Busy month for IWF leadership
This last month turned out to be a very busy month for the IWF leadership with several important decisions made on various fronts as well as the successful official inauguration of the IWF headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland
One of the mains decisions made by the IWF Executive Board was to appoint Colombia as the host of the 2022 IWF Senior World Championships. With the election of Bogotá, Colombia to replace Chongqing, China (which had due withdraw as a result on the COVID 19 situation in China) it will be the second time an IWF Senior World Championship has been organised South America after Lima (1971).
Colombia was one of eight IWF member countries who expressed interest in hosting the event. The eight countries made a presentation of their offers to the IWF Executive Committee followed by a question & answer session. A secret vote then decided the winner and Bogotá prevailed by a majority vote.
William Peña, President of the Colombian Weightlifting Federation was understandably very excited following the IWF decision: “We are going to work together so that Bogotá is remembered as the venue for the best Weightlifting World Championship where history is made”. The exact dates will soon be specified and will in any case be within the period November 1st and December 31st, 2022.
Another important part of the upcoming international weightlifting event schedule was also concluded in April with the publication of the qualification system for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The Olympic weight classes and schedule were announced with Weightlifting having five categories apiece for men and woman with 12 athletes entered in each event. Men will compete at 61kg, 73kg, 89kg, 102kg and +102kg while women will compete at 49kg, 59kg, 71 kg, 81kg and +81kg. Four methods will determine the Paris field: Olympic Qualification Ranking/OQR (100 athletes), continental representation (10), host country quota places (4), universality places (6).
The qualification system for Paris 2024 has been well received within the weightlifting community with CJ Cummings, a 2020 Olympian at 73kg and the youngest U.S. Olympic weightlifter in 21 years saying: “The new qualification system seems a lot less complex than the prior one. The top lifters in the top events get to go to the Olympics. After having to wait five years for my first Olympics, it’s exciting to know what the path forward looks like as I try to earn another opportunity to represent Team USA.”
And finally, the busy month for the IWF leadership was completed with the hosting of a well-visited event at the Maison du Sport International in the Olympic capital of Lausanne, Switzerland.
Due to the impact and restrictions brought about by the pandemic, the IWF was unable to celebrate the move of its headquarters to Lausanne a year ago.
Dr. Michael Irani, the IWF Interim President welcomed the many guests from the international, Olympic sport world and also pointed to the important symbolic value of the headquarters move from Budapest to Lausanne “It is very important to celebrate our move here to Lausanne as it also marks a move to a new and bright future for the IWF and for global Weightlifting”.
In addition to the many sports organisations executives, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Champion Meso Hassona, 2021 World Champion and World Record holder in Snatch, Lesman Paredes, and Tokyo 2020 Olympian, Yazmin Stevens, all Athlete Ambassadors of the IWF, also joined the celebrations.