IWF/ITA Clean Sport Seminar: “Don’t be negligent, remain vigilant and get informed!”

Around 75 participants in the IWF World Junior Championships, including athletes and support personnel, gathered this morning in the competition venue in Leon (ESP) for the IWF/ITA Clean Sport Seminar, an important educational tool to disseminate information on IWF’s Anti-Doping programme.

This initiative normally takes place at IWF events and is lectured by an ITA (International Testing Agency) Ambassador – this time, the presenter was Thais Cevada, from Brazil, a former international-level athlete in gymnastics.

The Seminar was opened by the IWF President Mohammed Jalood, who underlined the efforts our International Federation is allocating into this fundamental matter. “The results are paying off, as in most of our events there are presently no positive cases. We are proud to say that we had no adverse tests also at the recent Paris 2024 Olympic Games!” stated Mr Jalood.

“This proves that everyone is complying with the rules and that our Sport is clean and fair. These positive results will certainly count towards our wish to raise the bodyweight categories in future editions of the Olympic Games,” the IWF President concluded.

IWF President Mohammed Jalood

Thais Cevada then briefed the attendees on several aspects of the anti-doping (AD) strategy, namely the types of AD violations, the importance of checking any sort of medicines entering into the athlete’s body, the precautions when eventually taking supplements, and the complete procedure on reporting AD violations.

“Being negligent in this field can lead to dramatic consequences to the athletes. Be vigilant, get informed, and don’t incur in any behaviour that can then cost several years of sanction,” explained Cevada, in both English and Spanish to the participants (among them, Forrester Osei, Chair of the IWF Athletes Commission).

Thais Cevada, lecturing the seminar

At the end of the Seminar, all participants received an “I Lift Clean” t-shirt, and were invited to pass by the educational booth that will be available at the entry of the competition venue for the next couple of days. It will be an additional opportunity for athletes and support personnel to get information on this topic, and to further learn by replying to some quizzes and taking part in educational games.

IWF Communications