IWF120y/62 – 1981: Re-setting milestones in the IWF history

In May 1980, while the Olympic world was busy, trying to minimise the impact of the boycott on the Moscow Games, the IWF celebrated in Montreal (CAN) the “100 Years of Modern Weightlifting” and the “60 Years of the International Weightlifting Federation”. 60 years?! How come, if the foundation of what would become the IWF occurred in 1905? Well, this is clear now, but at the time, the most accepted version of history was that 1920 was the founding year of the IWF, as from 1905 to that date, other names were given, and other activities/sports were associated with the world governing body. This is partly true, but one Yugoslavian/Serbian official, Vladan Mihajlovic (photo), Chairman of the IWF Historical and Statistical Commission (and father of Milan, presently Member of the IWF Technical Committee), provided in 1981 “authentic documents” proposing that: 1. The birth date of the International Federation should be recorded as being June 10, 1905 as the “Amateur Athletes World Union” (1905), the “International World Federation for Strength Athletics” (1912), and the “International Amateur World Federation for Strength Athletics” (1913) could be considered as legitimate predecessors of the International Weightlifting Federation; 2. The so-called “wild” World Championships before 1920 should be taken into consideration. If this proposal was officially endorsed in 1983 (and the chronology of the World Championships starts with the inaugural edition in 1891), the definitive establishment of IWF’s founding date (June 10, 1905) was only decided in 1987!