Reforms in the sport of weightlifting will soon be adopted by its world governing body.
And sports officials have high hopes that this will help protect the sport’s future on the Olympic Games’ program, where its expulsion loomed recently.
Majority of the 133 members nations voted for change and the drafting of a new Constitution of the International Weightlifting Federation during an ongoing Congress in Doha, Qatar.
Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella, who attended the meeting in Doha, is hopeful that with the charter changes in place, the sport won’t be suspended from Paris Olympics 2024 Games and will be allowed to prosper under a new leadership.
The IWF has repeatedly been warned in the past months by the International Olympic Committee that its Olympic status is under threat.
The IOC, through the executive board, is studying the possibility of removing weightlifting from the Games in 2024 following numerous corruption scandals and governance failings “that were largely centred around the longstanding problem of doping,” according to reports.
The IWF responded by holding a congress in Doha, where it drafted amendments to its constitution after long-time officials went into lengthy talks with reform-oriented members. The proposed amendments will give athletes a voice in the way weightlifting is governed and support gender equality and independent oversight.
The eligibility for Executive Board members was also one of the main talking points of the day.
There were attempts to strengthen eligibility criteria by imposing an age limit on candidates, but this was not ratified.
Another important amendment proposed by British Weight Lifting went through, and this concerned the eligibility of election candidates, who were not supported by their own national federation.
A date for the Electoral Congress has yet to be set, but it will most likely be in the last few weeks of this year and may again be in Doha.