News

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 officials

The 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 competitions.