News

IWF Launches Governance Consultation, Establishes Revised Timeline For Congresses

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Executive Board has today launched a widespread consultation exercise for its draft governance reforms, while also announcing the anticipated dates of Congressional and Electoral Congresses. “Only four months have passed since the IWF established its Reform and Governance Commission [RGC],” said IWF Interim President Dr Michael Irani. “In that short time, under the leadership of independent experts, the Commission has already carried out a comprehensive governance review and has now proposed a complete overhaul of the IWF’s constitution and bylaws.” The governance review and the proposed constitution have today been sent to IWF Member Federations and external stakeholders, including the IOC, for a consultation period lasting until 31 March. Comments arising will be considered in April, with the intention of providing a final draft to Member Federations in time for a June Constitutional Congress. The timing of subsequent elections will be dependent on the date of this Constitutional Congress, whether IWF Member Federations adopt the reforms and the final nature of the reforms. Based on the proposed Constitution sent to IWF Member Federations, the IWF Executive Board anticipates that elections may be held in October. “The IWF has moved speedily to prepare these reforms in recent months and we are delighted to share the results for widespread consultation. The reforms are so widespread, and the outcome so important, that it is only right for the IWF to invite comments at this stage,” continued IWF Interim President Dr Michael Irani. “Beyond the changing of documents, it has become clear that culture change is called for in the global governance of weightlifting. That culture change can only be put in place if all the constituent parts of our global governance are part of the process.” The RGC’s governance review can be found here and the proposed constitution can be found here. The independent members of the RGC are Dr Darren Kane, who also sits on the Legal Committee of FINA, together with Damaris Itzel Young Aranda of Panama, a former international athlete who is also a sports law expert and member of the IOC Athletes’ Entourage Commission, and Ximena Restrepo, an Olympic medallist for Colombia who in 2019 became the first ever female Vice President of World

New Year, New Rules – ITA-IWF webinar brings Member Federations up to speed on anti-doping regulations

On Friday, February 26th, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) hosted this year’s first anti-doping webinar in collaboration with the International Testing Agency (ITA).   The session entitled "New Year, New Rules - Introduction to the new IWF Anti-Doping Rules and Useful Information for Member Federations" provided IWF Member Federation leadership and anti-doping administrators with key information about changes in the global and IWF anti-doping rules. The primary goal of the webinar was to enable those working on the operational level by sharing important updates on the following topics: Main Changes to the World Anti-Doping Code and International Standards 2021 IWF Anti-Doping Rules Whereabouts Requirements Obligations of the Member Federations Sanctions Supplements TUE Application Process Contact Information and Resources The webinar saw a record participation from Member Federations across the globe and was offered in five different languages with simultaneous translation. 379 participants attended this insightful session on Zoom and via the IWF YouTube Channel. This inaugural webinar delivered by the ITA proved a valuable occasion for the Member Federations to enhance their understanding of the new IWF Anti-Doping Rules and awareness of their obligations and responsibilities in the anti-doping context, as well as other important principles regarding the IWF Anti-Doping Programme managed by the ITA. Gianluca Siracusano, ITA Head of Regulatory Compliance and Olya Abasolo Ovtchinnikova OLY, ITA Education Manager delivered the presentations. A recording of today’s session is available on the IWF YouTube Channel. In the coming months, IWF will announce the dates and topics of the next series of webinars tailored to Athletes and Athlete Support Personnel. These sessions will be organized and delivered by the ITA. Further information on the programme will be communicated to the Member Federations via email and promoted on the IWF social media

Elections – Brazilian Weightlifting Federation (CBLP)

The General Assembly of the Brazilian Weightlifting Federation (CBLP) re-elected, this Saturday (27th), Mr. Enrique Montero for the Presidency for the next four years and the Vice President is Mrs. Maria Clara Sampaio Fonseca Gomes. The election took place in person, at CBLP headquarters, in Belo Horizonte (MG), and virtual, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. After the end of the meeting, Enrique Montero thanked the community for their participation in the process and made a request for everyone to be together looking for the best for the weightlifting. “It was a democratic, transparent election, where everyone had access to full documents and notices. It was the first election with the presence of an Independent Electoral Commission and we had the presence of athletes (33%) in the electoral congress. I think that, from now we need to think that we have four years ahead of us and many challenges. The participation of the entire community will be fundamental for the growth of our sport ”, he said. Source: Brazilian Weightlifting

Outcomes of the IWF Executive Board Meeting – 27 February 2021

Following the IWF Executive Board meeting on 27 February 2021, the undermentioned letter has been sent out to IOC and all involved parties in relation to the decision made during the

Eligibility Determination Panel members have been announced

Sport Resolutions (SR) has independently appointed the members of the Eligibility Determination Panel (EDP) which will undertake the eligibility determination of candidates for election to the IWF Board and committees in respect of the March 2021 elections. The Panel is constituted of the following individuals: • HH Phillip Sycamore CBE (GBR) • Dr Tanja Haug (GER) • The Honourable Yves Fortier QC (CAN) • Susan Ahern (IRL) • Dr Thomas H. Murray (USA) The EDP members were drawn from SR’s Panel of Arbitrators at its entire discretion, and were required to complete a declaration of independence prior to any eligibility assessment being undertaken and keep that position under review throughout the process. His Honour Phillip Sycamore CBE is a retired judge, most recently sitting as Deputy Vice-President of Tribunals, President (First-tier Tribunal Health, Education and Social Care Chamber), and Circuit Judge. He previously chaired the (then) Football League Arbitration Tribunal. His current roles include Senior Judicial Appointments Commissioner and Member of the Queens Council Appointments Panel. Dr Tanja Haug is a licensed attorney and has a doctorate in sports science. She specialises in sports law, and acts as an arbitrator at the German Court of Arbitration for Sports, among other bodies. For several years, Dr Haug was legal advisor and head of the anti-doping department of the German Athletics Federation, and Chair of the federation’s disciplinary committee. Most recently, she was a member of the International Biathlon Union External Review Commission. The Honourable Yves Fortier QC is recognised as one of the top arbitrators in the world. He has served as chairman, president, sole arbitrator and co-arbitrator on numerous international and national arbitral tribunals. He previously served as Canada’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, as well as Canada’s Representative on the Security Council of the UN, prior to being President of the Council. He has also been a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, President of the LCIA, and served as Chairman of the Sanctions Committee of the World Bank. Susan Ahern is a qualified practising barrister specialising in arbitration, regulation and sports law. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is a member of the Professional Conduct committees of a number of Irish regulatory bodies. She was the Lead Drafter on the 2020 World Anti-Doping Agency International Standard for Testing & Investigations, was previously Head of Legal and Legislative Affairs at World Rugby, and established the World Rugby Integrity Unit and the first Anti-Corruption Programme for the Ruby World Cup. Dr. Tom Murray is the President Emeritus of the Hastings Center, an interdisciplinary research institute which addresses social and ethical issues in health care, science, and technology. He serves on many editorial boards and has been president of the Society for Health and Human Values and of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. Dr. Murray is a member of the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal since 2017, and served as Chair of the Ethical Issues Review Panel for WADA between 2004 - 2015. Dr. Murray is the author or editor of several books and more than 250 other publications. His most recent book is Good Sport: Why Our Games Matter — and How Doping Undermines Them, published in 2018. For future updates, you can visit this webpage. Source: Sport

Pan American Federation and South American Confederation – Weightlifting E-Learning Platform

In a joint project, the Pan American Federation and South American Weightlifting Confederation are introducing their new E-Learning Platform. The idea is to offer information and tools for improving the knowledge of our sports and other associated topics. The platform is tailored not only to the weightlifting family, but also offers an open channel for promotional possibilities. It is planned to offer such subjects like training, coaching, technical officials, doping, medicine and sports psychology; and different tools, such as courses, seminars or round tables. In the near future the platform hopefully becomes a knowledge center, with a big library, including videos, PPTs (Power Point presentations), professional papers and other valuable sources. First of all at the moment the platform offers the following course for coaches: A Level 2 course for coaches, which is a classic, interactive course provided by various experts on the field. It is developed by the South American Coaches Association, and available in Spanish, English and Portuguese. Secondly it also offers a basic course for people without knowledge of our sport. The main goal is to increase the popularity of the sport, explaining in a short and simple way general aspects of weightlifting. There are five modules in the course: General information: origin and history, important dates, regulatory bodies. How to compete: the flow of the competition, the snatch, the clean and jerk. Technical officials: different roles, incorrect movements Technique and training: the importance of technique, a general idea of training. Other information: participants, disc colors, myths and facts, etc. Each of the sections begins with a motivational video, the corresponding texts, links for people who are interested in further information, and a questionnaire of 10 questions. In total there are fifty questions for the entire course. The course is presented in Spanish and English, and it is free. Thirdly the platform offers help in the preparation for TO's examination. The official IWF examination is presented in web format, so, any technical official can complete it from any place and in the future it would be possible to review periodically if technical officials have full knowing of the rules or not. In order to preserve transparency, they added 20 extra questions. Altogether there are 120 questions available. From these 120 questions, the system chooses 100 questions randomly. By this method, the questions and their order change every time. The order of the possible answers also change every time the same question comes up. Currently it is only used as a training tool, but they believe that in the future it will allow for checking and monitoring the TO’s knowledge. Further information can be found on the following link: https://youtu.be/HddgYTEcORY Source: Pan-American Federation and South American