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IWF - International Weightlifting Federation

iwf-logo1 iwf-logo2 iwf-logo3 iwf-logo2014 At the end of the 19th century the modern weightlifting evolved from strength exercises, which were shown at fairs or circus mainly by professional athletes. But some of the weights which were lifted in these exercises must be questioned.
The first sports clubs really doing strength training by amateurs were formed before the turn of the century, especially in Austria and Germany. In these countries the first national organizations emerged: Österreichischer Athleten-Bund in 1890 and Deutscher Athleten-Verband in 1891.
However, it should still take at least another 15 years for a standardization of disciplines and a standardization of the rules began to enforce.

On 1905, Jun 10-12 in Duisburg the first international federation for weightlifting and wrestling was founded by representatives from DEN, GER, ITA, and NED: the Amateur-Athleten-Weltunion (Amateur Athletes World Union). For the first time four weightlifting exercises were described in detail (right-handed snatch, left-handed snatch, two-hand press, and two-hand clean & jerk). The congress also agreed about the introduction of three body weight categories (Lightweight, Middleweight and Heavyweight) for weightlifting and wrestling. The federation suffered under strong disagreements from the beginning. As the last Germans withdrew from the World Union on 1907, May 18 this was de facto its end.

The next attempt to establish an international federation was undertaken during the 1912 Olympic Games. After these preliminary discussions, delegates from AUT, BOH, DEN, FIN, GER, GBR, HUN, RUS and SWE arrived at the founding congress of the Internationaler Amateur Verband für Schwerathletik (International Amateur Heavy Athletics Federation) on 1913, Jun 09 in Berlin. The federation was responsible for wrestling, weightlifting, boxing, tug of war, as well as throws and puts over 10 kg. The length of wrestling matches was limited to 20 minutes and new body weight categories were set up.

As a result of World War I Austria and Germany were not invited to the Olympic Games in 1920 and banned in international sports. The Austrians invited to a World Championship and Congress of the Internationaler Amateur Verband für Schwerathletik to Vienna in September 1920, nevertheless. At this event only representatives from HUN and SUI took part except of AUT and GER. The on occasion of this congress renamed federation Internationaler Kraftsportverband (International Strength Sport Federation) planed a more attended meeting in Berlin in 1921, which never took place and the federation finally faded away without an official resolution.

Meanwhile, during the Olympic Games 1920 a new international organization was established solely for weightlifting: Fédération Internationale Haltérophile (FIH) . Concentrating on weightlifting was consequentially, as boxers (1920) and wrestlers (1921) had founded their own governing organizations already.
In 1928 the FIH dropped the one-hand exercises from the program of the world championships but leave them as world record disciplines until 1961. After deletion of press at the end of 1972 only snatch and clean & jerk remain as exercises.

In 1950 the FIH added bodybuilding as new sport and changed its name to Fédération Internationale Haltérophile et Culturiste (FIHC). At the congress on occasion of the 1968 Olympic Games bodybuilding was deleted, but the federation would now be responsible for the powerlifting (squat, bench press and deadlift), without having any experience or even rules. But already at the next Congress in 1969 the federation limited itself to weightlifting.

Since 1983, Oct 20 the International Weightlifting Federation accepts also weightlifting for women. The first women′s competition organized by the IWF took place in Hungary on 1986, Mar 23.

2014: 188 member federations
2020: 193 member federations


Presidents

Amateur-Athleten-Weltunion
10.06.1905 - 14.07.1912 no president
Internationaler Weltverband für Schwerathletik
15.07.1912 - 06.07.1913 Dr. Péter Tatics HUN, provisional
Internationaler Amateur-Weltverband für Schwerathletik
06.07.1913 - 06.09.1920 Dr. Péter Tatics HUN
Internationaler Kraftsportverband
06.09.1920 - (1921) Dr. Péter Tatics HUN
Fédération Internationale Haltérophile (FIH)
23.08.1920 - 01.04.1923 Jules Rosset FRA
01.04.1923 - 25.07.1924 Willem Johannes Marie Linden NED
25.07.1924 - 07.07.1937 Jules Rosset FRA
07.07.1937 - 13.09.1937 Willem Johannes Marie Linden NED, acting
13.09.1937 - 14.07.1941 🕆 Willem Johannes Marie Linden NED
14.07.1941 - 17.10.1946 -----
17.10.1946 - 12.10.1950 Jules Rosset FRA
Fédération Internationale Haltérophile et Culturiste (FIHC)
12.10.1950 - 23.07.1952 Jules Rosset FRA
23.07.1952 - 21.09.1952 🕆 Dietrich Wortmann USA
21.09.1952 - 26.08.1953 Bruno Nyberg FIN, acting
26.08.1953 - 06.09.1960 Bruno Nyberg FIN
06.09.1960 - 11.10.1968 Clarence Johnson USA
Fédération Haltérophile Internationale (FHI)
11.10.1968 - 25.08.1972 Clarence Johnson USA
25.08.1972 - 06.09.1972 Gottfried Schödl AUT
International Weightlifting Federation (IWF)
06.09.1972 - 06.12.2000 Gottfried Schödl AUT
09.12.2000 - 15.04.2020 Dr. Tamás Aján HUN
22.01. - 13.10.2020 Ursula Papandrea USA, acting
13. - 15.10.2020 Intarat Yodbangtoey THA, acting
15.10.2020 - 25.06.2022 Dr. Michael Irani GBR, acting
25.06.2022 - Mohammed Jalood IRQ

Since 22.01.2020 Dr. Tamás Aján was suspended for 90 days during the investigation about allegations of corruption against him, Aján retired with immediate effect on 15.04.2020.

Secretaries General

Amateur-Athleten-Weltunion
10.06.1905 - 14.07.1912 no secretary general
Internationaler Weltverband für Schwerathletik
15.07.1912 - 06.07.1913 no secretary general
Sekretär des Internationalen Amateur-Weltverbandes für Schwerathletik
06.07.1913 - 06.09.1920 Móritz Csanády HUN
Internationaler Kraftsportverband
06.09.1920 - (1921) Móritz Csanády HUN
Fédération Internationale Haltérophile (FIH)
23.08.1920 - 25.07.1924 Joseph Duchâteau FRA
25.07.1924 - 01.10.1938 André Bourdonnay-Schweich FRA
01.10.1938 - 23.10.1938 Eugène Gouleau FRA, acting
23.10.1938 - 12.10.1950 Eugène Gouleau FRA
Fédération Internationale Haltérophile et Culturiste (FIHC)
12.10.1950 - 06.09.1960 Eugène Gouleau FRA
06.09.1960 - 11.10.1968 Oscar State GBR
Fédération Haltérophile Internationale (FHI)
11.10.1968 - 06.09.1972 Oscar State GBR
International Weightlifting Federation (IWF)
06.09.1972 - 15.07.1976 Oscar State GBR
15.07.1976 - 09.12.2000 Tamás Aján HUN
09.12.2000 - 01.04.2009 Yannis Sgouros GRE
01.04.2009 - 29.05.2017 Ma Wenguang CHN
29.05.2017 - 30.06.2022 Mohammed Jalood IRQ
30.06.2022 - Antonio Urso ITA



Weightlifter of the Year

Men Women
1982 Blagoy BLAGOEV BUL
1983 Blagoy BLAGOEV BUL
1984 Naim SULEIMANOV BUL
1985 Naum SHALAMANOV BUL
1986 Naum SHALAMANOV BUL
1987 Mikhail PETROV BUL
1988 Naim SÜLEYMANOĞLU TUR
1989 Ivan IVANOV BUL
1990 Ivan IVANOV BUL
1991 CHUN Byung-Kwan KOR SUN Caiyan CHN
1992 Naim SÜLEYMANOĞLU TUR PENG Liping CHN
1993 Nikolay PESHALOV BUL CHEN Shu-Chih TPE
1994 Aleksey PETROV RUS GUAN Hong CHN
1995 Pyrros DIMAS GRE CHEN Shu-Chih TPE
1996 Naim SÜLEYMANOĞLU TUR LI Hongyun CHN
1997 Andrey CHEMERKIN RUS TANG Weifang CHN
1998 Plamen ZHELYAZKOV BUL TANG Weifang CHN
1999 Halil MUTLU TUR DING Meiyuan CHN
2000 Hossein REZAZADEH IRI DING Meiyuan CHN
2001 Halil MUTLU TUR Valentina POPOVA RUS
2002 Hossein REZAZADEH IRI WANG Mingjuan CHN
2003 Hossein REZAZADEH IRI LIU Chunhong CHN
2004 Hossein REZAZADEH IRI LIU Chunhong CHN
2005 Ilya ILYIN KAZ PAWINA Thongsuk THA
2006 Ilya ILYIN KAZ CHEN Yanqing CHN
2007 Andrei RYBAKOU BLR JANG Mi-Ran KOR
2008 Matthias STEINER GER LIU Chunhong CHN
2009 LÜ Xiaojun CHN JANG Mi-Ran KOR
2010 Behdad SALIMI IRI Svetlana PODOBEDOVA KAZ
2011 Khadzhimurat AKKAYEV RUS Svetlana TSARUKAYEVA RUS
2012 Behdad SALIMI IRI Zulfiya CHINSHANLO KAZ
2013 Ruslan ALBEGOV RUS Tatyana KASHIRINA RUS
2014 Ilya ILYIN KAZ Tatyana KASHIRINA RUS
2015 Ilya ILYIN KAZ HSU Shu-Ching TPE
2016 Kianoush ROSTAMI IRI TANASAN Sopita THA
2017 Lasha TALAKHADZE GEO Lidia VALENTÍN ESP
2018 Lasha TALAKHADZE GEO Lidia VALENTÍN ESP
2019 Lasha TALAKHADZE GEO Katherine NYE USA
2020 - 2021 not awarded not awarded

Suleymanov - Shalamanov - Süleymanoğlu: Suleymanov belonging to the Turkish minority in Bulgaria had to adopt the Bulgarian name Shalamanov in 1985. After defecting to Turkey in 1986 he changed his name again to Süleymanoğlu.



Last modified: 06.04.2023