The International Weightlifting Federation overwhelmingly approves a new constitution just days before the IOC Executive Board is to meet about the future of the sport in the Olympics.
The vote came on Sunday at a second IWF Constitutional Congress being held in Doha, Qatar. The first one in late June ended with no agreement.
Pyrros Dimas, the legendary Greek weightlifter who is a member of the IWF Executive Board, tells Around the Rings “we’ve voted with 93.3 percent, a huge percentage, this is for me a victory for our sport. I was very worried before I came here but I see people who support our sport and they decide to keep our sport in the Olympics”.
When asked if the new constitution would pass muster with the IOC, Dimas says “”I think yes because we did what the IOC wants. And we have nothing to be afraid about that.”
The IOC Executive Board is scheduled to meet on Sept. 8. At the last IOC Session in Tokyo, the EB was given powers to suspend a federation from participating in an Olympics. The IOC has repeatedly warned the IWF that the sport could lose its place at Paris 2024 if specific criteria for internal governance reform and anti-doping measures weren’t implemented in a new constitution.
While the 156-page constitution has been approved, there are five amendments to the document that still need to be discussed and decided. This effort will likely run into Monday.
After the amendments are handled, the IWF Executive Board is scheduled to meet to discuss specifics including when and where the delayed Electoral Congress will be held.
Dimas says that after the EB meeting is completed, the IWF will publish the new constitution in its entirety.
But he says the hardest part of the process – the approval of the new constitution – has been accomplished.
“I’m seeing all this, what’s happened today here very positive and I see happy faces, happy people and I hope everything will be the same from here to the future.”
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