In case you’ve missed it, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has been going through an extensive process to update their anti-doping and clean sport regulations. Earlier this year in June, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that they’d be decreasing the quota of weightlifting athletes for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
This news from June was later revealed to be a warning sign when IOC president Thomas Bach commented futher. He went on to state, “All must remain compliant with the Olympic charter and the world anti-doping code. We have sent a strong signal to weightlifting by reducing the quota for athlete for Tokyo 2020.”
[Check out some of the new rules that have been suggested for the sport of weightlifting the Sport Programme Commission.]
Since then, the IWF has been working with a Clean Sport and Sports Programme Commission and independent advisers to update their anti-doping efforts and policies, along with creating new rules for the sport of weightlifting. On November 25th, after meeting in Anaheim ahead of the 2017 Weightlifting World Championships, the IWF’s Executive Board unanimously approved the recommendations provided by the Clean Sports Commission. Below, we’ve highlighted some of the main impacts from the IWF’s recent press release.
- Contracting with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and collaborating with the International Association of National Anti-Doping Organizations and WADA to develop increased and more effective no notice out-of-competition testing in high risk countries.
- Implementation of new rules in the IWF Anti-Doping Policy which send a clear deterrent message to IWF member federations that if they do not fulfill their anti-doping responsibilities to ensure that their athletes are clean, then they will lose their right to participate in international competition for a period up to four years.
- A requirement for athletes in in the IWF Registered Testing Pool and other national team athletes to provide IWF with an updated list of their coaches and other athlete support personnel.
- Enhanced anti-doping education devised in collaboration with WADA and International Association of National Anti-Doping Organizations.
These changes will form the foundation of what the IWF Executive Board plans to present to the IOC at their next meeting in December. In addition, the Clean Sport Commission will be continuing to work with the IWF for the next four years to ensure their changes stick and are beneficial for the sport.
The IWF’s president Tamas Ajan said, “Today marks the start of a new chapter for international weightlifting. We accept that in the past the incidence of doping in weightlifting has been too high and we had already moved aggressively to combat this. But with the excellent recommendations that we have approved today, we have a clear strategic plan for how to address this incidence and ensure that we move forward towards a cleaner future.”
Featured image from @iwfnet on Instagram.
