Weightlifting President Steps Aside

(ATR) A veteran leader of the International Weightlifting Federation steps aside as an investigation is launched into accusations of financial scandal.

Tamas Ajan is under fire after 40 years at the federation, first as secretary general and since 2000 as president. Ajan, 81, has been named in a documentary by German TV channel ARD. He’s accused of diverting funds for the federation into personal bank accounts. Ajan denies the accusations.

But Ajan has been forced to relinquish his presidency, at least temporarily, while the IWF launches an independent inquiry. The decision of the IWF executive board came during a 13 hour meeting Jan. 22 in Doha.

Taking his place is USA Weightlifting President Ursula Papandrea, who will hold the title of Acting President for 90 days. She will also lead an ad hoc commission that oversees the investigation of the claims raised by ARD.

Papandrea is now the only female president of a Summer Olympic sports federation. She has been contacted for comment.

"It is a difficult situation," a member of the IWF executive board tells Around the Rings after the meeting. The board member, who said he could not speak on the record, says a majority of his colleagues on the board believe Ajan does not deserve to be maligned by scandal after his many years of work for weightlifting.

Yet the board member also acknowledges the need to quickly investigate and take corrective steps as needed.

"We need to hire the best people outside sports to investigate everything. If true, somebody will be punished," says the IWF official.

A forensic report of the IWF finances is supposed to be commissioned within the next week. The plan is to employ one of the top drawer accounting and auditing firms to conduct the independent review.

In a statement from the IWF, Ajan says he welcomes the inquiry.

"The ARD’s allegations against the IWF in general and against me in particular are unfounded. They are not supported by the relevant documentation or by people involved in the relevant decisions. Consequently, I have no doubt that external experts will vindicate my commitment of nearly fifty years to develop the sport of weightlifting," says Ajan.

The new suspicions about the IWF raised in the documentary come as the IOC maintains a close watch on the federation. Last May the IOC gave weightlifting a green light for the Tokyo Olympics after determining that the federation was making progress against doping. But IOC President Thomas Bach indicated at the time that the IOC would keep monitoring the IWF.

"Very serious and worrying" was Bach’s reaction to the allegations in the TV program.

In addition to corruption charges, the ARD program raises fresh concerns about the depth and breadth of doping in the sport, perhaps the dirtiest among the Olympic sports. In the wake of retesting of samples from the 2012 London Olympics, 60 lifters from those Games have been disqualified, more than any other sport.

Included in those numbers is the entire weightlifting team from Romania. Capital city Bucharest will nonetheless be the site of the next IWF board meeting March 11-13 where the federation will take the next steps toward solving its latest crisis.

Homepage photo: ATR

Reported by Ed Hula.