The International Weightlifting Federation Continues to Place the Future of Weightlifting Athletes at Risk

16 October 2020: With the recent removal of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) interim president, the IWF leadership continues to play games with the athletes’ livelihood while simultaneously endangering the sport’s reputation and Olympic Games standing. Athletes will stand for it no longer.

Weightlifting athletes have been very vocal over the past several months demanding that the IWF demonstrate, through its actions, that the interest of athletes is their number one priority.

Global Athlete, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Athletes’ Advisory Council and the USA Weightlifting Athletes’ Advisory Council call for the following actions from the International Olympic Committee (IOC):

• Immediately suspend the IWF

• Take control of 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games qualification (as was done for the sport of boxing)

• Oversee management and organization of weightlifting at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games

• Empower an independently led athlete organization to represent weightlifting athletes in reform negotiations

We ask weightlifting athletes to stand together and join our call for a complete restructuring of the federation to include equal athlete representation. This includes the establishment of an independent athlete representative body.

As leaders of the sport, the IWF owes it to their athletes to listen to these demands. Years of corruption have left weightlifting on life support and in poor standing in the international sporting community. The only way forward is to engage with athletes and make them part of the solution. The mirage of reforms is no longer acceptable.