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IWF120y/96 – 1964: Sam Coffa proudly competes for Australia at the Olympics

On his passport, the official name is Salvatore Coffa, but the entire weightlifting world knows him as Sam Coffa. After a successful career as an athlete, coach, manager, official and administrator, the first years of his life were however modest, within a Sicilian family experiencing the difficulties and challenges caused by World War II. Born in Ferla (Sicily, Italy) in January 1936, Coffa emigrated with the family to Australia in 1952, in search of other horizons and opportunities. He will quickly integrate the community in Hawthorn (suburbs of Melbourne), by practicing and developing weightlifting in the local club. As an athlete, he progresses quickly, and after acquiring Australian citizenship in 1959, he takes part in the 1962 Commonwealth Games and 1964 Olympic Games, representing his new country. If the results in Tokyo are somehow deceiving, his most vivid and emotional memory remains the opening ceremony, where he could, in his own words, “proudly march behind the Australian flag”. After his retirement as an athlete, he remains a pillar in the development of weightlifting in his town, in the state of Victoria, in Australia (he is presently at the helm of the national body), in the Commonwealth community, continental federation, and at the IWF level. Sam Coffa is the world reference in terms of the weightlifting rules, currently chairing the IWF Technical Committee – he is also a member of the IWF Executive Board, where his highest position was of First Vice-President. Also involved with politics, he was Mayor of Hawthorn on two occasions, was awarded the membership of the Order of Australia, and was inducted into the Weightlifting Hall of Fame in 2009.

IWF120y/95 – 1906: Weightlifting again represented at the Intercalated Games

They are often named the “Forgotten Games”, but they were originally called the “Second International Olympic Games in Athens”. Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the Modern Olympic Movement, was opposed to the idea of staging this event in the Hellenic capital in 1906, but several factors led to its organisation: the unsuccessful “official” Games in Paris 1900 (all resources going to the Universal Exhibition running in parallel) and St-Louis 1904 (travelling to the USA was not as easy as in present days…); the desire of the Greek officials to “extend” the achievements of the first edition of the Games in 1896 (where our sport was already included), celebrating in the best possible way the 10th anniversary of the Games revival; finally, the possibility for the many athletes that could not travel to St-Louis to take part in an international competition. For the IWF, it was also the opportunity to gather the best lifters of that time, just 10 months after its foundation, in June 1905. Despite the desire for some regulation, athletes from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Sweden, and Turkey continued to perform in just two events: one-hand and two-hand lift. Josef Steinbach (AUT) was the best at one-hand, while Dimitrios Tofalos (photo) became a local hero after winning the two-hand competition. Italy, Germany, and France were the other countries with weightlifting medals. Overall, the Games were a success, with the participation of 854 athletes from 20 nations, competing in 12 sports. The Hellenic idea of keeping these Games in Athens every four years (between the “official” Olympic Games) was abandoned after financial difficulties dictated the cancellation of the 1910 edition, and World War I compromised the 1914 and 1918 Games. Because of that, the IOC never officially recognised the performances of the 1906 event as Olympic results. Photo credit:

Asian Championships: ‘Beautiful memories’ for Rahmat Erwin, agony for Olympic champion Rizki – and China wins 57 medals

Rahmat Erwin said farewell to the outgoing body weight categories with a memorable performance at the Asian Championships in Jiangshan, China, where he set his fifth 73kg clean and jerk world record in 30 months. His Indonesia team-mate Rizki Juniansyah, the Olympic 73kg champion, was beaten by a newcomer from China when he moved up to 81kg and failed to make his final attempt after tearing the skin on both thumbs. While Erwin was the only world record breaker in the men’s events, China and PRK collectively claimed seven world records in the women’s categories. Rahmat Erwin (INA) When Yang Qiuxia bettered Angie Palacios’ 71kg snatch mark, she ensured that every female world record holder in the “old” categories, which will cease to exist on May 31, is from China or PRK. China won 57 medals in Jiangshan, far more than any other nation. Erwin, a multiple world and continental champion, was sensationally beaten by Rizki in the final qualifying event for the Olympic Games just over a year ago. Rizki won gold in Paris while Erwin stayed at home. In Jiangshan, Erwin declined his third snatch, then bettered his own world record of 204kg when he made all three clean and jerks. In his five good lifts he made 155-205-360 to register the best Sinclair points score of the Championships on 486.3. Yang Qiuxia (CHN) His father and coach Erwin Abdullah told Indonesian media that there had been “so many bittersweet memories” during 16 competitions at 73kg over a period of six and a half years. “But this is one we will never forget,” Abdullah said. “We have beautiful memories of May 2025. Now we move on to a new weight category.” Whether that will be down to 71kg or up to 79kg is to be decided. Erwin weighed 72.75kg in Jiangshan, and Rizki 79.66kg. Rizki had finished second in his only other competition at 81kg three years ago at the South East Asian Games, where Erwin won 73kg gold. This week Rizki was second again, behind the international debutant Luo Chongyang, who missed two snatches in making 162-100-362. Rizki tore calluses on both thumbs on his second clean and jerk at 190kg, according to his coach Triyatno. He was in so much pain he could not complete his final attempt at 202kg, which would have given him victory. Another Olympic champion, Liu Huanhua from China, won by a wide margin at 102kg. Artyom Antropov from Kazakhstan, who won the world title in Liu’s absence last December, was 15kg behind at halfway and could not make a contest of it. Liu finished 180-230-410 and Antropov 165-221-386. Ro Kwang Ryol (PRK) Ro Kwang Ryol from PRK, who was second to Karlos Nasar at the World Championships, claimed his first career victory when he finished ahead of Li Dayin at 89kg. Ro made 168-212-380 while Li, a multiple champion for China, missed his final two attempts and finished 1kg behind on 176-203-379. PRK had another impressive winner in Pak Myong Jin at 61kg. Pak overcame a 6kg deficit at halfway to win on 136-170-306 ahead of Wang Hao from China on 142-163-305. Ayat Sharifi from Iran won the +109 super-heavyweights on 195-227-422. China’s women started with two world records on day one – snatches of 88kg and 90kg by the 45kg champion Zhao Jinhong - and won seven of the ten categories. PRK won two, and Thanyathon Sukcharoen from Thailand was the only winner from elsewhere, at 49kg. Zhao Jinhong (CHN) The highest-quality contest was at 71kg, where China and PRK both had world records, Yang Qiuxia in snatch and Song Kuk Hyang in clean and jerk and total. Yang made 122-140-262 and Song was outstanding in clean and jerk to record the highest women’s Sinclair score on 121-155-276. Kuo Hsing-Chun from Chinese Taipei, the Tokyo Olympic champion and a medallist in Paris, was only 80 per cent fit after a recent injury when she finished third at 59kg, according to her coach. Kim Il Gyong won for PRK with a total of 235kg. Thanyathon Sukcharoen (THA) China’s winners were Zhao at 45kg, Zhang Haiqin at 55kg, Li Shuang at 64kg, Liao Guifang at 76kg, Wu Yan at 81kg, Jiang Yujia at 87kg and Li Yan in the +87 super-heavyweights, where she finished 140-170-310. Liao had 76kg world records in snatch and total in making 125-154-279 on Tuesday, a day when five women’s world records were broken. By Brian

IWF120y/94 – 1964: Isaac Berger (USA), three Olympics, three medals

In the second half of the 1950s and the first years of the 1960s, the United States had in Isaac (‘Ike’) Berger one of its most accomplished and successful lifters. Born in 1936 in Jerusalem, his father was a rabbi and diamond setter, who then moved with the family to New York in 1949. Three years later, at 16, Berger started practicing weightlifting and in 1955 (when he was naturalised American), he won his first US national title. It was the beginning of a prolific career that would include three Olympic participations. The first of these presences – Melbourne 1956 – was the most successful: in Australia, competing in the 60kg category, he clinched gold in 107.5-107.5-137.7-352.5. He would always lift more, both in Rome 1960 and Tokyo 1964, but his performances – respectively of 117.5-105-140-362.5 and 122.5-107.5-152.5-382.5 – were only enough for the silver medal. In addition to these three brilliant Olympic medals, Berger got five more at the World Championships (victories in 1958 and 1961, second place in 1959 and 1963, and bronze in 1957). He also has two gold medals from the Pan-American Games (1959 and 1963). A true specialist in the Press movement, he was the first athlete in his category to lift the double of his body weight in this exercise, with a WR of 121.5kg in 1961. He would establish six more global marks during his career, namely four in Clean & Jerk (best of 152.5kg). Two of those World Records were established during the 1957 and 1961 editions of the Maccabiah Games, held in Tel Aviv – for many years, he held the honour of being the first athlete (in any sport) to improve a WR on Israeli soil. After his retirement, he developed a business around weightlifting equipment. ‘Ike’ Berger died in June 2022, some months before completing his 86th

IWF120y/93 – 1958: Asian Federation is founded in Tokyo (JPN)

After the foundation of the first continental federation – Pan-American – in 1951, a coordinated effort in Asia allowed the establishment in 1958 of the second continental body in the history of the IWF, the Asian Weightlifting Federation (AWF). Tokyo, in Japan, was the birthplace of the organisation, six years before the staging of the Olympic Games. In 2025, the AWF is uniting 45 affiliated National Federations spanning across all Asian regions. Like its counterpart in the Americas, the AWF took the responsibility of organising continental championships (from 1969 for men, and 1988 for women), events that worked on many occasions as a platform for the successful staging of the IWF World Championships. Two recent examples include the Asian showcase in 2019 in Ningbo (CHN), the host of the 2026 IWF Worlds, and the organisation in 2022 of the Asian Championships in Manama (BRN), the 2024 location of the IWF showcase. The first edition of a World Championships in Asia occurred in 1957 in Tehran (IRI) – the foundation of the AWF in 1958 is therefore a natural development of this milestone -, while subsequent editions visited the Philippines (Manila, 1974), China (Guangzhou, 1995), Thailand (Chiang Mai, 1997 and 2007; Pattaya, 2019), Qatar (Doha, 2005), Republic of Korea (Goyang, 2009), Kazakhstan (Almaty, 2014), Turkmenistan (Ashgabat, 2018), Uzbekistan (Tashkent, 2021), Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, 2023), and Bahrain (Manama, 2024). After the inaugural edition in 1987, Jakarta (INA) hosted the second edition of the Women’s World Championships in 1988. Asia hosts the most prolific nation in terms of medals at the Olympic Games and the IWF World Championships –

IWF120y/92 – 1997: Last major title for Bulgarian ace Yoto Yotov

In a country of great weightlifters in the history of the Olympic Games and World Championships, Yoto Yotov certainly ranks among the most illustrious athletes of Bulgaria. Born in May 1969, he still competes in the junior category when he earns his first medals at international level – silver at the 1988 Junior Champs and gold in the 1989 edition in Fort Lauderdale (photo). In that same year, he also shines at the senior IWF showcase, clinching silver in the 67.5kg category. In 1991, he finally gets his first senior world title – two more will follow, in 1993 and 1997. In between, he takes part in two Olympic Games – Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996. On both occasions, he is the runner-up: in Spain, in the 67.5kg category, he lifts 150-177.5-327.5 (the gold goes to Israel Militosyan, from the Unified Team, with a Total of 337.5kg), while in the USA he competes in the 76kg category, and reaches 160-200-360 (the winner is Pablo Lara, from Cuba, with 367.5kg). Besides these achievements, Yotov has three additional silver medals at the IWF Worlds (1990, 1994, and 1995), and six European victories (consecutive triumphs from 1990 to 1994, and then 1997). Winner of three IWF World Cups (1989, 1900 and 1991), he was voted the 1997 “Sportsperson of the Year” in Bulgaria, and in 2020 he was awarded the highest state honour in the field of Sport – the “Wreath of the Winner”. Last but not least, the Bulgarian ace also set two World Records during his successful career – one in Clean & Jerk (192.5kg) and one in Total (345kg), both established in 1994.