News

2017 Commonwealth & Oceania Championships

With five weeks to go to one of the biggest weightlifting events ever held in the region. The city of Gold Coast on September 3rd to 9th, will host the 2017 Commonwealth and Oceania Championships for Senior, Junior and Youth. This event is also a test event for next year’s Commonwealth Games. The championships has attracted 400 lifters and 150 officials coming from 37 countries. The Organising Committee under leadership of Michael Keelan, the CEO of Australian Weightlifting, have done a brilliant job, especially in assisting countries who require visas to enter Australia. The OWF Annual Congress will be held at the Gold Coast at the Mercure Resort on September 4th . For more info, check out the latest OWF Newsletter! Souce: Paul Coffa, OWF General

Happy Birthday to Aleksandr Kurlovich

Aleksandr Nikolaevich Kurlovich celebrated his 56th Birthday on the 28th of July. He has outstanding results in weightlifting and reached success in Sports Diplomacy as well. Two times Olympic Champion (1988 and 1992) four times World Champion (1987,1989,1991,1994), two times European Champion (1989,1990) and World Record holder twelve times, he is one of those few athletes being able to register such incredible achievements. He finished his sport career at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta 5th under the Belarus flag. His best results are 215kg in the Snatch, 260kg in the Clean and Jerk and 472,5kg in the Total. Aleksandr Kurlovich - born on 28 July in 1961, Grodno -  is the Director of the Representative Office of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus in Grodno Province.  He is also a Member of the Executive Committee of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus and deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Weightlifting Union; Vice-President of the European Weightlifting Federation and Member of the IWF Technical Committee. For his outstanding results entered the IWF Weightlifting Hall of Fame in

88 Madagascar athletes to train for five months in China

88 Malagasy athletes will be sent to China for five months of training this year, Malagasy Sports Minister said in March. Eighty-eight Malagasy athletes will be sent to China for five months of training this year, Malagasy sports minister said in March. "Eighty-eight Malagasy athletes in five disciplines will be selected by Chinese experts and Malagasy technicians and will leave this year for five months of training in China," Madagascar's Minister of Sports Anicet Andriamosarisoa said during the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Chinese Ambassador to Madagascar Yang Xiaorong. "These Malagasy athletes perform in swimming, athletics, ping pong, weightlifting and badminton," the Minister said. "The Chinese government sent a study mission consisting of four experts to study the needs of the Malagasy side and establish the sports cooperation program," the Minister added. Apart from swimming, athletics, ping pong, weightlifting and badminton, other disciplines will also be improved as part of this Sino-Malagasy sport cooperation program, the minister disclosed. Yang said that the two countries planned to invite Chinese sports coaches in Madagascar and to send talented Malagasy athletes to train in China and provide sports equipment. "Our goal is to help Madagascar improve the performances and conditions of training," the Chinese Ambassador said. "The implementation of this project will reinforce the existing cooperation and will support the implementation of Madagascar's national sports policy, increase the exchanges of young athletes from both countries," Yang said. The Chinese Ambassador added that this is "the most important project in recent years in the field of sports cooperation between the two countries." Source: New

82 year old weightlifter strikes gold again

Retired soldier Ng Chow Seng has won his sixth gold medal in weightlifting at the age of 82. The grandfather of six from Bukit Mertajam proved his strength at the 2017 World Masters Games in Auckland, New Zealand, in the 80-84 age category in April. He lifted 42kg in the Snatch and 52kg in the Clean and Jerk for a Total of 94kg. In second place was Horoshi Kogo, 80, from Japan, who lifted 86kg while Feliks Bionkowski, 81, of Poland finished third with 75kg. “I learned discipline from my army days. I make a plan and commit to consistent training,” he said at a press conference in Komtar with Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and state Youth and Sports Committee chairman Chong Eng. “I am a pensioner so I have plenty of time to train. I sleep before 10pm and wake up at 5am. “Then it is training from 5.30am to 9am, and another session from 4.30pm to 6.30pm. “It is not easy but much depends on our ability to withstand stress.” Ng retired as Warrant Officer II in the Armed Forces in 1984 after serving 25 years and won his first gold in the IWF World Masters Weightlifting Championship in 2011 in Limassol, Cyprus. Then he retained his title throughout 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016. When he won the same competition held in Finland in 2015, he said “People think I am kind of crazy lifting weights day and night at my age. But they fail to realise that this is the sport that I truly love.” He is determined to continue competing internationally for at least two more years. “My next immediate target is a gold medal at the Asia Pacific Masters Games in Penang next year,” he said. We wish Ng all the best in pursuing his dreams and keeping his passion alive despite his old age! Source: THE STAR Online,

The two Pettersson

Only relatives in name, but they have many things in common; first of all both were called Erik Albert Petteersson. Out of the 4 Swedish Olympic Bronze medals, they won one – one at the same time and at the same place in the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games. To differentiate them somehow, the Swedish themselves decided to skip the name Erik from the Petterson born earlier on May 5, 1885 and the name Albert from the other Pettersson who was born on May 18, 1890. From the two athletes, Albert Pettersson had more success: before winning the Olympic Bronze in the 75kg bodyweight category with Total 235kg, he finished third in his category at the European Championships in 1909. Erik Petterson, whose nickname was „Stark – Pell”, alias Strong Pell, finished third in Antwerp in the 82,5 kg bodyweight category with a Total of 267,5 kg. The former athlete who was the oldest weightlifter with his age of 35 at the Olympic Games passed away in 1960. The latter athlete, died one month prior to his 85th birthday in 1975. As another common fact, they both died in Stockholm.

Successful seminars at the African Championships

During the 2017 African Senior Championships in Vacoas, Mauritius the Weightlifting Federation of Africa with the cooperation of IWF held 3 educational seminars. The Anti-Doping seminar presented by Dr. Zakia Bartagi, IWF Anti-Doping Commission member focused on the new rules, new sanctions, WADA prohibited list, Therapeutic Use Exemptions and a lot more. Dr. Dogan Atlihan, IWF Medical Committee member spoke about muscle and common injuries in weightlifting covering the different types of injuries, symptoms, and of course the treatments. The Coaching seminar held by Mr. Maged Salama examined among other topics how the main muscles work in weightlifting, how to develop them, how to strengthen the muscles. Totally more than 60 participants including coaches, athletes, administrators and technical officials of the African Continent attended the seminars and all agreed that the seminars very were interactive, useful and they could benefit a lot. The IWF is always happy to provide education to those who wish to