News

IWF concludes successful visit to Forde (NOR)

An IWF delegation, led by IWF CEO Achilleas Tsogas, was this week in Norway to discuss the present stage of preparation for the 2025 IWF World Championships, taking place in Forde, from October 2-11. The IWF group, also including Matyas Lencser, Competition Manager, and Timea Horvath, Development and Education Manager, was welcomed by Stian Grimseth, President of the Norwegian Weightlifting Federation, and his team. From left to right: Timea Horvath (IWF), Gunnar Reiakvam (OC Forde 2025), Achilleas Tsogas (IWF), Matyas Lencser (IWF) and Stian Grimseth (OC Forde 2025) During the two-day visit to Forde, in the western part of the country, the IWF representatives could revise all the aspects related to the set-up of the IWF showcase, namely: accommodation and transportation plan, competition and training venue, sports presentation, communication and promotion, protocol and ceremonies, anti-doping procedures, and visa and financial matters. The competition venue Together with the Norwegian organisers, the IWF delegation had the opportunity to visit the proposed venues (for competition/warm-up, and training), as well as the hotels hosting the participating athletes, coaches, and officials. With a population of around 20’000, Forde is a town surrounded by water courses and mountains and is the smallest-ever host of an IWF World Championships. Coming from outside Norway, the preferred arrival airport is Bergen (the second largest city in the country), 170km away. The training facility “We had a very fruitful meeting in Forde, and we could definitively validate many of the items that had been discussed in the months before this visit. The Norwegian Weightlifting Federation and the local authorities are really determined to provide a great event in this so nice location. Considering Forde’s size, it will necessarily be a ‘compact’ championship, but everything will be done to provide an unforgettable experience to all those coming here in October,” considered Mr Tsogas at the end of the visit. “Forde already hosted the 2016 European Championships, so there is previous knowledge of the demands of such complex events. Everything we saw here is perfectly adequate to successfully welcome the world weightlifting family in six months. I extend my gratitude and appreciation to our Norwegian hosts and wish them all the best in the last stage of the preparation,” concluded the IWF CEO. IWF Communications

Lima 2025: two more days to submit Final Entries!

IWF Member Federations are kindly reminded that the deadline to submit the final entries of their athletes taking part at the IWF World Youth and Junior Championships in Lima (PER) is on this Sunday, March 30. For that, a maximum of 12 youth athletes (10+2 reserve) per gender, and a maximum of 12 junior athletes (10+2 reserve) per gender can be registered (through the following link: https://mf.iwf.sport), provided they were already included in the Preliminary Entries. All lifters not participating in the competition must be removed from the system. After this step, the Verification of Final Entries will be done on April 16 (at 12:00/Noon CET), exactly two weeks before the start of the Championships, running from April 30 – May 5, 2025 in the Peruvian capital. Also by this Sunday, March 30, and in parallel with the Final Entries procedure, participating Member Federations must transfer 100% of the total payment for accommodation and entry fees to the Organising Committee of the event. All relevant competition documents can be found

IWF120y/46 – 2016: Deng Wei (CHN) crowns a fantastic career with the Olympic gold

Born in February 1993, Deng Wei is 17 when she takes part in the first edition of the Youth Olympic Games, in 2010. The talented Chinese lifter gets the gold in Singapore, in what would be the premises of an outstanding career. Just a month later, in Antalya (TUR), she is also the best at the IWF World Championships, competing in the 58kg (102-135-237). Until the end of her career in 2021, she will collect four more world titles, becoming one of the most successful female athletes in the history of the IWF showcase. In the 63kg, she is the world champion in 2014 (110-142-252) and in 2015 (113-146-259), and is the clear favourite for an Olympic title at the 2016 Rio Games. She arrives in Brazil and confirms her credentials, climbing to the highest march of the podium, after a 115-147-262 result. The Clean & Jerk and Total performance remained the World Records in her body category (that no longer exists). From 2018, she competes in the 64kg and her domination remains intact at the international level, with two additional world titles in 2018 (112-140-252) and 2019 (116-145-261). Also in 2019, at the IWF World Cup, she establishes the WR in the Snatch, with a successful 117kg attempt (throughout her career, she improved 20 global marks). Deng trained at the Fujian Weightlifting National Sports Centre, a facility that has produced many Chinese stars since its opening in 2005. Lifters from the Fujian team earned already nine Olympic medals (including six gold), and 61 victories at the IWF

IWF120y/45 – 1964: Uesaka gains visibility at the Tokyo Games

The business had started 35 years earlier in a downtown neighbourhood of Tokyo: Uesaka was founded as an ironworks company, taking since then the best possible advantage of high-quality Japanese steel. In 1959, the production started to focus on weightlifting equipment, with bars and plates being manufactured by quite precise engineering methods. The quality of the equipment is recognised in Japan, and the brand is chosen, without surprise, as a supplier of the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games. It was the opportunity to expand the visibility and exposure of the Uesaka philosophy – it remains today a family business, led by Tadamasa Uesaka (inducted into the Weightlifting Hall of Fame in 2002) – and make the brand known worldwide. After that initial success, the Japanese manufacturer was present in five more editions of the Games – 1988 (photo), 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004. Moreover, they have also been used at several editions of the IWF World Championships (as an IWF Certified barbell company) and Commonwealth Games. Uesaka is proud of defining its products as “durable, precise and safe” and of highlighting the importance of the craftsmanship character of its creations. Almost 100 years after its foundation, Uesaka still produces most of its iron products in the area of Sumida-ku, at the heart of the Japanese

IWF120y/44 – 1968: Kaarlo Kangasniemi, an icon of Finnish weightlifting

This story starts in Kullaa, a tiny town in the western part of Finland. On February 4, 1941 Kaarlo Kangasniemi is born there and is part of a big clan: he is one of the 11 children of the family. There are eight boys and three girls, and five of these men will practice weightlifting throughout their lives. Kaarlo will be the most successful one. After a seventh place at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, he takes part in his second Games in 1968, in Mexico City. At 27, he becomes the first (and only one so far) Olympic champion for his country in weightlifting, earning gold in 172.5-157.5-187.5-517.5 (in the 90kg category). Four years later, in Munich 1972, he arrived in Germany with an ongoing injury, but still managed to place sixth. At the 1968 and 1972 rendezvous, his younger brother Kauko was also part of the Finnish delegation and was ranked seventh on both occasions. After the achievement in Mexico, Kaarlo was again the best at the World Championships, in Warsaw 1969. In 1971, he gets his second medal (silver) at the IWF showcase. Throughout his amazing career, he established 17 new World Records, and his best result at the international level was achieved at the 1970 European Championships, when he lifted 177.5-160-192.5-530. Only two other athletes from Finland medalled in Olympic weightlifting: Jouni Grönman and Pekka Niemi, both getting the bronze at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, respectively in the 67.5kg and 100kg category. At the World Championships, only one woman managed to get the gold so far: Karolina Lundahl, in 1994 and

IWF120y/43 – 1891: The first of the 89 World Championships so far

Despite being hard to conceive, the first recognised “World Championship” contest took place in March 1891 in London. Fourteen years before the foundation of our International Federation, the event gathered seven athletes from six nations: for the history books, Edward Lawrence Levy (GBR) was the first “world champion”. With awkward athletic exercises and no formal frame, these “championships” had five more editions (1898, 1899, 1903, 1904, and 1905) until IWF’s ancestor saw the day, in June 1905. Since then, things have become more organised, but the “world” event was still totally dominated by Europe. In 1937, after a 14-year hiatus, the 23rd edition takes place in Paris (FRA) and seven lifters from the Americas are present. The following year, in Vienna (AUT), a third continent is represented: Africa. Four continents (including Asia) sent their best athletes to the 1949 event in Scheveningen (NED) and in 1958 (in the photo: Ike Berger, USA, winner in the 60kg category), the entire world meets in Stockholm (including for the first time two lifters from the fifth continent, Oceania). Participation numbers also grow steadily – Vienna 1954 reaches for the first time 100 lifters (only men at the time, and until 1986), Ljubljana (YUG, now SLO) 1982 gathers 205 athletes, and Donaueschingen (GER) 1991 is attended by 308 competitors (200 men and 108 women). If from 1964 to 1984 (included) the Olympics counted as World Championships for that year, the IWF showcase in the year preceding the Games is normally more attended than non-qualifying ones. It was for example the case in 1999 (before the Sydney 2000 Games), when the Worlds in Athens (GRE) registered the highest male participation so far – 395 lifters. Overall, the 2023 edition in Riyadh (KSA) – a qualification event for the Paris 2024 Olympics – was the most attended in IWF’s history, with 682 lifters (348 men, 334 women). Only once, in 2022 in Bogota, female lifters were more numerous than their male counterparts – the Colombian rendezvous attracted 265 women and 263