition event shall witness 14

ITA – IWF Webinar Series // Fourth Webinar – 21 April 2022

We are pleased to invite the weightlifting community to the first webinar series organized by ITA on behalf of IWF in 2022. In the course of 5 weeks, 5 webinars are provided covering the key Anti-Doping areas. The fourth webinar information are the following: Topic: Principles and Values of Clean Sport (Including sanctions, consequences and speaking up) Date and time: 21 April 2022, 14:00-15:00 CET Registration link  The webinar will be in English and simultaneous translation will be provided in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish. The athletes and athlete support personnel who take part in all 5 webinars will receive program completion

IWF Athlete Commission Appoints New Chair and Vice Chair

The International Weightlifting Federation Athlete’s Commission met to discuss a variety of matters including among others the recent resignation of its chair Sarah Davies. Due to this decision, the IWF Athlete’s Commission has now officially appointed Forrester Osei of Ghana as the new chair and elected of Hiromi Miyake of Japan as vice-chair. Miyake is a two-time Olympic medallist, winning a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics and bronze at the 2016 Olympics. She will now join Osei on the IWF Executive Board as IWF athlete representatives. IWF interim President Michael Irani commented “The IWF Executive Board would like to congratulate the new Chair and vice Chair of the Athletes Commission. The athlete perspective is a very important part of the development of our sport, it is imperative that the voice of our athletes is heard in leadership discussions and in our Executive Board, that’s why we are looking forward to continuing our strong partnership with the new chair Forrester Osei and also welcome Ms. Miyake to the board.” The IWF is a worldwide organisation focused on promoting weightlifting at the grassroots all the way up to elite level. As an inclusive sport, weightlifting promotes diversity and equality and against any kind of discrimination.    For any questions please contact [email protected]

IWF unveils new IWF Street Weightlifting Competition and Athlete Ambassador Program

The 1st “IWF Street Weightlifting” Competition will be held in the Olympic Capital of Lausanne in Switzerland on 23rd April. This new exciting international mixed team format of weightlifting is powered by Eleiko and will feature 14 of the world’s best athletes and Olympians from Europe, South America, and the Middle East.This new competition format sees the two athletes from the same country compete together against the other teams in an outdoor setting providing a unique and exciting atmosphere.  IWF Interim President Dr Michael Irani commented “This format can bring weightlifting into town centres and showcases the fun and competitive spirit of our sport.  We want to showcase how great our sport is in urban settings”. “As a long-standing IWF partner with deep connections to professional lifting, we are thrilled to sponsor this event and be part of debuting this new team format for weightlifting,” said Erik Blomberg, Eleiko CEO. “It brings an exciting new dynamic and energy to the sport and will undoubtedly inspire more people to try weightlifting and spark a passion for strength training.”As part of this inventive and forward-thinking project, the IWF also launches its IWF Athlete Ambassador Program.  Four elite athletes have been chosen as role models from the weightlifting family from all over the world to promote, educate, and strengthen equal, fair, and clean sport. The purpose of this program is to give back to the community, what the athletes have learnt through their years of competing and training at the highest level.As the first Qatari Olympic gold medallist and IWF Athlete Ambassador, Meso Hassona, said proudly “As a top-level athlete, I am thrilled and honoured to contribute back to the sport and the weightlifting community. The IWF is now consistently displaying their commitment to clean, equal, and fair sport and I am looking forward to participating in Lausanne, the Olympic capital.”Hassona, is one of the four IWF Athlete Ambassadors, the others being Yazmin Stevens (Malta), Hidilyn Diaz (Philippines), and Lesman Paredes (Colombia). Three of the IWF Athlete Ambassadors Meso, Yazmin and Lesman will be competing in the Street Weightlifting competition.Yazmin Stevens, Tokyo 2020 Olympian also participating at the event in Lausanne, she said:“I am overjoyed to be a part of the 1st IWF Street Weightlifting Competition. This is a unique event showcasing the ethos of the Olympics, citius, altius, fortius, in the heart of the Olympic city. I am looking forward to being amongst the best in weightlifting, where we all come together for equality, diversity, and clean

Albania Selected as Host of 2022 IWF Electoral Congress

April 13, 2022 - Lausanne, Switzerland – Today, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Executive Board announced the selection of Tirana, Albania as the country in which it will host the upcoming 2022 IWF Electoral Congress set to take place on 25-26 June.In an open tender process, all candidates were invited to submit their nomination forms and all related documents in advance of the IWF Executive Board meeting.With 10 countries vying to host the IWF Electoral Congress, each were given the opportunity to present their proposal to the IWF Executive Board. Additional information was further requested after the presentations. Soon after, each member of the IWF EB were asked to submit their confidential vote for their preferred host (each member was permitted one vote). With a majority vote, Tirana was selected as the preferred host. Notably, Albania will provide a neutral setting for the upcoming Electoral Congress as there are no candidates put forth by the national weightlifting federation.Tirana is the capital and largest city of Albania, located in the centre of the country it is enclosed by mountains and hills to east with a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea.IWF Interim President, Dr. Michael Irani commented, “We are so pleased to be heading to Tirana for the 2022 IWF Electoral Congress. This is a very important milestone for us, as we were asked by our Olympic partners to address three issues this past year – first updating our constitution which has been completed, second cleaning up our sport from doping which we are happy to report that there have been zero cases in Tokyo 2020 and now the election coming up this summer will complete all three. I am looking forward to the congress and to the important decisions we will make for the future of our sport.”IWF General Secretary, Mohamed Jaloud added, “We have had overwhelming interest from around the world from cities and countries interested in hosting our electoral congress. It was a very hard decision, but we are looking forward to going to Tirana. We are confident that they will deliver a flawless event and ensure that the weightlifting family is supported on all levels. We could not ask for a better partner.”President of the Albanian Olympic Committee, Fidel Ylli said, “We are so pleased to have been selected as host of the 2022 IWF Electoral Congress. With our hosting and hospitality experience, we know that we will be able to provide the IWF with all the support needed to host an excellent event. Furthermore, the IWF is a great partner with a dynamic future, we are looking forward to welcoming the weightlifting family to Tirana in June.”For any questions, please