News

IWF EXECUTIVE BOARD APPOINTS RICHARD H. MCLAREN TO LEAD INVESTIGATION INTO ARD ALLEGATIONS

Rome, Italy – January 31, 2020 – The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Executive Board today voted decisively to appoint Professor Richard H. McLaren to independently investigate allegations of impropriety surrounding President Dr. Tamas Ajan and the IWF. “I wish to thank the IWF for their trust in me and my team. As independent investigators we intend to follow every lead with the ultimate objective of uncovering the truth,” said Professor McLaren. Professor McLaren, CEO of McLaren Global Sport Solutions Inc., will be Investigation Chair. Under his direction, Martin Dubbey will be Chief Investigator and Steven Berryman will be lead Financial Investigator. Professor McLaren and his team have extensive experience in investigating misconduct in sport, including the 2016 investigation into allegations of state-sponsored doping by the Russian Federation. They will now look into the claims made by the Der Herr de Heber documentary on Germany’s ARD network on 5 January 2020. The documentary claimed leadership of the IWF, including President Ajan, participated in and/ or had knowledge of financial irregularities, corruption, doping control distribution, doping sample manipulation, doping payment irregularities, doping activities in specific nations and nepotism. In announcing the appointment of McLaren, IWF Acting President Ursula Garza Papandrea said, “As I have said in the past, we need someone who is not a friend of weightlifting to look into these serious and historic allegations. But if we are to get to the bottom of this, we required an investigator whose findings will be trusted and undeniable. That is why we selected Professor McLaren. I thank my fellow Executive Board members for their courage in taking this extraordinary, but necessary action.” Professor McLaren will be free to follow the evidence wherever that may lead. A whistleblower line will be set up and a separate announcement will be made when that is operational. The Investigation, led by Professor McLaren, is entirely independent. Professor McLaren will use the newly established IWF Oversight and Integrity Commission as his liaison to the IWF Executive Board. Professor McLaren is empowered to take whatever measures he sees fit to ensure each and every allegation is fully investigated and

TAWA Executive Board Resigned

Considering the reputation of the sport and following the code of ethics and aligning to the principles of good governance, the Executive Board of the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association, including the President, Mrs Boossabba Yodbangtoey, resigned from their respective positions, effective from the 30th of January

Anti-Doping and Scientific Seminar in Antalya

Turkish Weightlifting Federation organized an Anti-Doping and Scientific Seminar within the 2019 IWF Development Program. The 3-days seminar taking place in Antalya, Turkey aimed to educate the Turkish coaches who were present with an amazing 157 people. The lecturers from various national Universities gave information about Traditional weightlifting training, Plyometric and pull training and its effects on strength and performance, how to strengthen weak muscle groups, Injuries and protection in weightlifting among other lectures. Dr. Rüştü Güner, General Director of Turkish Anti-Doping Commission talked about the supplements and drew the participants' attention to the non controlled supplements. Also, Dr. Dogan Atlihan, member of the IWF Medical Committee informed the coaches about the work of the Committee and mentioned some sports injuries that occurred during the past IWF World Championships in his presentation. The President of the Turkish Weightlifting Federation, Mr Tamer Taspinar closed the highly informative

IWF Development Program 2020

IWF continues to support its National and Regional Federations in 2020 as well. The IWF Development Program 2020 is now open, the Member Federations and Regional Federations can submit their applications until 28th February 2020. The documents are available here. In case of questions, please contact

Tokyo 2020 to Utilize Hydrogen for Games Cauldron and Relay Torch

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) yesterday announced that for the first time in the history of the Games, hydrogen will be used to power both the Olympic and Paralympic Cauldrons in Tokyo and the Torch during part of its journey through Japan. During its preparations for the Games, Tokyo 2020 has consistently promoted energy conservation and the use of renewable energy with the aim of supporting the realization of a carbon-neutral society, embracing sustainability as one of its core principles. As part of this initiative, Tokyo 2020 has been investigating the use of hydrogen energy; hydrogen emits no CO2 when it is burned and is therefore expected to be a key weapon in the battle to achieve a low-carbon economy. Tokyo 2020 has already deployed about 500 hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles and will take its use of hydrogen one symbolic step further by this use of it as fuel for the Cauldron and the Torch. It will include hydrogen produced in a renewable energy sourced production facility in Namie-cho, Fukushima Prefecture, embodying it with further significance as a new energy for a future full of hope. These initiatives symbolise the overall effort being made to promote and practice sustainability in the preparations for and operation of the Tokyo 2020 Games. They will also help to convey to the world the progress towards recovery being made by the disaster-hit areas in the Tohoku

Roma 2020 starts today!

The 2020 World Cup in Roma kicks off today, 27th of January and will be ongoing until the 31st. The competition is available to watch live at the following link, the first session starts at 9.50 local time. WATCH LIVE To download the Startbook, click here. Good luck to all