News

Olympic champion Aramnau named Best Sportsman of the Year in Republic of Belarus

Olympic Hammer Throwing champion Aksana Miankova and Olympic Weightlifting champion Andrei Aramnau were named the top Belarusian Athletes of the Year in the National Public Awards ceremony, "Triumph. Heroes of Sport 2008 " A Gala ceremony was held in Minsk on January 17 following a poll which attracted about 1.5million votes from the Belarusian public. World champion Andrei Aramnau, who broke three heavyweight world records on the Olympic Games in Beijing was named as best Belarusian male athletes of the 2008."Be sure, it's not my last award as best Belarusian athlete of the year!" - a confident Ariamnau said.

Dr. Tamás Aján thanks for congratulations on his 70th Birthday

Prominent personalities of the world of sport sent best wishes to IWF President Dr. Tamás Aján on the occasion of his 70th birthday. The list includes the IOC President, IOC Members, International Federation officials, colleagues, representatives of the international media, etc. Dr. Aján was also congratulated by the Hungarian media, Olympic and sports society. He would like to thank everybody who have sent him a congratulatory message.

World Weightlifting’s voting for the Best Lifters of 2008 has been closed.

World Weightlifting's voting for the Best Lifters of 2008 has been closed. With over half-a-thousand votes cast on this website, the first ever online voting process proved to be a great success. This number unfortunately includes quite a few invalid ballots, but still hundreds of people expressed their preference for the stars of the 2008 Olympic year.23 male and 13 female weightlifters received votes including all the 8 men and 7 women who became Olympic champions in Beijing. The final results of the vote will be disclosed and published in the World Weightlifting magazine's next issue. We can reveal only that the Olympic champions of 2008 occupy the top eight and seven positions, respectively, for both genders.

Best Lifter voting deadline extended to 15 January 2009

To date hundreds of votes have been registered for World Weightlifting Best Lifter of 2008 election. With respect to the magazine's stop press date the deadline is extended to 15 January 2008. Cast your vote online: Best Lifter Voting

Matthias Steiner elected Sportsman of the Year in Germany

Germany's superheavyweight Olympic Champion Matthias Steiner was elected Sportsman of the Year 2008 in his country. Never before had a weightlifter become the best sportsman of the year in Germany. Steiner's almost 'superhuman' effort and great sportsmanship in Beijing was recognised by this honour.It may well be that prominent weightlifters became Sportsmen or Sportswomen of 2008 in their respective countries: if you know about it, please inform the IWF.

IWF Executive Board allocates 1st Youth World Championships

The IWF will organise the 1st ever World Championships for the Youth (aged 13-17 years) in 2009. According to the decision of the IWF Executive Board, the 1st Youth World Championships will take place in ChiangMai, Thailand, 19-24 May 2009.The competition venue and the hotel will be the same as for the 2007 Royal World Championships. The Youth World Championships will at the same time serve as the main Qualification Event for the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympic Games.