News and Media

News

Switzerland upgrades coaching by Seminars

One with old traditions but less-than-required presence in the weightlifting scene in our days, the Swiss Weightlifting Federation organized a two-part Seminar within the framework of the IWF Development Program. The first part of the coaching course was held in May while the second part took place during the last weekend of November. Gabriel Prongué and John Lopez, certified coaches, spoke in front of 10 participants - among them athletes, coaches, Technical Officials and the President of the Swiss Federation. The topics covered training planning, competition approach, rules and regulations. Mrs. Ursula Lauper, nutritionist, talked about the importance of proper nutrition in an athlete’s life. The theoretical part was followed by presentations about training programs delivered by the coaches, and the Seminar concluded with practical sessions in the gym. With such Seminars Switzerland aims to upgrade its weightlifting coaching and, ultimately, to raise the level of its weightlifters in an international

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike accepted IOC President’s proposal to review 2020 costs

Yuriko Koike, who took office in August, agreed on the four-party talks, which will involve the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the International Olympic Committee, the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and the Japanese Government. The IOC President Bach said he was “fully committed to having Games in a sustainable and feasible way” and he was sure that “significant savings” could be made on the figures contained in an interim report by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Such savings would come on top of the USD 1.8 billion savings already made. In looking for savings, the IOC President reminded the Governor not to forget two key principles – he reminded her that the “heart and soul of the Olympic Games is the athletes and that their experience must be respected, with athletes able to come together in one place.”  Secondly, he reminded the Governor of the initial terms on which Tokyo won the hosting rights for the 2020 Olympic Games. “What we also have to respect is the fair competition in which Tokyo won the rights to host the Olympic Games three years ago,” Bach said. “Tokyo and Japan won because they presented a very convincing project.” “I think it's in the interests of Japan, the IOC and Tokyo that we do not change the rules of the competition after the election because we all know that the Japanese people and people of Tokyo are reliable partners who are delivering on their commitment,” he said. Accepting the proposal for a four-way working group, the Governor stressed the need for all parties to work together and to “make maximum efforts to deliver sustainable Olympic Games as described in Olympic Agenda 2020”. A still-to-be-finalised report commissioned by Governor Koike stated last month that the cost of organising the 2020 Tokyo Games could greatly increase compared to the initial budget. Chair of the IOC Coordination Commission for Tokyo 2020, John Coates, commenting on the numbers in the report said: “That’s certainly a figure that seems very large to us. We are very confident that we can work with the Governor; we can work with the Tokyo Organising Committee and the national government. With our experience, we can reduce those figures,” Coates said. President Bach urged the Governor to finalise the report, which she said could be ready next month, so that the working group could start immediately. He told her that “we are ready as soon as you are ready.” After meeting the Tokyo Governor, the President then went on to meetings with Hirokazu Matsuno, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports Science and Technology, and the Olympic and Paralympic Minister, Tamayo Marukawa. Both Ministers stressed the need for all parties to work together for sustainable and ultimately successful Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. TAGSTOKYO 2020 , IOC NEWS

IWF DP Seminars in Chile

The Chilean Weightlifting Federation started to develop Basic Weightlifting Seminars in the framework of the IWF Development Program. As Chile is divided into 15 regions, the complete program includes seminars in 15 different cities. The aim is to improve weightlifting where it is underdeveloped and to consolidate it where it is strong. The last seminars for this year were held in Santiago and Punta Arenas. Participants could listen to different topics. The Seminars were very successful and the IWF intends to foot further Seminars in the

IWF President pays visit to Albania

IWF President, Dr. Tamás Aján has paid an official visit to Albania on the occasion of the celebration to honour Acad. Gudar Beqiraj, Honorary President of AWF for his 50 years service in weightlifting. During the ceremony, Dr. Aján gave Prof. Beqiraj, President of the Albanian Academy of Sciences the IWF's appreciation for his devoted service to the sport. During his visit in Tirana, Dr. Tamas Ajan spoke before journalists about the IWF strategy for the future, including a productive collaboration with the AWF. In Tirana the President  was accompanied by Mr. Elez Gjoza, President and Mr. Agron Haxhihyseni, General Secretary of the Albanian

2014-2015: 21per cent more positive samples in world sports

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) published its 2015 Testing Figures Report (2015 Report), which summarizes the results of all 2015 samples analyzed by WADA-accredited laboratories across all sports, as reported in WADA’s Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS).  This includes in- and out-of-competition urine, blood and Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) blood data, and the subsequent AAFs and Atypical Findings (ATFs) reported. The 2015 Report represents the first set of global testing data since the 2015 World Anti-Doping Code (Code) came into effect on 1 January 2015. Two years ago, in the WADA-accredited laboratories 283,304 tests had been made in all sports, while last year 7.1% more, i.e. 303,369 samples were analyzed. In a year's span, compared to 2014, the number of positive cases in 2015 has grown by almost 21 %. While in 2014 3,153 samples returned an AAF (positive), the same data for 2015 indicate 3,809. However, the final official data on the ADRVs will be published by WADA in

African Technical Officials’ Training Course

Within the framework of the IWF Education Program, the WFA held a Technical Officials' Educational Training Course from 14-20 November 2016 in Kampala, Uganda. The Course targeted referees and other Technical Officials from Congo, Kenya, Uganda and was conducted by Prof. Dr. Milan V. Mihajlovic. On the last day of the Seminar the Weightlifting Federation of Uganda (UWF) organized a competition “Uganda Open – Champion of Champions”, so that participants could practice the different Technical Officials’ roles after the previous theoretical lessons. Mr. Salim Musoke Ssenkungu, President of the UWF thanked to WFA for the opportunity and to IWF for the support given to organize this Seminar. (Source: Timea