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Who to Watch in Anaheim

The 2017 IWF World Weightlifting Championships are ready to begin! Anaheim is ready to welcome the world – and for nearly 400 athletes, the dream of a golden winter in California is closer than ever, with emerging names and nations set to challenge the established order at the IWF World Championships. Athletes from 72 countries will arrive in Anaheim, and several are defending Olympic champions from last year’s Games in Rio, including Lasha Talakhadze, Sohrab Moradi, Sopita Tanasan, Hsu Shu-ching, Sukanya Srisurat and Kianoush Rostami. The Men [caption id="attachment_20217" align="alignleft" width="220"] Lasha Talakahadze - Rio 2016[/caption] [caption id="attachment_20531" align="alignright" width="250"] Kianoush Rostami - Rio 2016[/caption] Georgian Talakhadze, who is also defending his 2015 world title in the +105kg competition, will face stiff competition from Behdad Salimi, who is seeking to recover from a disappointing Olympics just over a year ago. Salimi, representing Iran, claimed golds at the 2010 and 2011 IWF World Championships and also topped the podium at the London 2012 Olympics before falling short of his great superheavyweight rival in Rio in an epic contest in the snatch. Salimi has previously held the world record in the snatch on two occasions – before being surpassed earlier this year by Lasha Talakhadze, who lifted 217kg at the European Championships in April. Salimi’s best clean and jerk in international competition is 255kg, but a recent 260kg lift in training suggests that another enthralling battle with Talakhadze – who was filmed recently snatching 220kg – is on the cards in Anaheim, especially with the likes of Brazil’s Fernando Reis and Estonia’s Mart Seim also set to challenge. Salimi’s compatriot Sohrab Moradi will also be going for gold in the 94kg category at the Anaheim Convention Center following his Olympic gold last year. The Women In the women’s competitions, the 53kg category is shaping up to be an intriguing contest. Hsu Shu-ching of Chinese Taipei is defending her world title and consecutive Olympic golds. However, Sopita Tanasan is moving up to 53kg having won gold for Thailand in Rio in the 48kg category and will provide fierce competition. [caption id="attachment_19541" align="alignleft" width="239"] Hsu Shu-ching - Rio 2016[/caption] [caption id="attachment_19531" align="alignright" width="267"] Sopita Tanasan moves up to 53kg[/caption] Also competing for Thailand will be 22-year-old Sukanya Srisurat, who will be seeking to stay on top in the 58kg competition following her Olympic gold in the same category last year. Meanwhile Spain’s Lidia Valentín, who has picked up medals at three consecutive Olympic Games – including a gold at London 2012 – will be looking to follow up her third European Championships gold earlier this year with a first world title in the 75kg competition. The Home Nation Team USA is fielding a strong selection of athletes, with home hopes resting on the likes of Mattie Rogers, Sarah Robles, Harrison Maurus, and CJ Cummings. Cummings, one of only seven athletes at the World Championships to have been born this century, is hotly tipped in the 69kg competition, while Maurus will compete in the 77kg category. Robles, in the +90kg category, picked up a bronze medal in Rio and is considered to be a serious contender in Anaheim. USA Weightlifting will certainly be hoping for some home success with the USA having not celebrated a male or female world champion in weightlifting since 1969 or 1994, respectively. -- Stay up-to-date with the 2017 International Weightlifting World Championships throughout the week on IWF social channels. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Twitter

What Are the 2 Olympic Lifts?

The IWF World Championships start on Tuesday 28th November, showcasing the best technique in Olympic Weightlifting. If you're new to the world of weightlifting, let us introduce you to the two lifts: the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk. For even the most casual of weightlifting observers, the technical differences between the snatch and the clean and jerk are obvious. Despite these contrasting styles, there are key similarities between the two lifts that have not only helped them to become hallmarks of the Olympic Games and the IWF World Championships, but have also made them a staple part of weightlifters’ workouts worldwide. To the untrained eye, these lifts might look like a mere test of brute upper-body strength. However, both of these lifts use practically every muscle in the body. Additionally, as those who have trained for such exercises will testify, perfecting these lifts requires immense agility, balance, concentration, flexibility, speed, timing and explosive power, from head to toe.  Snatch   Having started out as a one-handed lift at the Olympic Games in 1896, the two-handed version was only unveiled on sport’s biggest stage 28 years later, giving the world a glimpse of one of the most graceful demonstrations of human power and agility. The snatch is a controlled, balanced lift of the barbell from the floor to an overhead position in a single motion. Blink and you will miss it, but many an athlete’s hopes have been dashed by a miniscule misjudgement at one of the four stages of the lift – the set-up, the pull, the catch and the stand. Starting off with the set-up, the athlete needs a wide grip in the squat position with straight arms, a flat back and hips higher than the knees. The pull involves pushing with your legs, back and glutes, while keeping the bar close to your shins, but not touching them. Once the bar brushes your shins and is above your knees, it is crucial to accelerate the lift with as much power as possible, extending your ankles, knees and hips to rise onto your toes. In receiving the bar as you extend – the catch – you need to pull yourself under the bar to drop into a full squat and then turn your wrists in order to push the bar above you, driving from the triceps and shoulders so that your arms are locked at the elbows. The stand, once you have secured control of the barbell, should be steady and smooth until you are fully upright. You will need to extend your knees and hips at this stage, with the bar staying directly over your ankles and hips to maintain balance. Deceptively, when the lift is executed perfectly, the heavy weight should feel light. But that is far easier said than done. Clean & Jerk   The two-handed clean and jerk was on the programme at the very first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 – some 28 years before the two-handed snatch made its Olympic debut. It is markedly different to the snatch in that it is effectively a two-stage lift, allowing the athlete to regain his or her composure half-way through before pushing the barbell above the individual. Like the snatch, the athlete has to finish in a static position for the lift to count. Athletes are able to lift about 20% more with their clean and jerk than their snatch. Additionally, whereas the snatch is about a graceful, swift lift into an upright position in just over two seconds, the clean and jerk maintains an air of suspense and usually takes between 7 and 10 seconds – or even longer – from the start to finish position, including a 4 or 5-second gap in the middle when the audience watch on with baited breath. The clean and jerk starts with a narrower grip, but the first and second pulls are very similar to the snatch lift. However, the key difference is in the final catch, with the athlete dropping under the bar into a front squat. The ‘clean’ phase of the lift ends with the athlete standing upright with the barbell supported by the front of the shoulders, while the second phase – the ‘jerk’ – features a narrower stance, dropped elbows and then a shallow dip, converting the lift into an overhead press, with the legs generating the power. -- Stay up-to-date with the 2017 International Weightlifting World Championships next week on IWF social channels. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Twitter

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan to host the 2018 IWF World Championships

The IWF EB received the Anti-Doping Commission’s status report already reflecting some of the initiatives made by the Clean Sport Commission. Following the inclusive presentation of Alain Siegrist, IWF Financial Advisor, the EB approved the Budget for 2018 and received a status report on 2017. The Executive Board listened to three projects presented by Regional Organizations based on common language: the Francophone Confederation, the Russian speaking countries and Arabic Federation and acknowledged these as a further form of development in weightlifting. A tripartite agreement was born – unanimously supported by the Executive Board – on the organization of the 2018 IWF World Championships. Recognizing the request of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan to make post Games use of the legacy left by the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games which was an enormously successful event, the original host of the 2018 World Championships renounced the organization enabling the Executive Board to reallocate it to Turkmenistan. Athletes competing at the World Championships in Ashgabat will be able enjoy state-of-the-art venues and facilities which were constructed for the AIMAG, ensuring they can compete at their very best. In addition to its traditional Development Program for Member Federations, the IWF continues to provide unprecedented financial contribution to the Continental Federations in an annual value of 1 million USD which they have to spend on the development of the sport. The IWF is dedicated to help its constituents (National and Continental Federations) to improve the level of their governance in line with the IOC and ASOIF

IWF Executive Board unanimously approves recommendations of Clean Sport and Sports Programme Commissions

25 November 2017; Anaheim, USA: The IWF Executive Board (EB) today unanimously approved the recommendations of the Clean Sport and Sports Programme Commissions and pledged to implement them all in order to ensure the protection of clean lifters and the attractiveness of the sport at the Olympic Games. The independent Clean Sport Commission has held a number of meetings this year and following an extensive analysis of the anti-doping efforts in weightlifting over the last 10 years, presented its innovative and pioneering recommendations to the EB. The Commission determined that while significant improvements have been made in the IWF Weightlifting Programme since London 2012 there is scope to do a lot more work to combat doping. Of particular importance is the need for the IWF to combat doping in less than a dozen high risk countries where there is an entrenched culture of doping which also goes beyond weightlifting. Key recommendations of the Commission include: Contracting with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and collaborating with the International Association of National Anti-Doping Organizations and WADA to develop increased and more effective no notice out-of-competition testing in high risk countries Implementation of new rules in the IWF Anti-Doping Policy which send a clear deterrent message to IWF member federations that if they do not fulfil their anti-doping responsibilities to ensure that their athletes are clean, then they will lose their right to participate in international competition for a period up to four years. A requirement for athletes in in the IWF Registered Testing Pool and other national team athletes to provide IWF with an updated list of their coaches and other athlete support personnel Enhanced anti-doping education devised in collaboration with WADA and International Association of National Anti-Doping Organizations All the recommendations were approved by the EB and will form the basis of the IWF’s submission to the IOC Executive Board’s meeting this December. The IWF EB also approved the Clean Sport Commission staying engaged for an additional four year period in order to consult with the IWF as it progresses with the implementation of the recommendations. The Commission will also review and evaluate the progress of the IWF’s execution on an annual basis. Speaking following the first day of the IWF EB meeting, IWF President Ajan said: “Today marks the start of a new chapter for international weightlifting. We accept that in the past the incidence of doping in weightlifting has been too high and we had already moved aggressively to combat this. But with the excellent recommendations that we have approved today, we have a clear strategic plan for how to address this incidence and ensure that we move forward towards a cleaner future.” The IWF EB also approved the recommendations of the IWF Sport Programme Commission designed to protect the integrity of the sport and ensure the very best, clean weightlifting competitions at Tokyo 2020. One of the key recommendations was the shortening of the qualification period and an obligation for athletes to compete a minimum number of times, at certain intervals, to ensure athletes will be regularly subjected to in-competition doping controls. The other major recommendation was the switch from team to individual qualification allowing an easier traceability of the athletes. In addition to the reports of the Clean Sport and Sport Programme Commission, the IWF EB also heard reports from the Technical Committee, Coaching and Research Committee and Medical

IWF COMPETITION

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XI. Mediterranean Cup, Ljubljana SLO

The 11th edition of Mediterranean Cup was held last weekend in the capital city of Slovenia, Ljubljana. More then 30 years passed since the last international competition was hosted by the Slovenian Federation and it proved to be a big test especially for the President, Damjan Canzek, and General Secretary, Slavko Laljek. The Opening ceremony showed a nice demonstration of home support from the young delegates as the President of the NOC, Mr. Bogdan Gabrovec, and Vice Mayor of Ljubljana Mr. Dejan Crnek, were invited to say a few words before the event. Mr. Attila Adamfi, IWF General Director was also present as honorable guest to show the support for Slovenian weightlifting. On Friday we had an opportunity to hear how to mentally prepare an athlete for the competition by an expert on that field and author of bestseller “Atleta Vincente” Mr. Massimo Binelli from Italy. On Saturday twelve countries participated with 48 athletes. That’s the highest number of participants ever for Mediterranean Cup. They were placed into five groups so the competition was ongoing for the whole Saturday from 9 am to 7 pm. Competition was right on schedule with no delays and great atmosphere was created by the crowd who cheered loudly for lifters that gave their best. At the end we had a strong competition between Italy and Serbia for the first place. Serbia won for only 10 Sinclair points in front of Italy and third place belonged to Slovenian team. “It was the best organized competition in my whole career as athlete and coach!” said Darov Konstantine, Tunisian head coach. “We are waiting with anticipation for next year Mediterranean Games in Tarragona, Spain and we hope to continue to compete in that high level of international competition that Slovenian Weightlifting Federation has set here in Ljubljana!” was the last encouraging words for all delegations from president of Mediterranean Weightlifting Confederation Mr. Maurizio Lo Buono. Source: Damjan Čanžek, President of Slovenian