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IWF120y/118 – 1948: Ibrahim Shams (EGY) wins gold after a 12-year wait

The successful tale of Olympic legends is often made of resilience and patience, but the story of Ibrahim Shams can be ranked at the top of that list. Born in 1914, he was 22 when he took part in his first Olympics, in Berlin 1936. In the 60kg, he earned the bronze medal, after lifting 80-95-125-300 (lifters from Egypt won five medals at those Games). It was his first major international outcome, in a career that was aimed at greater successes. However, after those Games, World War II halted all sports activities, and two editions of the Olympics – 1940 and 1944 – had to be cancelled. In theory, those could have been the most prolific years for Shams, who nevertheless knew that his most illustrious hour was yet to come. Twelve years after his initial Olympic rendezvous, the Egyptian legend was ready to make history in London 1948. Competing in the 67.5 category, he clinched gold at the age of 34, with a solid performance of 97.5-115-147.5-360. Proving that this achievement was not an isolated one, Shams added two gold medals to his roll of honour, at the 1949 and 1951 editions of the World Championships. In Egypt’s Olympic history, Shams became the second athlete to earn two medals (after diver Simaika, at the 1928 Olympics), and the first one to make it in two different editions of the Games. Until his retirement, at almost 40, Shams also improved five World Records during his brilliant career (one in Snatch and four in Clean & Jerk). The Egyptian legend died in

IWF120y/117 – 1972: Gottfried Schödl (AUT), IWF’s longest-serving President

First elected to the IWF Executive Board in 1964, at the age of 40, Gottfried Schödl then became Vice-President in 1968, and in 1972, he was chosen to lead our International Federation. Until the end of his presidency, in 2000, he will become the longest-serving leader in the history of the IWF, a 28-year reign marked by many changes in the sport. Born in 1924 in Vienna, he began his sports career as a skater but switched to weightlifting during his teenage years. If his athlete’s career went unnoticed, his administrator skills were notorious: as President of the Austrian Federation, he was namely responsible for the organisation of the 1954 and 1961 editions of the World Championships, taking place in Vienna. On August 25, 1972 within the frame of the Olympic Games in Munich (GER), delegates at the Electoral Congress chose Schödl (photo: Schödl, right, and Johnson, left, in 1992) by a tiny difference of one vote (the Austrian had 32, while Clarence Johnson, President since 1960, collected 31). In the book he wrote, ‘The Lost Past: A Story of the International Weightlifting Federation’, he recalls that “private turning point” in his life: “Incredible: how often had I been a passive witness of such elections, and now there I was, myself involved up to my ears as a candidate to the highest position in the International Federation”. A highly-respect leader – he was nicknamed “Mr Weightlifting” and considered “an absolute gentleman” – Schödl’s highlights during his long tenure as President include: the official name of the Federation was set as ‘International Weightlifting Federation’, the Press movement was abolished, the women made their entry into the IWF and Olympic programme, and as a stronger promoter of clean sport he decisively introduced an anti-doping strategy into the IWF activities. Also a prolific writer, Schödl attended 11 Olympic Games and 46 World Championships. He passed away in April 2020, aged 95.

IWF120y/116 – 2021: Shi Zhiyong (CHN) completes nine years of invincibility with gold in Tokyo 

From 2012 until 2021, Shi Zhiyong, from China, had a perfect record in all international events he took part in: each participation had been the synonym of a gold medal! Born in October 1993, his success story started at the 2012 Asian Championships, where he was the best in the 69kg category (144-180-324). He then competed in heavier categories, but always topped the podium – the first continental victory was followed by three subsequent ones in 2016, 2019, and 2021. At the world level, he also displayed his supremacy in the IWF showcases of 2015, 2018, and 2019. At the Olympics, he had no problems beating the rest of the field in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020ne (photo). In Brazil (69kg category), he lifted 162-190-352 for the gold, while in Japan (73kg), he was crowned champion with a 166-198-364 performance. At the end of 2021, he got an injury in the back and returned back to competition in December 2023, at the IWF Grand Prix, one of the qualification events for the Paris 2024 Games. He was a silver medallist, an outcome he replicated some months later at the IWF World Cup in Phuket (THA). With a qualification total of 165-191-356, he was behind Rizki Juniansyah (INA), who arrived in Paris with a 164-201-365 performance also from the Thai event. In the French capital, all eyes were set on the 73kg event, where Shi could eventually join the very restricted club of lifters with three Olympic victories. In the end, the Chinese star led the Snatch portion of the competition by 10kg (165kg, against 155kg for the Indonesian ace), but then failed all his Clean & Jerk attempts at 191kg. Juniansyah lifted 199kg and got the gold in the French capital with a total of

IWF120y/115 – 1913: Bodyweight categories are created

Weightlifting was one of the founding sports of the first edition of the modern Olympic Games, in 1896, but the competition format was quite different then, namely concerning the concept (inexistent) of ‘bodyweight categories’. In 1904, the second time our sport was featured in the Games, lifters were competing without taking into account any differences in their body morphology. Things changed in 1913: at the Congress in Berlin, five bodyweight categories were proposed and approved - Featherweight (60kg), Lightweight (67.5kg), Light-middleweight (75kg), Heavy-middleweight (82.5kg) and Heavyweight (+82.5kg). The 1920 Olympics in Antwerp are already contested using these categories, which will remain in place (except the Heavyweight) until the… 1992 Games in Barcelona! Otherwise, for the 1948 Olympic rendezvous, a sixth category is introduced – Bantamweight (56kg) – and the 1950 Congress approves a Middle-Heavyweight category of 90kg, thus altering the Heavyweight one to +90kg. Things remained stable until 1968, but in Munich 1972, two new categories were on the programme: Flyweight (52kg) and Super-Heavyweight (+110kg, leading to a change in the Heavyweight one, raised to 110kg). For the Moscow 1980 Games, a 10th category is created – First-Heavyweight (100kg), between the Middle-Heavyweight (90kg) and Heavyweight (100kg). This status quo was used until the Barcelona Games, but in Atlanta 1996 (illustrative photo), overall adjustments in all categories were made, and from 2000 until 2016, eight Olympic categories were set in stone (seven, for the women’s competition). Presently, the IWF has eight bodyweight categories for both men and women, and as in Paris 2024, the 2028 edition of the Games in Los Angeles will include five bodyweight categories for both the men’s and women’s events.

IWF120y/114 – 1960: Tan Howe Liang becomes a national hero in Singapore

For 48 years, Tan Howe Liang held a very special privilege: to be the first and sole Olympic medallist in his country (all sports included)! Born in the Guangdong (China) region in 1933, he was four when his parents decided to move to Singapore. Third of eight siblings, his living conditions were far from ideal and when his father died (Tan was only 14), he was forced to quit school. One day, passing through an amusement park, he saw a weightlifting exhibition and decided to try the sport. It was the right decision, as he proved quite strong and started winning some national titles. In 1956, he qualified for his first Olympic Games: in Melbourne, his performance went unnoticed as he finished ninth. 1958 was a pivotal year for Tan, as he earned two gold medals, at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. Two years later, at the Rome Olympics, he will enter the Olympic history book of the tiny Asian nation: competing in the 67.5kg category, he lifted 115-110-155-380 and secured the silver medal. It was the first podium presence for Singapore, a feat that will remain unmatched until the national women’s table tennis team also clinched a silver medal at the… 2008 Games in Beijing (since then, four more medals were won by Singaporean athletes). Tan is the only Olympic medallist for Singapore in weightlifting and was an inspirational model for many young athletes practicing the sport. In 1962, he was again the best at the Commonwealth Games. In 1964, in Tokyo, he lifted a total of 400kg, but this outcome is only sufficient for the 11th place. After his retirement, he tried several jobs and businesses but ended up being a weightlifting coach. Tan received the highest accolades in Singapore and passed away at the age of 91, in December 2024. Photo credit: Singapore National Olympic

IWF120y/113 – 2022: Mohammed Jalood starts a new era for the IWF

After his election as IWF President in June 2022, Mohammed Jalood and his colleagues from a renovated Executive Board undertook immediate, structural, and robust reforms to address two of the main problems undermining our International Federation’s reputation: good governance and anti-doping policy. The approval of a new Constitution and By-Laws was the main mechanism to cover the first topic, establishing clear rules and procedures to ensure gender equity, athlete representation, term limits, and a code of conduct for officials serving in the IWF. Moreover, considerable efforts were made in the fields of inclusivity – namely with the creation of the first-ever IWF Refugee Team, in 2023, or the adoption of a gender identity policy – and sustainability (the IWF has since developed a partnership with the United Nations in this field). On the anti-doping front, the IWF President was a strong promoter of a solid collaboration between our International Federation and the ITA (International Testing Agency), thus guaranteeing that the entirety of anti-doping operations is run in an independent and transparent way. Other major initiatives under Jalood’s presidency include the reinforcement of the IWF headquarters in Lausanne, the establishment of a 2024-2032 IWF Strategic Plan, the integration of safeguarding policies, and the adoption of a Human Rights and Non-Discrimination Policy. These reforms played an essential role in the IOC’s positive decision to keep Weightlifting in the Olympic programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. This ‘culture change’ was also largely valued by the IWF National Federations in May 2025, when Mohammed Jalood was re-elected as the IWF President for the period