News

Malta Weightlifting Association, Training camp in Brisbane

Small team from the Malta Weightlifting Association (MWA) had the opportunity to participate in a training in Brisbane, Australia between the 24th August and 3rd September 2017. The Maltese national weightlifting coach Mr. Jesmond Caruana together with Maltese national athletes, Kyle Micallef and Kieran Mifsud and Jessica Edge have participated in this camp at Cougars Weightlifting Club under the guidance of Miles Wydall and Angela Wydall. The challenging aspect of this initiative was the travelling distance as well as the timing of the training camp given that two weeks later the athletes were competing in an international competition. These training sessions were however essential for the Maltese team as apart from the weightlifting aspects and technicalities as part of its development for future athletes. The MWA would like to show its appreciation and gratitude towards the International Weightlifting Federation for this camp. Source: Jesmond Caruana, Maltese Weightlifting Association

New course for athletes on the IOC Athlete Learning Gateway

The brand new course, Safeguarding Athletes from Harassment and Abuse has just launched on the Athlete Learning Gateway! This course is a must for coaches, athletes, and members of the entourage, as everyone needs to be proactive in keeping sport safe. Led by Dr. Margo Mountjoy who is a sports medicine physician and a retired elite synchronized swimmer, along with former professional ice hockey player, Sheldon Kennedy. Taking the courage to speak out about abuse he suffered at the hands of a former coach, Sheldon campaigns for child abuse cases to be handled better, working with the likes of the Canadian government, the IOC and US Senate. In this course you will learn: What harassment and abuse is What the signs of harassment and abuse are Why harassment and abuse may happen How you can play a part in safeguarding against it What organisations are doing to stop it To join the course you can click on the following link. Find out more about the courses available on the IOC Athlete Learning

IWF Clean Sport Commission: Reforming and elevating standards

The International Weightlifting Federation's (IWF) Clean Sport Commission met for the first time for a two days meeting in Frankfurt on Monday and Tuesday this week. IWF Director General, Attila Adamfi opened the meeting giving a comprehensive summary on the issues discussed by the Sport Programme Commission and drafted the leading lines suggested for future implementation. “The Clean Sport Commission takes its tasks seriously and what drives its work towards efficiency is the combination of people knowing weightlifting, athletes, administrators joined by outside experts in the areas of testing, science and sports law working together to evaluate the most state-of-the-art innovations available and find the ones which could serve the protection of the sport best.” - said Richard Young, Sports Law Expert and Member of the Commission. The new Commission looks into the past to assess the present in aiming to ensure a level playing field for all with making recommendations for the future. Willing to address the issue on a high level, the emphasis was put on getting the full support of all stakeholders involved. The Independent experts in the field of Anti-Doping (Athlete Representative, Representative of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Sports Law Experts, Laboratory Experts, Representatives of a National Anti-Doping Agency) all agreed that doping could be fought with joint forces only and IWF can count on the contribution of its Member Federations, the National Anti-Doping Organizations and the National Olympic Committees. Major axes paired with assets were brought together as part of potential innovations to lead the way in the following fields: Potential changes in the IWF Anti-Doping Policy Anti-Doping Education – shifting the culture through targeted spread of knowledge Sample Collection Analytical innovations The Commission aims to find the best means to improve the IWF Anti-Doping Programme even further, relying on both the expertise provided by its Members and its assessment of the robust work already done by IWF. The first preliminary report of the Commission will be submitted to the IWF Executive Board during its meeting in Bucharest on 30 September- 1

Olympic Solidarity course in Argentina

In August 2017 an Olympic Solidarity course took place in Corrientes, Argentina. The six days long course was destined to experienced coaches who are involved in the development of the country, especially to redesign the development of sport at the Under 15 and Under 17 age group. The course was organized by the Argentinean Weightlifting Federation with the support of IWF and Olympic Solidarity. During the lessons the coaches listened the expert with great enthusiasm, Mr. Jaiber Manjarres Cortes who has an extensive curriculum in weightlifting with international results. Both the theoretical and the practical part took place in Sedronar Corrientes Capital which has facilities of first level. The agenda was wide and diverse, providing up-to-date information presented by someone who has currently one of the most competitive teams in America. Mr. Manjarres answered all the questions of the listeners with great professionalism and experience. As a result, the material shared by the expert made a national sport development program for athletes of Under 15 and Under 17. This program contains macro-cycle planning with the analysis of each training unit. At the same time, the dynamics of the regional and national training camps for the competitors of this age group were considered within the

Cikamatana tipped for Gold

Weightlifting sensation Eileen Cikamatana has a busy September as the 17 year old will be competing in two international competitions. The first competition is the Commonwealth Championship & Oceania Weightlifting Championships to be held in Gold Coast, Australia. Immediately after the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Cikaimatana is targeting to win gold medal in the 90kg category at the Commonwealth Championships when she competes on September 9. On August 5 while competing at the 2017 Pacific Cup International and the 2018 Commonwealth Games qualification event in Noumea, Cikamatana established 20 Commonwealth and Oceania records in a truly astonishing performance. She Snatched 110 kg and Clean & Jerked 140 kg totalling a Total lift of 250Kg. This exceptional performance lifted Eileen to be the World No.1 ranked Junior athlete for 2017 in the 90 kg bodyweight category ahead of Jiaqi Shi of China and Valentyna Kisil of Ukraine. She is also the top ranked athlete in the Commonwealth Senior 90 kg category. She is the only weightlifter from the entire Oceania region to win a gold medal at any World Championships. She won the Gold in the Clean & Jerk competition at the 2016 IWF World Youth Championships, where she also won bronze in the overall total. This year she won two silver and one bronze medals at the 2017 IWF Junior World Championships in Tokyo. The Commonwealth Championships are the final qualifying event for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast next year. Eileen will be competing alongside Manueli Tulo, Taniela Rainibogi, Poama Qaqa & Apolonia Vaivai, who are all vying to qualify for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Eileen will join the Team Fiji in Turkmenistan on September 14 travelling with other athletes from the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in Noumea where she is currently based. Source: fijisun, Weightlifting

Weightlifting, “the Fortius of the Olympic Games”

The International Weightlifting Federation's (IWF) Sport Programme Commission met for the first time in Budapest on Monday and Tuesday this week.  IWF President, Dr. Tamas Ajan opened the meeting reminding that "Citius, Altius, Fortius is the motto of the Olympic Movement and underlining that weightlifting is the fortius of those Games, so the IWF must be committed to protecting the integrity of its sport". This new Commission is addressing the weightlifting programme for future Olympic Games recognising the need to take full account of all possible measures which will protect our clean athletes and ensure a level playing field for all in the future.  IWF has consistently spent a very high percentage of its revenues on the fight against doping. It is proposed that it now focuses also on the quality of its programmes and working at a higher and more strategic level. IWF will reinforce its efforts for clean sport by making new recommendations presented to the IWF Executive Board at its next meeting at the end of September. These will include proposals on competition formats, bodyweight categories, principles of the Olympic Games Qualification System all of which can be designed to enhance the current rules and policies, Weightlifting first appeared on the modern Olympic Games programme 121 years ago in 1896 and its practice is now fundamental to the preparation of athletes in all Olympic sports and disciplines.  Indeed throughout society the growth in using weights for health, leisure and recreational purposes positions weightlifting front and centre of physical activity in society at all levels.  The Commission accepted that this brings with it major responsibilities for IWF, but shared with the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency, to make every effort to ensure clean participation in the use of weights and lifting throughout society. The Commission recognised the strong position taken by the IWF in its rules and regulations and their application, in the sanctioning of National Weightlifting Federations by suspension from the Olympic Games of Rio 2016, one of only two International Federations to do so.  However, it felt that more must be done following the high number of positive cases in weightlifting from the retests of samples collected during the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games.  The Commission urges the three main actors, IWF, IOC and WADA to support each other in a cooperation towards eliminating doping from weightlifting in the interests of global society.  It concluded that this issue is too big for IWF alone to tackle and identified the need for all three actors to play their parts in full. The recommendations of the Commission will be fully aligned with the IWF Clean Sport Commission’s discussions and recommendations, having its first meeting on 11 – 12 September 2017. The Sport Programme Commission will next meet in October to finalise specific measures for the consideration of the IWF Executive