A premiere: Weightlifting is added to programme of European Games in 2027!

Weightlifting has been welcomed on to the programme of the European Games for the first time, raising the status of the sport after a strong campaign by the continental federation.

“For sure, this decision demonstrates that weightlifting has more respect from the Olympic movement in Europe than it had in previous years,” said Antonio Conflitti, president of the European Weightlifting Federation.

Conflitti has been working since early 2022 to persuade the European Olympic Committees (EOC) to add weightlifting to the European Games programme. “It has been more than three years of diplomacy, starting with a meeting in Rome two months after I was elected,” he said.

The EOC General Assembly in Frankfurt 

The EOC made the decision to include weightlifting at the 2027 European Games in Istanbul at its general assembly in Frankfurt, which ended on Saturday. Part of the agreement with the EWF is that the competition should be a qualifying event for Los Angeles 2028.

“I believe that it would make the EWF the first continental federation to have the continental Games an Olympic qualifier,” Conflitti said. “That makes me very happy.”

There will be a full range of Olympic weight categories for men and women in Istanbul, with 300 or more athletes. Conflitti stressed that the precise format cannot be decided immediately, because the IWF is in the process of formulating a qualifying programme for 2028. There will be enough competitions, though, for the European Games to be part of the process.

From left to right: Antonio Conflitti (EWF President and IWF EB member), Spyros Capralos (EOC President) and Florian Sperl (German Weightlifting Federation President and IWF EB member)

Whether there will be a European Championships as well as the European Games in 2027 is also a decision for the future, Conflitti said.

In terms of multi-sport continental Games, Europe has long been behind the rest of the weightlifting world, mainly because the EOC did not support the creation of the European Games until 2012 – and weightlifting has not been a feature until now.

The other four continental Games began back in the 1950s and 1960s. When weightlifting was a major feature of the first Asian Games and Pan American Games, the winners included men who made their mark nine decades ago.

John Davis, who won Olympic heavyweight gold for the United States in 1948 and 1952, was a winner in Buenos Aires at the first Pan American Games. In the same year, 1951, Iran won all seven medal events at inaugural Asian Games in Delhi. One of the champions was Jafar Salmasi, whose bronze at London 1948 was the first Olympic medal in any sport for Iran.

Weightlifting featured at the Pacific Games in 1966 and has been on the Africa Games programme since 1991.

All these continental multi-sport Games, held every four years, began decades before the first European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2015. Weightlifting was not among the 20 sports there, nor was it at the 2019 European Games in Minsk, Belarus or the 2023 version in Kraków-Małopolska, Poland.

“We need this recognition, we need weightlifting to be part of the European Games. It has always been my target,” said Conflitti.

IWF President Mohammed Jalood also commented on this positive outcome: “It is a very important step forward for the development and exposure of our Sport in Europe. Weightlifting is part of other continental games for many years now and the integration on the programme of the European Games demonstrates the growing respect and added-value our Sport brings to major international events.”

Weightlifting will also feature for the first time on the programme of the 2027 Jeux de le Francophonie, a sporting and artistic event that is open to nations where French is an official or culturally significant language. Between 30 and 54 nations have taken part at the nine previous Jeux de la Francophonie, which began in 1989 and will be hosted by Armenia in 2027.

The Istanbul decision will be good news for host nation Turkey, which has one of the strongest teams in European weightlifting. The continent currently has three Olympic champions– Solfrid Koanda from Norway, Karlos Nasar from Bulgaria and Lasha Talakhadze from Georgia.