IWF Welcomes IOC Recognition of Comprehensive Anti-Doping Progress
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) welcomes the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) today, after it outlined its recognition for the IWF’s significant efforts to ensure clean sport and protect clean athletes.
Considering the comprehensive work done by the IWF, the IOC EB decided at its meeting today to lift the status of conditional inclusion of weightlifting in the programme of the Olympic Games, Paris 2024, subject to finalisation of the agreement between the IWF and ITA and confirmation of a successful transition of key areas of the IWF anti-doping programme to ITA.
“The IWF’s commitment to clean competition has transformed our sport. We see weightlifters competing in new bodyweight categories for new world records and from a wider variety of countries than ever before. Weightlifting is the only sport that specifically rewards countries that have a track record of clean competition with chances to compete at the Olympic Games thanks to our Tokyo 2020 qualifying system. And our commitment to culture change has seen the universal implementation of a widespread set of education programmes,” said IWF President Tamas Ajan.
Measures adopted by the IWF included the suspension of nine members, considered to be high risk countries, whose athletes had constituted a disproportionately high number of anti-doping rule violations during the IOC’s retesting of stored samples from the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games. Innovative, advanced and additional testing continues to underpin the IWF’s efforts.
“The IWF has only been able to achieve this progress with the help of many willing and expert partners, including the IOC, WADA, the ITA and USADA. We are very grateful to the members of the Independent Clean Sport Commission and our Anti-Doping Commission, together with all the staff and volunteers who have supported this transformation. With elements of our anti-doping programme already having been successfully transferred, I have no doubt that we will soon be able to fully establish our partnership with the ITA to the IOC’s complete satisfaction,” added Ajan.
