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

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 Constitution
• the By-Laws
• the Technical Rules
• and 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 1^st May 2007.

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 2006.

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.

?The IWF has assessed the organisation of the Asian Games in Qatar, in particular the weightlifting competitions, and concludes that it was a prime event of a very high standard,? says Dr. Tamás Aján, President of the IWF, following his return from Doha. ?We also appreciate the professional activity of the Technical Officials ? a great ?Thank You? to them. A record number of 35 participating nations and seven new world records are indicative that Asia is supreme in our sport: in fact the Asian continent is the strongest one overall. We are very sorry about the four positive results, while it must be noted that an unprecedented 50% (!) of the 173 participating weightlifters were tested in the IWF-DAGOC controls.?

In the women?s heaviest category, the +75kg, the two protagonists celebrated their third face-to-face contest after two world championships. Both times before, the lighter lady ? Korean Jang Mi-Ran, holder of the world record with 318kg ? was on the winning side. In Doha, however, Mu Shuangshuang from China improved the balance to 1:2. Her final score was 317kg.

This time, it was Mu Shuangshuang's turn to take the gold

The moment of truth came when Jang missed her 139kg snatch world record lift ? a weight Mu hoisted successfully, giving her 4 kilos on the Korean, which plus she was able to maintain right till the end.

In a final effort, Jang raised the winning 182kg barbell overhead, however she could not hold it like she did in Santo Domingo, but dropped it behind her back.

Surprise came in the men?s 85kg: gold medal for Kazakhstan. Topping his 2006 World Championship total by 10 kilos, Viacheslav Yershov defeated the number one favourite Chinese Lu Yong. The Kazakh man pulled off in snatch by 8 kilos and kept this advantage for a winning total, whereby he did not even need to take his final jerk attempt.

Merely 18 years old, weightlifting?s soaring superstar Ilya Ilin pocketed another set of gold medals with hands down victory in 94kg. He outlifted the 2^nd placed Korean Lee by 27kg. Bursting into the weightlifting scenery in 2005 and sweeping two junior and two senior world championships clean since, Ilin added another title to his growing collection: the Asian Games?s.

Ilya Ilin (KAZ): irresistible

Winning the 105kg Ahed Joughili of Syria compensated for the disappointment of dropping out in Santo Domingo. His success came despite remaining on his opening weight in snatch, and thanks to his ability to work off that handicap by a superb lift of 222kg in the clean and jerk.

Home supporters were disappointed by Qatar?s Asaad Said Saif, who bombed out at 170kg in the snatch.

The appearance of the sport?s undoubtedly greatest megastar, Hossein Reza Zadeh (IRI) in the men?s favoured +105kg category was to be a highlight to round up the Doha show. The double Olympic and 10-times world champion came but the show somewhat remained under the expectations, as Reza lifted for him extremely low-weight barbells. Nevertheless, he can put further three Asian gold medals into his cupboard. Unchallenged, the Iranian giant performed ? like in Santo Domingo ? something like a light training before the over-enthusiastic public. If 448kg seemed too low at the World Championships, he totalled 425kg in Doha. Local favourite Jaber Salem was still unable to catch up with the great man.

"Thank you for coming!" - Hossein Reza Zadeh wins the +105kg

In the women?s 63kg category the Olympic and world champion Thai Pawina Thongsuk was facing this year?s world champion Quyang Xiaofang (CHN). Although the latter lifted one kilo more than in Santo Domingo, Thongsuk was still more outstanding and with a 142kg new world record clean and jerk (and a 5kg higher total) she reconfirmed her supremacy.

In the 69kg ladies, Liu Haixia outscored the runner-up by 30kg overall. In ?Chinese style?, she started to snatch and jerk when the others had already finished their performance. She added two kilos to her own world-title winning result.

Introduced at the 2006 World Championships, Cao Lei was saved real competition this time in the women's 75kg. The Chinese woman won hands down with a 22kg lead on Oo Mya Sanda from Myanmar. Cao Lei improved her own best mark from 268kg to 272kg.

In the 77kg men?s category, Li Hongli compensated for his defeat at the World Championships by Turkish Sagir Taner. Li?s Asian-Games winning total was equal to Sagir?s: 361kg.

See Asian Games online: http://www.doha-2006.com

Olympic Champion Pawina Thongsuk (THA) excelled in 63kg

World Weightlifting?s 2006-3 issue carries a detailed and colourful coverage of the events of the first major Olympic Qualification event, the 2006 Men?s and Women?s World Championships in Santo Domingo, DOM.

The category-by-category accounts are completed with exclusive interviews, including reports with the new French world champion Vencelas Dabaya, oldtimer Olympic and world champions, or revealing the secrets of Russian tactics for athletes? allocation into groups.

The extra large IWF Poster displays all the medal podiums.

Two days into the events of the 15^th Asian Games held in Doha, weightlifting athletes display excellence at the highest level. Among the 35 nations of the continent that have sent their participants to Qatar the Chinese are leaving no doubt of their pre-eminence in both genders.

Santo Domingo?s world champions, Li Zheng (56kg) and Qiu Le (62kg) won their respective categories but with a much stronger total than what they had reached two months earlier. In the men?s 69kg two Chinese Olympic champions of Athens fought for the Asian title: Zhang Guozheng and Shi Zhiyong (earlier in 62kg). Their duel resulted in a gold medal for Shi in snatch (155kg) and two titles (jerk 184kg and total 336kg) for Zhang. The bronze-medal winner made 28kg less than Shi (335kg).

In the women?s 48kg 9-fold world champion Wang Mingjuan was supreme with a comfortable 206kg total.

In the 53kg category, Li Ping (CHN) and Kuntatean Junpim (THA) made an almost perfect replay of their duel from one year ago, i.e. the 2005 World Championships, also held in Doha. Li Ping once again emerged victorious with 224kg, against Kuntatean?s 221kg (223kg last year).

However, the beautiful weightlifting venue, the Al-Dana Banquet Hall saw the so far best performance on 3^rd December in the 58kg women?s class. Olympic champion Chen Yanqing (CHN) astounded the spectators with incredible lifts, breaking 5 world records and ending in 111kg snatch, 140kg clean and jerk and 251kg total. She outshone the rest of the contenders, among them silver medallist Kameaim Wandee (THA) and Pak Hyon Suk (PRK) who tied at 224kg each.

Asian Games results can be followed at: http://www.doha-2006.com

Chen Yanqing - CHN

In the process of an investigation into the nine Iranian athletes who tested positive out of competition before the 2006 World Championships, the Iranian Weightlifting Federation appointed a new President, Mr. Bahram Afsharzadeh (for a long time General Secretary of the Iranian NOC) and dismissed the Bulgarian chief coach and his assistants.

Mr. Bahram Afsharzadeh, accompanied by Dr. A. Shahabi IWF MC Member, visited the IWF headquarters for talks with the IWF President, Dr. Tamás Aján. Within the discussions Mr. Afsharzadeh gave detailed information including the current financial situation of the Iranian Federation. As a result of 7 hours of negotiations, the parties agreed in the following payment conditions of the fine previously imposed by the Executive Board.

The Iranian Weightlifting Federation paid 25% and will pay another 12,5% of the fine to the IWF before the 3rd of December 2006 and the remaining 62,5% will be settled before the 20th September 2007 in several instalments.

The above agreement does not effect the suspension of the 9 Iranian athletes, however, the Iranian Federation may participate in international events with other athletes.

(See also: Anti-Doping News)

Dr. Tamás Aján, President of the IWF paid a short visit to Baku, capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan. During his stay, he met Mr. Azad Rahimov, Minister for Youth and Sport, Mr. Vagut Nazarov, Vice President and Mr. Ismail Ismailov, General Secretary of the Weightlifting Federation, as well as the leaders of the Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan. On their agenda were items of weightlifting and sport in general. The Azeri sports leaders reconfirmed their strong interest in hosting Senior Weightlifting World Championships in their country, but the possibility of another type of worldwide event was not excluded, either. The possible dates and the exact nature of such an event will be agreed later.

All the analysis reports of the 2006 Olympic Qualification World Championships, held in Santo Domingo, DOM have now arrived at the IWF from the laboratory, which is, of course, a WADA-accredited one. 31% of the participants (149 competitors out of 484) were tested - a figure unparallelled among all sports - and only one is positive (not a medal winner), with the case still being in process.

It seems that the IWF's powerful anti-doping campaign and strategy have brought their fruits: the World Championships may be regarded as doping free. The results and the altogether 10 world records achieved in Dominica can now be confirmed and registered as final.

Completing the IWF Handbook 2005-2008 and following the various modifications that have been decided by the IWF Executive Board since the new rules entered into force, a new IWF Referees? Examination has now been elaborated and finalized. A hard copy of the updated Referees' Examination ? 100 questions and 100 answers ? was sent to all National Federations, for application to test national referees for promotion to Category 2 International Referee, or for promotion from Category 2 to Category 1 International Referee, in accordance with the IWF Technical Rule 6.4.

The Referees' Examination can be downloaded here:

http://www.iwf.net/iwf/sport_org/organization/down_forms.php

As it is known, weightlifting's total quota of 260 athletes for the Olympic Games of Beijing 2008 will be filled in a process of qualification, of which here is a summary:

	Men		Women
	No of athletes	No of NOCs	No of athletes	No of NOCs
Qualification at the 2006 and 2007 World Championsh.	120	27	57	17
Continental qualification	30	22	18	17
Individual qualification	8	8	7	7
Tripartite Commission Invitation places	6	6	4	4
Host nation	6	1	4	1
Total	170	64	90	46

As a first step, National Olympic Committees will achieve qualification places according to their position in the joint team classification by points adding those scored in the 2006 and in the 2007 World Championships, whereby

1. Points achieved at the 2006 WWC team classification = 100%   and
2. Points achieved at the 2007 WWC team classification x 1.2 = 120%

After the 2006 World Championships in Santo Domingo, here is the status of qualification ? just for preliminary information and orientation!

Qualification at 2006 WWC - Men

Qualification at 2006 WWC - Women

PROGRESSION OF THE WEIGHT OF THE BARBELL

A study of the major events held since the introduction of the 1kg rule has shown that only an insignificant minority (0.4%) of the athletes ? whether men or women, and whether in snatch or in clean and jerk ? have accepted the 1kg automatic increase of the barbell?s weight from the 1^st to the 2^nd attempt. Reloading the barbell takes a lot of time. Therefore, it was decided that

as of 1^st January 2007, the automatic progression of the weight of the barbell from the 1^st attempt to the 2^nd attempt is 2 kg (two kilogrammes)!

The 2kg minimum progression refers only to the 2^nd attempt. It applies both in snatch and in clean and jerk, for men and women, for seniors and juniors. For 3^rd attempts lifters may take the 1kg progression or any weight, multiples of 1kg, as before.

FISU President George E. Killian welcomed IWF Delegate Anikó Németh-Móra, IWF Director at the International University Sports Federation's headquarters in Brussels on 24th October 2006. Present also at the meeting were FISU Director-General Eric Saintrond and FISU Director of Education Kole Gjeloshaj.

After having carried out nine University World Cups since 1998 with impressive participation and great success, and about to stage another one in Lima, Peru in 2007, the IWF can now move forward by getting the FISU endorsement to carry out World University Weightlifting Championships, as of 2008.

By embracing the sport of weightlifting as a university sport, FISU adds another sport discipline to its broad range of sports, bringing the number of FISU sanctioned sports to 32 for the World University Championships.

IWF has offered its full co-operation on all technical, organisational, promotional, development and educational issues of the World University Championships and expects a substantial boost in interest and participation in weightlifting among the university students of the world.

Also at http://www.fisu.net/site/page_1503.php

When a weightlifting official is promoted or confirmed in a high position in another national or international sport organisation, it is always a momentum of joy for the IWF, as - beyond the personal merits of the individual concerned - it also means a wide recognition of the entire sport of weightlifting.

This time again, we are proud and happy to congratulate Mr. Sam Coffa, 1st Vice President of the IWF, who was re-elected as President of one of the world's most important Commonwealth Games Associations: that of Australia.

At its meeting held in Santo Domingo, on 28 September 2006, the IWF Executive Board selected the following hosts to organise future major events in the sport:

2009 Junior World Championships ? allocated to Constantza, Romania

2010 (Qualification) World Championships ? to be held in Antalya, Turkey

Men´s +105kg: Since Saturday, 7^th October 2006, Iranian giant Hossein Reza Zadeh is 10-fold world champion. Double Olympic gold-medallist and holder of all world records in the superheavy category, Reza Zadeh swept the two lifts and the total also in santo Domingo.

His challengers could not force him to extreme heights, and let the Iranian win with his weakest ever total result.

The surprise man of the day was 20-year old Chinese Dong Feng, who took silver medal in jerk and bronze medal in total. He also set junior world records in jerk (245kg) and in total (437kg).

Listing 29 competitors, the men´s 105kg category featured the defending world champion, Russian Dmitry Klokov who was pushed back into third place.

Poland´s European Champion Marcin Dolega won, and the silver medal was taken by Dmitry Lapikov of Russia, lifting in the B group.

Klokov saved two attempts in clean and jerk to capture the final victory but as he missed 227kg twice, he finally had to settle for the bronze medals.

Women´s +75kg: The battle in the ladies´ superheavyweight in Santo Domingo will probably be remembered for a long time. Since Doha, the defending champion Jang Mi-Ran (KOR) had become world record holder when she modified the mark from 305kg to 318kg. This time again, she was facing Mu Shuangshuang of China, runner-up to the Korean last year.

Although Jang snatched 136kg, Mu was in the lead by 1 kilo. In the clean and jerk the two women fought fiercely for the gold, in which neither one made any mistakes. Using good tactics, the Korean caught up with her Chinese opponent, reaching 314kg as well, with lighter bodyweight deciding in favour of Jang.

30 competitors took part in the category.

Men`s 94kg: Just two years ago nobody had heard of a 16-year old weightlifter from Kazakhstan, Ilya Ilin. In 2005, however, he entered the ranks of top champions in the nick of a time. He first captured the junior titles in Busan then added the senior gold medals to that in Doha. He was also elected as Lifter of the Year in 2005.

In the same manner did he confirm his superiority this year. Ilin won the Junior worlds in Hangzhou and defended his title in Dominica, too. In total three lifters tied at 392kg, but it did not affect Ilin`s confident victory. His first clean and jerk (217kg) already put him into first place, so he would not lose anything by attempting to break the world record (233kg). In the end, he could not make it but remained firmly in the champion`s position. There were 44 lifters in the lineups in the 94kg.

Among the 23 entries of the women`s 75kg category, as many as two Russian big shots ? 4-times junior world champion Nadezhda Evstyukhina and Olympic bronze-medal winner, world champion Zarema Kasaeva teamed up to block the victory of Chinese newcomer Cao Lei. By the end of the first half of the competition, their plot seemed to work because Evstyukhina won gold with a lead of 4 kilos on the Chinese. The clean and jerk brought about a big turn. The Russian forced her opponent to 150kg hoping that Cao Lei would miss it and she would not need to take it any more. The Chinese, however, did jerk this weight, while the Russian could not. This way, China continues to reign in the 75kg.

Cao Lei CHN

Men`s 85kg: Andrei Rybakou of Belarus had long wanted to win gold overall but he managed to collect titles only in snatch so far. On this lift he had been the best of the world for several years, yet he was not able to add the titles in jerk and total. Finally, in Santo Domingo Rybakou changed practices and excelled also in the clean and jerk, winning the total with a comfortable 10-kilo lead. In silver-medal winning position finished Aslanbek Ediev (RUS) and the bronze was taken by Tigran Martirosyan (ARM). In snatch Rybakou made two attempts to break the world record with 187kg but ? although very close ? he missed both times. 44 lifters competed in this category.

Andrei Rybakou BLR

Women`s 69kg: Major surprise in this category of 26 entries. We had never seen this before: Liu Chunhong of China could not step on the top of the podium of medals. the Olympic and 5-time senior world champion was defeated by Russian Oxana Slivenko, a first-time participant in the senior worlds field.

Alone the fact that Liu Chunhong had chosen this category was a surprise, as she had recently swept the 75kg. The matchpoint came in snatch, when Liu made a mistake and had an injured elbow, forcing her to retire.

In contrast, Russian Slivenko was at her prime and snatched a new world record ? improving Liu`s previous mark to 123kg. Slivenko`s ultimate victory was no longer questioned. We saw a wonderful performance by 26-year old Jeane Elizabeth Lassen, winning a bronze in total for Canada and a silver in clean and jerk.

Oxana Slivenko RUS

Women`s 63kg: It was Quyang Xiaofang`s duty to continue the streak of Chinese victories in the women`s 63kg (29 competitors) - and she duly delivered. All the three gold medals, in snatch, clean and jerk and total went to Quyang and not to Russia`s gold-medal favourite Svetlana Shimkova.

This outcome, however, was not to be foreseen before the final round of attempts. In snatch, the Chinese woman was at the verge of dropping out when she managed to complete her third lift at 110kg. In clean and jerk, the current owner of the world record (141kg), Shimkova took two attempts at the winning 139kg, but she failed both times. The bronzes were collected by Meline Daluzyan of ARM, junior European champion.

Quyang Xiaofang CHN

Women`s 58kg:  The category fielding 30 competitors featured the first encounter between a Russian and a Chinese favourite. In the first part Russian Svetlana Tsarukaeva defeated her Chinese opponent by 1 kg, but Qiu Hongmei took back the lead in clean and jerk, sweeping in the total gold medal. Meanwhile, Wandee Kameaim of Thailand became victorious in clean and jerk. Thus the women`s 58kg celebrated three new world champions. Qiu Hongmei attempted to break a world record in jerk but she failed.

Qiu Hongmei CHN

Men`s 77kg: In the category counting 51 participants we saw the first ever facedown between the Olympic champion, 21-year old Turkish Taner Sagir and the defending world champion Chinese .

Women`s 53kg: In this category (29 entries) another Chinese debutante Qiu Hongxia swept with new world records. Although new to the world championships, the Chinese woman scored a devastating victory (16kg) over a more well-known figure of the sport: Raema Lisa Rumbewas from Indonesia. One of the local favourites, Yuderqi Contreras ? former bronze medal winner in events held outside her country ? was unfortunately unable to please the home crowds with medals. Qiu Hongxia improved the clean and jerk world record to 128kg and the total record to 226kg.

Qiu Hongxia CHN

Women`s 48kg: In the opening category of the ladies 21 competitors were lined up. The Chinese new entry Yang Lian put down her visit card with fantastic results. Born in 1982, Yang collected all the three gold medals setting four world records: in snatch with 98kg, in clean and jerk with 119kg, and in total with 214kg and 217kg. She beat the runner-up and the third-place winner by 29kg. The podium was fully occupied by Asians.

Yang Lian CHN

The 75th Men`s and 18th Women`s World Championships are going on in Santo Domingo. Impressive fields are fighting exciting battles for the medals and their countries`Olympic places.

Men´s 56kg: Two Chinese were at the start among the 32 competitors and they were expected to gain a few medals. Surprisingly, however, only one of the Chinese stood through the end, because one of the country`s biggest stars, Wu Meijin - a man only Mutlu could defeat - dropped out in both snatch and in clean and jerk. Last year`s snatch world champion Li Zheng eventually won in this category, adding the total honours to his snatch gold medal. The total medals were shared by China, Cuba and Vietnam. In clean and jerk, Cuba celebrated a new world champion: Sergio Alvarez Boulet.

Men´s 62kg: In a field of 42 athletes once again there were two Chinese and once again one of them got eliminated. The unfortunate was Zhang Ping, whereas the ultimate winner was Qiu Le, thus defending his world champion title from Doha. The two other steps of the total podium were occupied by Colombia - major success for this country. Manuel Minginfel won a surprising silver medal for FSM (Federated States of Micronesia).

Qiu Le CHN

Men`s 69kg: There were altogether 32 competitors in the start list. Olympic champion Nicolai Peshalov was to compete in group B and ? although weighed in and introduced ? failed to appear on stage, referring to an injury in the warming up. In what proved to be an excellent and thrilling contest, Olympic and multiple world champion Chinese Shi Zhiyong got defeated by Frenchman  Vencelas Dabaya in the total. Having represented Cameoon in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens where he was 5th, Dabaya moved to France and won his first medals last year in Doha for his new country. As France celebrated its last total world champion in 1922, Dabaya put an end to 84 years of dearth. (Daniel Senet was the last French to win a gold in the World Championships, but only in snatch. That happened exactly 25 years ago in Lille.) Dabay´s happiness was doubled when he learned that he became weightlifting`s 500th World Champion and received the special IWF Award for this honour.

Vencelas Dabaya FRA

An impressively large field of 569 competitors from 79 countries will compete in the first Qualification event for the 2008 Olympic Games, i.e. the 2006 World Championships of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

44 nations are represented in the women`s categories by 203 athletes, and 366 male competitors are expected to come from 73 nations.

The countries are obviously bringing their strongest teams, as the fields include Olympic and world champions and a sensational number of 188 weightlifters who have already won medals in Olympic Games, Senior, Junior or University World Championships.

Two new nations were affiliated to the International Federation at its Annual Congress on 29 September 2006: Northern Ireland and Turks and Caicos. The IWF now counts a membership of 178 nations.

On the eve of the 2006 Qualification World Championships in Santo Domingo, the IWF Executive Board reconfirmed its relentless battle against doping in the sport it had started 30 years ago. In a close and detailed study of the doping controls carried out in 2006 since 1^st January up to the Championships, the Board stated with regret that the number of positive findings was higher than in previous years. Up until the World Championships the IWF alone had conducted 1233 tests, of which 37 male and 16 female competitors returned a positive sample. This higher figure was partly due to more intensive and more extensive testing, partly due to brand new analysis methods introduced by the Cologne laboratory (where the IWF has most of its testing analysed) in the middle of the year.

It had to be noted that four countries had 3 or more positives: Argentina, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia. The IWF has obliged the National Federations concerned to conducting a specific investigation into each and every case, detecting also which individuals ? coaches, doctors ? are also responsible and take the necessary sanctions against them. Besides that, permanent controls would be imposed on the countries concerned ? at their cost ? including the obligation to implement an Educational and Prevention Program.

In the same meeting the Executive Board reconfirmed its resolution from before Athens, i.e. that any athlete found positive in the 2004 Olympic Games would be banned from participation in Beijing 2008. Even if they can take part in the Qualification events, their results will not be counted in the qualification of the country.

The 101st issue, i.e. Number 2006-2 of the IWF magazine World Weightlifting has just appeared, on the eve of the 2006 World Championships. It provides interesting reading material for fans and useful information for journalists, including statistics, previews, mid-year rankings, interviews with potential stars of the Championships.