New Generation Carries The Torch For Clean Weightlifting At IWF Youth World Championships

A total of 175 young weightlifters from 42 different countries showed how clean sport was the winner when they competed at the recent IWF Youth World Championships, held in Las Vegas. The anti-doping activities arranged by the IWF were on a par with senior competitions, with the federation demonstrating its commitment to instilling a culture of clean weightlifting that is championed by a new generation of weightlifters.

To be eligible to compete in the World Championships, the young athletes were obliged to submit their whereabouts information for an extended period prior to the competition, which enabled extensive out-of-competition testing. Once in Las Vegas, an exceptionally high 65% of competitors were submitted for doping controls. The cumulative effect of this approach, following years of intensive anti-doping work on the part of the IWF, has been a noticeable levelling of the playing field.

A total of 26 countries shared the medals at the Youth World Championships and 15 of them had one of their athletes climb the top step of the podium, a wider and flatter distribution than had previously been the case. Countries with little or no track records of medal success, especially at the senior level, saw their youth athletes shining on a world stage, including Belgium, Brazil, Mongolia, the Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia.

"Putting in place a culture of clean sport and competition has taken years of hard work. It has been the result of a careful thinking that has been rigorously executed. Clearly the IWF’s hard work is now bearing fruit and we can see the results clearly from competitions like the Las Vegas 2019 Youth World Championships," said IWF President Tamas Ajan. "There is no more important group to the IWF than the next generation of weightlifters and we will continue to make them a focus of our anti-doping work."

In addition to a rigorous testing programme, the IWF implemented a comprehensive set of education programmes in partnership with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the US Anti-Doping Agency. These included seminars for athletes, their parents and coaches, together with participation in the #iLiftClean e-learning platform.

USA Weightlifting hosted the IWF Youth World Championships alongside the Las Vegas International Open and the USA University and under 25 Competitions, with a total of 800 weightlifters present.

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