News

IWF Symposium in Rome

WARNING! FINAL APPLICATION DEADLINE for the IWF SYMPOSIUM19TH FEBRUARYWe are glad to announce that the Symposium is already worldwide recongized and almost 200 applications have arrived so far. In order to ensure a high quality and well organized event for all participants we would like to kindly remind you that there will be no application accepted after the 19th of February.The IWF and the Italian Weightlifting Federation decided to upgrade the traditional IWF Symposium for 2007, making it more interesting and worthwile for National Federations to send their representatives to an even that will go beyond the usual coaching and refereeing issues of the sport. The accommodation and the venue have also been upgraded to the higher level. The Symposium will be held on 2nd and 3rd March in Rome. Participants are expected to arrive on 1st March and depart on 4th March.Symposium venue and accommodation: Airport Palace Hotel - Viale dei Romagnoli, 165 - 00121 Roma LidoThe Participation Form is available here. The deadline is: 10 February 2007Costs: EUR 50.00 per night/person. One delegate per National Federation is free for 3 nights accommodation and board. As you can see from the Program: subjects of global interest and providing a wider overview of the sport of weightlifting and the Olympic Games will be on the Agenda of the Symposium. Prestigious lecturers have been invited from the International Olympic Committee, the WADA, the media, television and the Olympic Solidarity, in addition to the IWF's best experts. Address any questions on the Symposium to Gabriella Bárány [email protected] or Italian Weightlifting Federation [email protected] 2007 Symposium Information:

IWF Referee Uniforms now available for order

As we indicated in our Circular to the National Federations and officials, the newly approved IWF International Referee Uniforms - for both gentlemen and for ladies - can now be ordered from the IWF's official supplier "Creation Vargas", Hungary. The Company will tailor-make complete sets of Referee Uniforms, consisting of an all-season outfit and a safari suit, plus accessories, for package prices. The uniform packages will then be mailed by courier to the customers. After 1 September 2007, any referee wishing to be appointed to work at World Championships will have to wear the new, official International Referee Uniform.Photos, How to order, Measurement Instructions and Forms, as well as complete information on the Uniforms is available at the website Creation

Happy Holidays!

The IWF wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy and Successful New

IWF Handbook to be updated for 2008-2012

As with all the previous editions, the IWF intends to make a step-by-step and well-considered preparation of the next edition of the IWF Handbook, which contains:the Constitutionthe By-Lawsthe Technical Rulesand the Anti-Doping Policy of the IWF.(The currently valid IWF Handbook is available on this website.)As before, we wish to follow a well-proven procedure, whereby all the competent bodies of the IWF will have repeated opportunities to discuss, debate and approve or reject the various proposals before presenting a comprehensive Draft document to the 2008 IWF Electoral Congress.The procedure starts with the proposals of the National Federations and the Members of the Executive Board or the Committees. Therefore, if these have any proposals for the modification or updating of the IWF Constitution, the By-Laws or the Technical Rules, please forward these by letter, fax or e-mail to the IWF before 1st May

New Members to the Weightlifting Hall of Fame

Since its foundation in 1992, every year the Greats of weightlifting were elected to join the Weightlifting Hall of Fame. In 2006 four prominent figures of the sport's near past were chosen by the Hall of Fame panel to receive this outstanding honour.Alexander Kurlovich (BLR), double Olympic champion, Nicu Vlad (ROM), Olympic champion and Viacheslav Klokov (RUS), world champion received their Diploma and Plaque from Alain Lunzenfichter, Chairman of the Hall of Fame and Dr. Tamás Aján, IWF President at the Annual Congress in Santo Domingo.The fourth member, Mária Takács (HUN) deserved her entry to "eternity" by having participated in 12 women's world championships and capturing 33 out of the maximum of 36 medals. She was not able to travel to Dominica, because she has a newborn baby, so she took over her membership certificate from the same officials in a ceremony held in Budapest, on 15th December

Training course for Beijing 2008 Technical Officials

A training course for weightlifting National Technical Officials to work at the Beijing Olympic Games was held with great success in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, 22-31 October 2006. The seminar was organised jointly by BOCOG Sport, Mrs. Wang Yan, Weightlifting Competition Manager, and the Chinese Weightlifting Association; and the lecturer was Mr. Myrddin John, IWF Executive Board Member from Wales, one of the most experienced competition officials of the IWF.Altogether 87 referees from twenty-eight provinces from all around China attended the course. Mr. Wang Baoliang, Vice president of the Chinese Olympic Committee, and Mr. Ma Wenguang, President of the Chinese Weightlifting Association also came to the training course. A group photo of participants, lecturers and officialsThe Chinese Referees have commented on the training course: ?This is the best weightlifting training course I have ever attended.?, ?Our national championships can also learn a lot from the high-level organization of IWF international events.?, ?We primarily understand why Olympic Games are of the highest level.?, ?It is a very rare and valuable opportunity of learning about the international way of weightlifting competition management.?, ?I must pay more attention to my English studies in order to serve the Olympic Games.?, etc.. An intense study of the rules and techniques of organising such a large prestigious event was effectuated, with Myrddin John's informative lectures being continually punctuated by intelligent and probing questions from the students who were eager to absorb as much knowledge as possible. During the Beijing Olympic Games, twenty-five national technical officials will be working for weightlifting competitions. Through the training course, thirty-five referees have been selected for further education and training, and finally be qualified to officiate at the Beijing Olympic Games Weightlifting