A New Chapter Begins for the IWF

The new Executive Board of the International Weightlifting Federation met yesterday at the IWF Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Coming together for the first time since their election, there was a packed agenda set for the new leadership. Among the most important topics was the Olympic status as well as the foundation and future of weightlifting.

The discussions focused on the core principles of the IWF, including reviewing the past culture versus the new philosophy of the organisation and next steps in continuing to clean up the sport. Each member of the Executive Board committed to supporting the good governance initiatives already implemented and to the continued improvement of transparency and integrity within the sport.

Furthermore, concrete steps were agreed including commissioning the International Testing Agency (ITA) to increase the number of out-of-competitions tests. Additionally, an international auditing firm will now be appointed to perform a detailed financial, governance and operational due diligence of the IWF covering the past ten years. The final report will be presented to the IWF Ordinary Congress in December this year. Also, using the learnings from the recent Electoral Congress, a review of the IWF Constitution will be made to identify any needs for adjusting operational regulations. And lastly, an adjustment will be made to the current financial management regulations and procedures to ensure a clear link between costs and obtained results.

Additional points discussed also included the upcoming events for this year and next year, the support of athletes and member federations, the improvement of sponsorship and ways in which to promote the sport of weightlifting throughout the world.

IWF President Mohammed Jaloud commented, “It was great to have the new Executive Board come together here in Lausanne, the Olympic Capital, and home of the IWF headquarters. With so many new Executive Board members, it was important for us to come together in unity to focus on the future of our sport. We are moving forward on all fronts and are strictly in line with the IOC requirements.”

IWF General Secretary Antonio Urso said, “This was a very productive first meeting with the new Executive Board, there was a lot of positive energy. We had some great discussions and made some important decisions for weightlifting; we are looking forward to sharing more on next steps with our members and partners in the coming weeks and months ahead. But we can already promise that transparency will be at the core of everything that the IWF does from now on – including having the detailed minutes of our meeting being published very soon on the IWF website.”