News

IWF120y/37 – 1987: Maria Takacs (HUN), 33 world medals (but never the gold…)

In cycling, it’s frequent to mention the name of Raymond Poulidor, the French legend, eight times on the podium of the Tour de France, but never on the highest march – he is known in the sport as the “eternal second”. Weightlifting also has its Poulidor – in our case, it is a woman from Hungary: Maria Takacs. Born in 1966, she started her sports career in athletics (shot putter and discus thrower), but together with her sister Erika, they were initiated into weightlifting by their father Istvan, a coach. They both have brilliant international careers, but Maria’s deserves a special mention: between 1987 (the first edition for women) and 1998, she took part in 12 consecutive World Championships (in the 67.5kg category and then on the 75/76kg) and out of the possible 36 medals at stake, she collects an amazing harvest of 33! With one significant detail: none of them is a golden award… In Total, she earns six silver and six bronze medals, getting another 21 podium presences for the individual events of snatch and clean & jerk. The only three editions she doesn’t get a full collection of medals are 1992 and 1998 (absent from the Snatch podium) and 1993 (in C&J). On those 12 Championships, the (Total) victory in her category was clinched by China on 10 occasions, while Greece and Finland were the remaining winners. Her personal best at the Worlds was her 1997 performance in Chiang Mai (THA), where she got the silver in 100-125-225. Her sister Erika won fewer medals at the IWF showcase but managed to be the world champion in 1995 in the +83kg category. After missing the 2000 Olympic Games (when women’s weightlifting made its debut), Maria (on the left, in the photo - at the 1994 Worlds) retired from the elite competition, but remained active as a successful master lifter. She was the first female athlete to be inducted into the Weightlifting Hall of Fame, in 2006, and is presently a member of the IWF Coaching and Research Committee.

Cyrille Tchatchet: first lifter to sign the IOC Olympian Wall

Cyrille Tchatchet became today the first weightlifter to sign the prestigious Olympian Wall at the IOC Headquarters in Lausanne (SUI), a ceremony that coincided with his participation in the WADA Athlete Council meeting and WADA Symposium. With around 700 signatures from Olympians from all continents and Sports, the IOC Wall’s goal is to pay tribute to all those who make the value and create emotions at the Games. “I am very honoured and pleased to be here. I didn’t expect such a nice ceremony and attention. It’s a great initiative and I am naturally glad to have my name on it. The Games are a great experience for all athletes and the International Olympic Committee wants to preserve that spirit and heritage,” commented Tchatchet. Olympian at the Tokyo 2020ne Games as a member of the Olympic Refugee Team, the Cameroon-native lifter (presently living in England and holder of a British passport) also enjoyed a tour of the Olympic House in Lausanne. “It is an impressive building, very modern and functional. Its location next to the lake also makes it special,” noted Tchatchet after taking a photo next to the statue of Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, at the entry of the IOC headquarters. Cyrille Tchatchet was elected last December to the World Anti-Doping Agency Athlete Council and came to Lausanne to attend the first meeting of that body in 2025. In this quality, he is attending the WADA Symposium, being held today and tomorrow in the Olympic capital. Also an IWF Athlete Commission Member, Tchatchet recently re-started training with one objective: to take part in the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In a recent interview with the IWF, he highlighted the importance of this competition: “My goal is to compete at the 2026 Commonwealth Games and earn a medal there. As they are also in Glasgow, it would be a good way to close somehow the circle since 2014”. Explanation: the 2014 edition marked a turning point in Tchatchet’s life. Competing for Cameroon, he never returns home and seeks asylum in England. The rest is history.   After the IOC ceremony, Tchatchet also enjoyed a visit to the IWF headquarters. “I finally know from where all the hard work is done – it’s nice to see you have so many photos of weightlifters on the walls. You need to put mine…” he concluded, smiling. Pedro AdregaIWF

IWF120y/36 – 1952: Tommy Kono (USA) wins his first Olympic gold

Tamio “Tommy” Kono is today considered one of the greatest weightlifters in history, but we can say his ascension to fame was basically due to hazardous circumstances. He was born in Sacramento (California, USA) to Japanese descent parents in 1930. When he was 12, the US government decided during World War II that his family (like many other Japanese-American ones in the country) should be relocated to an internment camp. Suffering from asthma, the location of the camp – in the Californian desert – helped him recover from this condition. Moreover, he discovers weightlifting inside the camp and starts training there with other relocated friends. It is evident that the young champion-to-be has a talent for the sport, and after being liberated from the camp at the end of the world conflict, he is some years later enrolled in the US Army. In 1950, his destiny could have been the Korean War, but it was decided to keep him in the country, as his Olympic potential was already notorious. The decision proved wise, as he went on to earn the gold medal (67.5kg category: 105-117.5-140-362.5) at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, followed by a second title four years later in Melbourne 1956 (82.5kg: 140-132.5-175-447.5). At the Rome 1960 Games, he still gets a silver medal in the 75kg bodyweight category (140-127.5-160-427.5). In parallel, he is a six-time world champion, from 1953 to 1959. Finally, he also won three Pan-American titles (1955, 1959, and 1963) and established 22 World Records throughout his amazing career! Also a bodybuilder, he is elected Mr Universe on four occasions – 1954, 1955, 1957, and 1961. After his retirement, he became a coach, namely heading the US team to the 1976 Games in Montreal. Based in Honolulu, Hawaii, since 1955, Tommy Kono died there in April 2016, a couple of months before completing his 86th

IWF120y/35 – 1969: European Federation sees the day in Warsaw (POL)

The first decades in the life of the International Weightlifting Federation were essentially dominated by the influence of European countries: nations from the Old Continent founded the IWF and the first 25 editions of the recognised World Championships were all staged in Europe. The city of Philadelphia, in the United States, was the first one to “break” this hegemony, in 1947. Despite this dominance, most European activities were done within the frame of the International Federation – Pan-Americas and Asia took their “independence” earlier, having found their continental bodies in 1951 and 1958, respectively. But, some months before the organisation of the World Championships in Warsaw (POL) in 1969 – the global showcase was also “integrating” the European Championships – a letter signed by nine European federations had been sent to all members in the Old Continent urging for the necessity to create a continental body. In September – when the event was staged in the Polish capital – those “seeds” had grown and delegates from 19 European nations unanimously approved the creation of the European Weightlifting Federation (EWF). The first president of the organisation was Janusz Przedpelski (POL), who remained at the helm of the EWF until 1983. Five years later, in 1988, the initial Women’s European showcase took place in San Marino, and in 1990 the continental body decided to “separate” the European Championships from other events, thus making it the annual highlight of a complete European calendar of competitions. The EWF presently has 46 national members (plus four additional associate federations, whose territories have no National Olympic

IWF120y/34 – 1984: The beginning of a solid Olympic presence for Chinese Taipei

Outside our sports community, it is hard to find someone capable of identifying the most successful sport in Chinese Taipei: the answer is weightlifting. Out of the 43 medals achieved by the island at the Olympics, 11 (leading the chart) were earned by lifters. It all started in 1984, when the Games were only available for men: in the 60kg, Tsai Wen-yee opened the way with a bronze – he remains the only male Olympic weightlifting medallist for Chinese Taipei. The subsequent 10 podium presences were all achieved by women, after female competitions were admitted in the Games, in 2000. On that successful debut in Sydney (AUS), Li Feng-ying and Kuo Yi-hang got respectively the silver in the 53kg and bronze in the 75kg category. From the 2008 Games onwards, and until last year’s edition in Paris, female weightlifters from Chinese Taipei have always medalled. In Beijing, Chen Wei-ling became the first-ever gold medallist in the 48kg category, while her teammate Lu Ying-chi earned silver in the 63kg. Chen Wen-huei closes the list of single medallists, with a bronze (64kg) at the Tokyo 2020ne Olympics. Two athletes deserve however a special mention, as they clinched at least two Olympic medals in the Sport: Hsu Shu-ching has two victories in the 53kg (London 2012 and Rio 2016) and Kuo Hsing-chun (photo) was three times on an Olympic podium: gold in Tokyo 2020ne (59kg), and two bronze (in Rio 2016 and Paris 2024). Kuo (or “Tana” as she is also known) is arguably the best weightlifter the island has produced: besides her Olympic achievements, she is also a five-time world champion and winner of six continental championships. At 31, she has established 11 World Records so far throughout her career.  

IWF120y/33 – 1972: Weightlifting pays a heavy price on Olympics’ saddest day

The 1972 Olympic Games in Munich (GER) had entered its second week and were consensually considered a huge sportive and organisational success. The weightlifting competition was also well advanced, but everything came to a shocking halt on September 5. At around 4h30 in the morning, eight Palestinian militants, from a group called “Black September”, infiltrated the Olympic Village and penetrated the building hosting the Israeli delegation taking part in the competition. The group kills two athletes at the beginning of the operation and retains nine others as hostages. After a long day of unfruitful negotiations, terrorists and hostages were taken to a German military airport, supposedly to be flown to Cairo, in Egypt, as per the group’s demand. A rescue ambush plan was however executed by the police, but it failed and all the hostages lost their lives during the operation. Out of the 11 Israeli victims, four were part of the weightlifting family (four others were from wrestling, and one apiece from shooting, fencing, and athletics). Three lifters – Zeev Friedman (28 years old), Yossef Romano (32), and David Berger (28) – and one referee (Yakov Springer, 52) tragically died in what remains the saddest day in Olympics’ history. On September 6, after a memorial for the victims – attended by 80’000 people gathered in the Olympic stadium for the football game Germany-Hungary – the Games resumed following an unprecedented suspension for 34