Update 14.10.2020: USA Weightlifting asks all member federations to sign a letter demanding an extraordinary congress by the end of November.
Update 14.10.2020: IWF’s empty response.
Update 14.10.2020: IOC’s statement.
[The IOC] would reserve the right to take further measures depending on any future developments, including, but not limited to, a review of the place of weightlifting on the programme of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and consideration of the Paris 2024 event programme and athlete quotas, which will be determined in December 2020.
Update 15.10.2020: IWF appoints Michael Irani (competition doctor) as new president.
Update 15.10.2020: Antonio Urso (European weightlifting federation president) leaves the Executive Board. (via)
Update 16.10.2020: Ursula Papandrea also resigned from the executive board. (via check out that list of complaints!)
Update 17.10.2020: The IWF decided on a Date for the “Constitution Reform and Electoral Congress”… Guess when it is…
23rd March 2021! They want to wait until March 2021! Business as usual.
Update 18.10.2020: Antonio Ursu has some damming words about the IWF. (via)
Update 23.10.2020: in an “ambitious timetable for reform” the “IWF rejects calls for Board to quit and announces strong support for March elections”. (via)
Update 12.11.2020: “FBI and Swiss police dig into weightlifting scandal, while IOC is undecided”
Update 29.01.2021: The European Weightlifting Federation calls for the IWF board to resign.
You can’t make this up…
A corrupt (partially bought) IWF executive board voted out Ursula Papandrea (and Phil Andrews) as IWF interim president.
Guess who is taking over now…
The person, whom the McLaren report (page 87) called the “Vote Broker” (page 87) from Thailand (a nation currently banned for systematic doping):
The vote broker distributing the $5,000 USD cash bribe from a bag in his possession in 2017 was said to be Major General Intarat Yodbangtoey, the 1st Vice President of the IWF.
But this is to be expected, when the same corrupt executive board—that was set in place with bribes—has the power to decide on its own future.
Just recently the IOC criticized the IWF for its “slow progress in instituting governance reforms and its reluctance to accept independent advice”. Given these updates this doesn’t exactly solidify weightlifting’s future in the olympic games.
It’s literally impossible at this point for them to change the structure of this sport without starting over.
What needs to happen is a complete reboot of the IWF.
The entire executive board needs to resign. But because this is very unlikely, the only hope for change is the IOC putting end end to this circus.
I really hope this gets fixed before the sport gets kicked out of the Olympics. A fresh start might be the only thing that is left.
This is not fixable at this point. Thomas Ayan team wants to show who is still in charge even if it means elimination of weightlifting in 2024 Olympics. Too much money and power are involved.