News

16th Asian Games

The 16th Asian Games (www.gz2010.cn/en), part of the worldwide Olympic movement and governed by the Olympic Council of Asia is pleased to report very significant progress with the National Olympic Committees that will be bringing more than 12,000 athletes to Guangzhou next year. "Among the 45 member National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), 43 have completed their sports entry procedures. Only Afghanistan and East Timor yet to submit their entry forms.On average, each NOC will compete in 24 sports and each sport will have participants from 23 NOCs. It is estimated that some 12,000 athletes will participate in the Guangzhou Asian Games, outnumbering all previous Asian Games," said Mr. Li Naizhen, Executive Vice Director of Sports Department of the Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee (GAGOC).  According to Mr. Li, any member National Olympic Committee of the Olympic Council of Asia can register to compete in any sport of the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games; there will be no qualifying matches and limitations on the number of participant teams. The number of National Olympic Committees that will be participating in boxing, shooting, judo, weightlifting, and wrestling is nearly equal that of the Doha 2006 Asian

National Coach for Tonga

Maamaloa Lolohea, one of the best lifters Tonga has ever produced, an Olympic representative and South Pacific Games gold medalist in the 105+Kg category , has been appointed full time coach of Tonga. Maamaloa spent two years at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute under an IOC coaching scholarship. He already has a lot of lifters and is developing an excellent junior team.(by

Youth World Championships Entry deadline expiring today!

Final Entries to the 1st EGAT Youth World Championships (ChiangMai, THA) are to be sent until today, 4th May 2009. Please refer to: 1st EGAT YWC

Weightlifting legend Süleymanoğlu stable

Süleymanoğlu was taken to Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Hospital on Thursday after having a seizure from a high fever. The hospital's vice chief of medicine, Dr. İbrahim Morgül, said Süleymanoğlu was in stable condition, but more tests were needed before making a diagnosis about the 42-year-old iron pumper. "We have yet to know if the problem is about the brain, the lungs or diabetes," said Morgül. "We have taken care of his seizures and he is stabilized. But we will only understand more about his situation after more tests." Turkish Weightlifting Federation chairman Hasan Akkuş visited Süleymanoğlu in his room and said the athlete's condition did not look bad. "He is not very well, but not bad at all," said Akkuş. "I talked with him, and he said 'We will get over this,' to me." One of the greatest weightlifters in the sport's history, Süleymanoğlu is a three-time Olympic winner, earning gold medals in the Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 games.

Weightlifting legend Süleymanoğlu stable

Süleymanoğlu was taken to Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Hospital on Thursday after having a seizure from a high fever. The hospital's vice chief of medicine, Dr. İbrahim Morgül, said Süleymanoğlu was in stable condition, but more tests were needed before making a diagnosis about the 42-year-old iron pumper. "We have yet to know if the problem is about the brain, the lungs or diabetes," said Morgül. "We have taken care of his seizures and he is stabilized. But we will only understand more about his situation after more tests." Turkish Weightlifting Federation chairman Hasan Akkuş visited Süleymanoğlu in his room and said the athlete's condition did not look bad. "He is not very well, but not bad at all," said Akkuş. "I talked with him, and he said 'We will get over this,' to me." One of the greatest weightlifters in the sport's history, Süleymanoğlu is a three-time Olympic winner, earning gold medals in the Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 games.

New Round of Drug Testing Implicates Six Athletes

National sports bodies in Bahrain and Italy confirmed Wednesday that 1,500m champion Rashid Ramzi and road race silver medalist Davide Rebellin were among the six for positive for the new blood-boosting drug CERA in retests of their samples. The other four were Dominican women's weightlifter Yudelquis Contreras, German cyclist Stephan Schumacher, Greek race walker Athanasia Tsoumeleka and Croatian 800m runner Vanja Perisic. If their backup "B" samples also come back positive, the athletes face being disqualified, stripped of medals and banned from the next Olympics. The six new cases bring to 15 the total number of athletes caught doping in the Beijing Olympics. The IOC reanalyzed a total of 948 samples from Beijing after new lab tests for CERA and insulin became available following the Olympics. The testing began in January and focused mainly on endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and track and field. Dominican Today said the positive test had been confirmed by the Dominican Olympic Committee and the Dominican Weightlifting Federation on Wednesday. Contreras has denied using a banned substance to improve her performance. The Dominican Olympic Committee says Yudelquis Contreras is one of six athletes who tested positive for CERA. It boosts endurance by increasing production of oxygen-rich red blood cells. But the 24-year-old says she is clean. Dominican Olympic Committee president Luis Mejia says she will be asked to undergo further testing to confirm the findings. The Dominican Weightlifting Federation said that she underwent five drug tests before and during the Olympic Games and never tested positive.