News

Former European Champion, Veronika Tóbiás Passed Away

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Veronika Tóbiás, Hungarian weightlifter and former European champion. She passed away on 27 December at the age of 53. The IWF and the weightlifting family sends the most heartfelt condolences to her family and loved ones and to the Hungarian Weightlifting

End of Year Message – Dr. Michael Irani, IWF Interim President

Frankly, 2020 has been a difficult year. 2021 promises to be better, but huge efforts will continue to have to be made to ensure this proves to be the case. I do not propose to review everything that has happened at, and to, the IWF over the past year, since much of it was under the leadership of others. The past 10 weeks, however, have seen us call Constitutional and Electoral Congresses. We have extended our partnership with the ITA until 2024, and empowered it to investigate allegations made by Professor McLaren and by WADA. We have created a Disciplinary and Ethics Committee composed of independent experts which is already almost operational. We have also added independent experts to the Reform and Governance Commission, including as chair. As that Commission presses ahead towards the 22 January deadline for the presentation of a new constitution and bylaws, it is making remarkable progress. Consultations have been widespread and they will continue. Thank you to the 13 national federations who have contributed ideas. And thank you to those who have already completed the survey that you can also find here. I would encourage you all to submit your ideas without further delay. The athlete’s voice will be key among those listened to, as will those who decide our Olympic fate. For me, the lowest point of this year as far as the IWF is concerned came when the IOC decided to heavily cut the proposed medals and places available for weightlifters at Paris 2024. Young weightlifters will have been deprived of opportunities through no fault of their own, but by the cheating and malfeasance of others. We must be determined to do better. We should also be under no illusion as to the hard work that lies ahead and the obstacles we must overcome. For example, we must make arrangements so that the Congresses can take place regardless of travel restrictions. We will also need widespread cooperation. For example, Professor McLaren has yet to release the second part of his report to the ITA, the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission or the independent members of the Reform and Governance Commission, despite being asked to do so. I am confident the obstacles can be overcome, despite the ambitious nature of the scope of work we have established and the deadlines we have set. It is vital, too, that we move ahead with planning for the success of the remaining Olympic qualifying events and for the success of the weightlifting competition of the Olympic Games themselves. Tokyo 2020 clearly has the chance to serve as a shining beacon of hope and a true celebration of humanity. We owe it to our weightlifters to ensure the opportunities we provide them are worthy of their dedication. Please allow me to take a moment to express my gratitude to you for the way you have continued to serve weightlifters, despite the hardships of this last year. You have shown great resilience and creativity in doing so, and I am sure your efforts will pay dividends in the form of strong performances at the competitions we all look forward to returning to. Please allow me to also thank the IWF staff, who have continued to work steadfastly despite almost overwhelming difficulty. For some of us, the deadlines we have set for reform mean a busy end of year. I do hope, however, that you all have the chance to enjoy some special time with your loved ones in the coming weeks. Please accept my very best wishes for a Happy New

The “Special Jury Prize” Goes To The Olympic Channel For Its “Olympic Day Workout” Program!

The Olympic Channel is a web television created by the International Olympic Committee. Since its launch in 2014, it has broadcast live events, documentaries and TV archives related to the Olympic Games. “Olympic Day Workout” is an online campaign organized to celebrate the Olympic Day on June 23. Olympians around the globe were encouraged to take on a 24 hour live training challenge. This session enabled them to interact with their fans and help them to stay active and in good physical and mental health. In just one day, the campaign generated 19 million printouts, 3 million video views and 120,000 interactions on social media. Joel Bouzou, President and Founder of Peace and Sport, said: “This entirely online event organized by the Olympic Channel not only brought together Olympians throughout the world, it also made it possible for them to develop a special bond with their fans despite the health context. The “Olympic Day Workout” campaign played an essential role in promoting the values of sport and it demonstrated the importance of ‘role models’ in moving towards a fairer and more inclusive world. My heartfelt congratulations to the Olympic Channel for this inspiring initiative and for winning the Special Jury Prize ” Mary Byrne, Editor-in-chief, Olympic Channel, declared : “We are very humbled and honoured to receive this Special Jury Prize recognition from Peace and Sport. The events of this year tested all of us, and we wanted fans to stay inspired, to keep moving, to stay strong – both physically and mentally. For Olympic Day, we wanted to emphasize that we can still all come together and participate in sport together – no matter our circumstances. To provide a little extra motivation we asked top Olympians and athletes to join us in a social-first activation, bringing fans and their favourite athletes together for an unforgettable 24-hour live workout challenge across 20 global time zones.” The “Special Jury Prize” rewards a significant action for peace through sport. The nominees for this 2020 edition were: the Olympique Lyonnais Foundation, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the Olympic Channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZs-GNKSHM0&feature=emb_title Source: Peace and Sport The "Special Jury Prize" category was presented by three-times Olympic Champion and IWF Executive Board Member Mr Pyrros Dimas and Marlène Harnois, Olympic Medallist in Taekwondo. IWF also took part in the Olympic Day Workout with Sarah Davies (GBR) and Mirco Scaratino (ITA) who presented the official workout routine live on the IWF YouTube Channel on 23 June

POSTPONEMENT OF THE 2021 IWF JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Following the meeting of the IWF Executive Board on 15 December, we would like to kindly inform you that the 2021 IWF Junior World Championships was POSTPONED to May 2021 due to the developing situation of Covid-19. IWF is already in contact with IOC to explore all the possibilities to extend the Qualification period of Tokyo 2020 in order to maintain the Gold Level Status of 2021 IWF Junior World Championships. Official communication together with the new date and revised regulation will be published as soon as

Vacancy

The IWF is seeking a Legal Counsel (50-60%) (Lausanne, Switzerland). Application deadline: 15 January 2021 The job description and requirements can be found

IWF Development Program Technical Official Seminar – Japan Weightlifting Association

For the successful Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (to be held in 2021), a Technical Official Seminar was held for selected ITOs and NTOs for Tokyo 2020 during 22-23 November 2020 at Shin-Yokohama Prince Hotel. IWF Technical Committee Secretary Ms. Reiko Kato Chinen conducted the seminar, 2 ITOs and 17 NTOs participated on-site, including Mr. Jun-ichi Okada, IWF Coaching and Research Committee Member. One NTO participated online. On the first day, after Mr. Tetsuo Komiyama, Japan Weightlifting Association General Secretary opened the seminar, 4 topics were presented by Ms. Chinen – Tokyo 2020 Update after Postponement of the Games, IF Flow in Tokyo International Forum (Tokyo 2020 Weightlifting Venue), Athletes’ Outfit, and Authorised Identifications for Tokyo 2020 (IOC Rule 50). During the evening, each Technical Officials made a short presentation on statement of determination for officiating at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. On the second day, after Ms. Chinen explained about Video Playback Technology, participants were divided into 4 groups to perform Role Plays to review Weigh-in procedure and to study/improve Chief Marshal skill. For the Role Plays, various tricky scenarios made participants remind important points for each role. Only a few days in prior to the seminar, increasing tendency of COVID-19 started especially in the big cities (3rd wave). Japan Weightlifting Association urgently discussed if the seminar should be kept as originally planned, but decided to carry out the event with strengthened countermeasures such as: Change of the hotel room type from double to single Individual countermeasures during the trip between home and seminar site Submission of health inquiry sheet Measuring body temperature upon the arrival and at the beginning of Day2 Wearing a mask whenever in the meeting room or in the hotel Wearing a mask plus face shield while carrying out Role Play Providing disinfectant Change of the style of taking dinner – from round table to meeting table, using one large folding table for one person with 2 meters distance.   The invitation letter sent by Japan Weightlifting Association to participants many weeks in prior to the seminar had also requested daily self-health check. Self-health check will be continued by each participant for 2 weeks more after the seminar. Shin-Yokohama Prince Hotel is a group hotel of The Prince Park Tower Tokyo, where all participants from Japan, China, USA and Russia in 2020 Artistic Gymnastics Friendship and Solidarity Competition stayed. This Competition was held by FIG (the International Gymnastics Federation) on 8 November 2020 in Tokyo under the values of excellence, friendship and solidarity, but also to test all aspects on COVID-19 countermeasures such as PCR tests (before the departure of the country, upon the arrival, in the hotel etc.), restriction of activities, sport and venue operation (disinfection etc.) and the way for meals. The hotel used for this IWF Development Program had already planned to provide a big meeting room before the start of this 3rd wave of COVID-19, but accepted all the demands from Japan Weightlifting Association including last-minutes change requests, furthermore used the same way as applied in FIG event whichever applicable for this seminar. At the end, participants of the Seminar, who normally organize national or regional events, also realized that they need to be prepared for these kinds of possible urgent logistics changes under the pandemic for near future events in Japan. JWA greatly appreciates the contribution of the IWF and IWF Development Program, also for Prince Hotels, Inc., the owner company of the