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A premiere: Weightlifting is added to programme of European Games in 2027!

Weightlifting has been welcomed on to the programme of the European Games for the first time, raising the status of the sport after a strong campaign by the continental federation. Antonio Conflitti, president of the European Weightlifting Federation, has been working since early 2022 to persuade the European Olympic Committees (EOC) to add weightlifting to the European Games programme. “It has been more than three years of diplomacy, starting with a meeting in Rome two months after I was elected,” he said. The EOC General Assembly in Frankfurt  The EOC made the decision to include weightlifting at the 2027 European Games in Istanbul at its general assembly in Frankfurt, which ended on Saturday. Part of the agreement with the EWF is that the competition should be a qualifying event for Los Angeles 2028. “I believe that it would make the EWF the first continental federation to have the continental Games an Olympic qualifier,” Conflitti said. “That makes me very happy.” There will be a full range of Olympic weight categories for men and women in Istanbul, with 300 or more athletes. Conflitti stressed that the precise format cannot be decided immediately, because the IWF is in the process of formulating a qualifying programme for 2028. There will be enough competitions, though, for the European Games to be part of the process. From left to right: Antonio Conflitti (EWF President and IWF EB member), Spyros Capralos (EOC President) and Florian Sperl (German Weightlifting Federation President and IWF EB member) Whether there will be a European Championships as well as the European Games in 2027 is also a decision for the future, Conflitti said. In terms of multi-sport continental Games, Europe has long been behind the rest of the weightlifting world, mainly because the EOC did not support the creation of the European Games until 2012 – and weightlifting has not been a feature until now. The other four continental Games began back in the 1950s and 1960s. When weightlifting was a major feature of the first Asian Games and Pan American Games, the winners included men who made their mark nine decades ago. John Davis, who won Olympic heavyweight gold for the United States in 1948 and 1952, was a winner in Buenos Aires at the first Pan American Games. In the same year, 1951, Iran won all seven medal events at inaugural Asian Games in Delhi. One of the champions was Jafar Salmasi, whose bronze at London 1948 was the first Olympic medal in any sport for Iran. Weightlifting featured at the Pacific Games in 1966 and has been on the Africa Games programme since 1991. All these continental multi-sport Games, held every four years, began decades before the first European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2015. Weightlifting was not among the 20 sports there, nor was it at the 2019 European Games in Minsk, Belarus or the 2023 version in Kraków-Małopolska, Poland. “We need this recognition, we need weightlifting to be part of the European Games. It has always been my target,” said Conflitti. IWF President Mohammed Jalood also commented on this positive outcome: “It is a very important step forward for the development and exposure of our Sport in Europe. Weightlifting is part of other continental games for many years now and the integration on the programme of the European Games demonstrates the growing respect and added-value our Sport brings to major international events.” Weightlifting will also feature for the first time on the programme of the 2027 Jeux de le Francophonie, a sporting and artistic event that is open to nations where French is an official or culturally significant language. Between 30 and 54 nations have taken part at the nine previous Jeux de la Francophonie, which began in 1989 and will be hosted by Armenia in 2027. The Istanbul decision will be good news for host nation Turkey, which has one of the strongest teams in European weightlifting. The continent currently has three Olympic champions– Solfrid Koanda from Norway, Karlos Nasar from Bulgaria and Lasha Talakhadze from Georgia.

IWF120y/20 – 1960: Miyake, a dynasty of success in Japan!

When thinking about weightlifting in Japan, a name is immediately mentioned: Miyake. From 1960 to the present day, members of this family have marked the history of the sport in the country and on the international scene. It all started 65 years ago, at the Rome Olympic Games, when Yoshinobu Miyake gets a silver medal in the 56kg category. He would do better in 1964, at home, with the Olympic title in the 60kg, and would revalidate his title four years later, in Mexico City. He remains the only Olympic champion in weightlifting as of today. But the connection of the Miyake family to the sport would not stop there: Yoshinobu’s brother, Yoshiyuki (six years younger), also travelled to Mexico in that year of 1968 and could celebrate a bronze medal in the same event as his sibling. Between the two brothers, there were also six World Championships titles, between 1962 and 1971. Yoshiyuki has a daughter, born in 1985, Hiromi (photo). Following the steps of her uncle and father, the young talent starts to get noticed at the 2006 IWF World Championships, where she gets the bronze medal in the 48kg category. Two years earlier, she has her first Olympic participation, in Athens, where she is ninth. She will compete in four more editions – with two podium presences, silver in London 2012 and bronze in Rio 2016. In Tokyo 2020ne she bombs out in the Clean & Jerk, in what is her last competition. Hiromi Miyake is presently a member of the IWF Executive

IWF120y/19 – 1951: Pan-American federation, the first continental body

At the 1948 Congress In London, Vice-President Dietrich Wortmann from the USA, introduced an important subject into the discussion: the possible creation of continental federations. Forty-three years after the foundation of the IWF, his arguments were: “There should be a representative in each continent who should be officially responsible for holding all international meetings in that continent, supervising any international matters in his own district, and sending in reports and records” to the IWF. Three years later, in 1951, the first continental body is created in Buenos Aires: the Pan-American Weightlifting Federation. Presided by José L. Montalvo (ARG) one of its first missions was to help in the organisation of the first-ever Pan-American Games held on that year in the Argentinean capital, and where weightlifting was already part of the programme. Presently comprising 38 members in the Americas (traditionally including North, Central and Caribbean and South America), its headquarters are in accordance with its statutes where the President is located (presently in Lima, Peru). Under the auspices of the Pan-American Weightlifting Federation, continental championships are held annually: the 2024 event was successfully staged in Caracas (Venezuela) and this year’s showcase is programmed in Cali (Colombia). Pan-American athletes are quite successful at the IWF events – at the 2024 Worlds in Manama (Bahrain), they got 14 medals, while seven podium presences were proudly achieved some months earlier at the Paris Olympic

IWF120y/18 – 2008: Matthias Steiner (GER), lifting for gold and for his late wife

One of the most emotive moments in Olympic weightlifting history happened in 2008, at the Beijing Games, in the +105kg category. Born in Vienna, in 1982, Matthias Steiner initially represents his native Austria. In 2005, a conflict with his weightlifting national federation dictates his move to Germany, where he had met some months earlier a fan who had contacted him after watching his performances on TV. He gets married to her, but in July 2007, Susann tragically dies in a car accident. Despite the huge shock and some weight loss, Steiner continues training hard for the 2008 Olympics in the Chinese capital. Having obtained German nationality at the beginning of that year, he competes for his new country and is not the favourite for the gold (the best lifter on the way to Beijing was recent World and European champion Viktors Scerbatihs from Latvia). After finishing fourth in Snatch (203kg), Steiner takes maximum advantage of his most direct opponents’ failures in Clean & Jerk, and with a successful 258kg attempt, he clinches the Olympic title. His joy on the platform is euphoric – his moment of glory had arrived, after a 2008 silver in the Europeans (precisely behind the Latvian ace) and two seven placings, at the 2003 Worlds and 2004 Olympics. At the podium ceremony in Beijing, while receiving his medal, Steiner displays a photo of his late wife, causing a wave of unparalleled emotion in the venue. After the Olympic success, he wins three more medals at the highest level – in 2010, silver at the Worlds, and bronze at the Europeans, and in 2012, he is the runner-up at the continental level. He marries his actual wife in 2011 and retires from competition in 2013. Photo credit: Olympics.com

IWF120y/17 – 2023: Approval of the first-ever IWF Strategic Plan

With the momentum created in 2022 with the election of a renovated IWF Executive Board and the subsequent structural reforms in the IWF Constitution, the creation of an IWF Strategic Plan was also deemed a necessity for our International Federation. A working group is created to co-ordinate the production of this document, namely by conducting an extensive consultation with all IWF stakeholders (including its National Member Federations). In September 2023, at the IWF Congress in Riyadh (KSA), this Plan is unanimously approved by the delegates. Covering the period 2024-2032, it comprises the four pillars sustaining all the IWF activities: Safeguarding the IWF Stars; Enhancing the IWF Events; Keeping the IWF Safe; and Reaching beyond the IWF. For each of these main points, several sub-pillars were created and more than 100 action points are to be implemented in the years to come. The Plan also highlights the IWF values, “condensed” in the word “Fortius” (Stronger), which is also part of the Olympic motto. For each of its letters, an important value – F for Fair-Play, O for Objective-driven, R for Responsibility, T for Transformation, I for Inclusion, U for Unity, and S for Sustainability. The IWF Strategic Plan also includes the vision of our organisation, as a guide to its action and future decisions: “A world where people of all ages and conditions live healthier, stronger and happier lives through the exciting, empowering and clean sport of

IWF120y/16 – 1987: Karyn Marshall (USA), a pioneer in weightlifting

Before the IWF officially recognised and implemented women's events at the beginning of the 1980s, Karyn Marshall (USA) is already training in 1978 in the sport she would later excel at. In 1981, at 25, she wins her first national championships. Four years later, she becomes the first woman ever to lift the symbolic weight of 300 pounds (136kg), and in 1987, in Daytona Beach (Florida), she is one of the US hopes to win the first world championships titles at offer. In this inaugural IWF women’s showcase, nine bodyweight categories are on the programme. In eight of them, Chinese lifters show an impressive supremacy, and despite a Snatch gold for Arlys Johnson-Maxwell, an overall gold is missing from the home delegation. In the 82.5kg category, Marshall dominates operations, with a 95-125-220 outcome, thus becoming the first non-Chinese female world champion. In the subsequent editions of the Championships, she isn’t so successful, but she still earns silver in 1988 (Jakarta, INA), 1989 (Manchester, GBR), and 1990 (Sarajevo, YUG). The 1987 consecration has a special taste for Marshall: after getting a Bachelor of Science (nursing degree), she works for some months as a nurse, but for the next 10 years she is a financial analyst. When the October 17, 1987 Wall Street crash shook the world, the Daytona World Championships were just two weeks away. Despite her 10/12 hours in the office, she manages to train at night and still makes the heaviest lifts at the IWF showcase in Florida. After the end of her career, she became a