News

Weightlifting celebrated in Kazakhstan at the best athletes and coaches awards

The traditional and annual awarding ceremony organized by Minister of culture and sport, took place in capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. This year, Kazakhstan Olympic Committee and culture and sport minister have awarded at one go eight athletes. From the 4 spots available, two weightlifters received the best male athletes’ title for the year 2014: Four time world champion and two time Olympic gold medalist (2008, 2012) weightlifter Ilya Ilyin and first ever Kazakh ethnic weightlifting World Champion, who won gold at the 2014 IWF World Championship in Almaty Zhasulan Kydyrbaev. Best Female athletes for the year 2014 showcased Asian Games silver medalist and 2014 IWF World Champion weightlifter Zulfiya Chinshanlo. Two weightlifting coach received the title of best coach for the year 2014: Toyshan Bektemirov (coach of Ilya Ilyin and Zhasulan Kydyrbaev) and Victor Ni (coach of Zulfiya Chinshanlo). Federations of the year 2014 in Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan Weightlifting Federation, Kazakhstan Boxing Federation, Kazakhstan Speed Skating Federation, Kazakhstan Aquatics Federation and Kazakhstan Canoe Federation. Congratulations to all and wonderful achievement! Source:

Coaching Seminar in Ghana

Widely recognized expert and Coaching and Research Committee Member Dr. Kyle Pierce is upbeat about Ghana’s strong potential in weightlifting, saying that Ghana would be a force to reckon within the near future. Speaking at a seminar organized by the Ghana Weightlifting Federation in the framework of the IWF Development Program held in the Media Centre of the Accra Sports Stadium, he underlines this important opportunity as a follow-up to the project this past summer in which new coaches were trained to promote and coach the sport of Weightlifting in Ghana. The seminar was aimed at educating the 27 coaches who successfully underwent a three month training course that reviewed and reinforced methods of coaching Weightlifting that were taught during the summer project. A long-term plan for training the young Weightlifters was developed. The training plan for these young athletes is to be integrated with their physical development and each phase of training is to be built on the previous phase. The focus will be on general physical development and technique in earlier years with specialized and more intense training added gradually in successive years. Identifying new talents and motivating them to focus on their technique in preparation for the 2015 All African Games was a major issue discussed during the

Mario Vázquez Rana passed away at the age of 82

It is with great sadness that the International Weightlifting Federation has learnt that IOC member and former President of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), Mr Mario Vázquez Raña, passed away at the age of 82. Mr Mario Vázquez Raña dedicated a great part of his life to Olympic sport. He served with great commitment as President of PASO, and had outstanding merit within the Olympic Movement. Mr Vázquez Raña headed the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) from 1979 to 2012, and was Chairman of the Pan American Sports Organisation (PASO) from 1975 until his death. The IWF expresses its deepest condolences to Mr Mario Vázquez Raña’s

2015 IWF Development Program – Deadline Reminder

We remind you that the deadline to return the completed IWF Development Program application forms is 10 February 2015. Please click here to download the documentation package for 2015 and send the filled in documents to

Buenos Aires

2015 IWF YWC Preliminary Entry Forms Deadline

The deadline for the Preliminary Entry Forms to the 2015 IWF Youth World Championships Lima, Peru is 9th February 2015. We invite all National Federations to send their Preliminary Entry Forms to the Peruvian Weightlifting Federation ([email protected]) and to the IWF Secretariat ([email protected]) before February