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IWF120y/60 – 1976: David Rigert (URS), the lifter improving 65 WR!

Some say he was quite inconsistent, but statistics are there to confirm that David Rigert, representing the Soviet Union, was one of the greatest lifters of the 1970s, establishing no less than 65 World Records during his career! Born in March 1947 in Nagornoye (presently in Kazakhstan), he started weightlifting in 1966 and four years later, he was already part of the Soviet team competing at the World Championships (in Columbus, Ohio, US). On that first major appearance, he got the bronze in the 82.5kg. That would be his worst result at the IWF showcase: from 1971 to 1978, he earned five gold medals, mainly in the 90kg category. Despite this supremacy, his performances at the Olympic level weren’t so successful. At his first Games, in Munich 1972, he bombed out in the Snatch, a poor result that he would repeat eight years later, at home, in the Moscow 1980 Olympics. The honour was saved in Montreal 1976, when he clinched his only Games medal (gold), lifting 170-212.5-282.5. With nine European titles from 1971-1980, Rigert established during the “golden” decade of his career one WR in Press, 21 in Snatch, 21 in Clean & Jerk, 14 in Total (with two lifts), and eight in Total (with three lifts). In Snatch, his best was a 185kg successful attempt in 1981, while in C&J he lifted 230kg in 1980! After his retirement, Rigert was a successful coach, also developing weightlifting equipment and promoting the construction of sports

IWF acknowledges IOC decision on LA 2028 quotas

The IWF acknowledged the recent decision of the IOC Executive Board concerning the allocation of athletes and event quotas for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles (USA). Weightlifting will remain with a quota of 120 athletes (60 men and 60 women), competing in 10 bodyweight categories (five for men, five for women). While the International Weightlifting Federation had requested an increase of the existing bodyweight categories (from five to seven, for both men and women) with a minimal impact on the final number of athletes (from the present 120, to 126), our International Federation understands that within the context of keeping the 10’500-athlete overall quota (excluding the five sports proposed by the LA28 OCOG), there wasn’t a wide available margin for the sport of Weightlifting. The IWF proposal was mainly motivated by the concerns expressed by the IWF Athletes Commission regarding the health, safety, and wellbeing of our lifters who had to adjust to a five-category format, with the inherent important gaps of weight between each category. The IOC decision only strengthens IWF’s strong commitment and effort in improving the exposure and importance of our Sport in future editions of the Olympic Games. Weightlifting was one of the nine founding sports in the initial edition of the Olympics, in 1896 in Athens (GRE). Since then, we continue working very hard to enhance the added-value of Weightlifting in the Olympic programme. Moreover, the structural, positive changes undertaken by the IWF in recent years – namely in the areas of anti-doping and good governance – make the entire Weightlifting family confident in an improved Olympic presence of our Sport from the 2032 edition onwards. Following this decision and the implementation of new weightlifting bodyweight categories from June 1, 2025, the IWF will come forward to the IOC with a proposal concerning which ten categories (five for men, five for women) should be considered in the LA 2028 Olympic programme. The full event programme for the LA2028 Olympic Games can be found

IWF120y/59 – 2008: Eko Yuli Irawan (INA) starts his Olympic harvest

Indonesia’s most prolific sport in terms of Olympic medals is undoubtedly Badminton – with 22 out of the 40 podium presences (including eight of the 10 gold won so far) of the Asian nation at the Games. Weightlifting arrives next on the list, with 16 awards, including one gold, seven silver, and eight bronze medals. Two lifters deserve special mention: Eko Yuli Irawan (photo) and Rizki Juniansyah. Irawan, born in 1989, is the only Indonesian athlete with four Olympic medals and also the first one to take part in five consecutive editions of the Games. It all started in Beijing 2008, when he got the bronze in the 56kg. Four years later, in London, he competed in the 62kg and was again third (with his best-ever Olympic performance of 145-172-317). He would improve his ranking in Rio 2026 and Tokyo2020ne, earning silver on both occasions. In Paris 2024, and besides the weight of the bars, he had a big responsibility on his shoulders: he could become the first athlete in the history of the Sport with five Olympic medals! He didn’t succeed – after lifting 135kg in the Snatch, he bombed out in the Clean & Jerk. A day after this hiccup on his amazing career, he celebrated the gold medal of his teammate Rizki Juniansyah in the men’s 73kg, the first Olympic title in the history of Indonesian weightlifting. Still with 21 (he was born in June 2003), Juniansyah was junior world champion in 2021 and 2022 and also won two medals (silver) at the senior level – in 2022 and 2024. His Olympic triumph in 155-199-354 was achieved a few hours after the gold medal of a compatriot in sport climbing – on the same day, they became the only Indonesian Olympic champions outside the sport of Badminton! On the women’s side, lifter Raema Lisa Rumbewas (deceased in January 2024, at the age of 43) was the country's first athlete to have won medals in three Olympic Games (silver in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, and bronze in Beijing

IWF120y/58 – 1964: Norbert Schemansky clinches fourth Olympic medal!

Norbert Schemansky was already 40 when in 1964 in Tokyo he became the first lifter in history to win four Olympic medals! In the Japanese capital, the US champion, competing in the +90kg category, clinched the bronze, 16 years after his first achievement at this level. Born in 1924, he first got noticed in 1947, after finishing second at the World Championships. In London 1948, at his first Olympics, he was also the runner-up, but four years later, in Helsinki (FIN), he climbed to the highest march of the podium, triumphing in 127.5-140-177.5-445. He skipped the 1956 edition in Melbourne (he was injured), but in Rome 1960, he earned bronze. For his last podium presence in Tokyo, he got his best Olympic performance, lifting 180-165-192.5-537.5. At world level, and after his 1947 achievement, he was crowned champion in 1951, 1953, and 1954. In the 1962 and 1963 editions, he added two silver medals to his impressive roll of honour. Having served in the US Army during World War II, Schemansky fought in the Battle of the Bulge, on European soil. He then worked as a fireman in the US, but was fired when actively preparing for the 1952 Olympics. After his retirement – he had an amazingly long career, from 1947 to 1972, improving 24 World Records on the way – Schemansky worked as a civil engineer. Native from the region of Detroit (Michigan), the US ace died in September 2016, aged

2026 Commonwealth Games: Qualification System defined for Weightlifting

The IWF recently published the Qualification System for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, in which weightlifting is one of the 10 sports on the programme of the competition. The upcoming edition will take place in Glasgow (Scotland) from July 23 to August 2, and a quota of 176 lifters (88 men and 88 women) is available for the IWF. The qualification will include four pathways: 1. Automatic qualification for the host (Scotland), 2. Direct qualification through the 2025 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships (to be held in August 2025 in India); 3. Qualification through a ranking, based on a list of competitions held from June 1, 2025 through May 18, 2026; 4. Bipartite invitation. Each of the eight bodyweight categories for both men and women will be contested by a maximum of 11 lifters, with most of the athletes (128) being selected through the ranking during the qualification period. The host will be able to automatically enter 16 lifters (one per category), the direct qualification will bring another 16 athletes (the winners in each of the medal events at the Commonwealth Championships) and the final 16 competitors will be in Glasgow after receiving a bipartite invitation (aimed at nations not previously qualified through phases 1-3). The IWF World Championships, to be held in October 2025 in Forde (NOR), will be the only IWF-owned event qualifying for the Commonwealth Games. Continental events during the qualification period will also contribute to the establishment of the ranking. Weightlifting was included in the programme of the Commonwealth Games in 1950, and has been since then always present in the event. The Commonwealth Games Federation has 74 member nations and territories in the five continents.    The 2026 Commonwealth Games Weightlifting Qualification System is available

IWF120y/57 – 2009: Creation of the IWF Development Programme

The idea had been launched 30 years earlier, at the end of the 1970s, when a “Development and Assistance Programme” was initiated to “support member countries of a low standard of weightlifting”, but the implementation of this project as we know it nowadays was set in 2009. Since then, formal procedures and requirements have been in place and the scope of the programme has been enlarged, allowing the allocation of direct financial support to potentially all IWF Member National and Continental Federations, as well as regional weightlifting bodies around the world. The amounts received by each of these entities can be used for several types of projects, namely: purchase of weightlifting equipment, organisation of seminars (photo – 2024 clinic in Nepal), support for event participation, the possibility of attending training camps, financing of coaching licenses, and assistance to ITOs (International Technical Officials). Besides the global programme, specific actions can be implemented for federations having suffered an important disruption of their activities due to natural catastrophes or situations of conflict. Moreover, immediate support to lifters is also possible – before the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, an “IWF Athletes Direct Support Programme” was put in place to assist 10 international elite competitors with Olympic potential. The IWF Development Programme has been pivotal, throughout the years, to ensure universal participation of athletes and officials in our