Governing Bodies
FORTY-FOUR YEAR TENURE ENDS ABRUPTLY FOR SIT-TIGHT WORLD WEIGHTLIFTING PRESIDENT
Tamás Aján has resigned as President of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), where he has held high office since 1976.
Ursula Papandrea, the American Acting President, now leads the sport’s governing body.
Aján, who was the IWF general secretary for 24 years, became President in 2000.
The 81-year-old Hungarian was accused of corruption in a German television documentary that was broadcast in early January.
He repeatedly denied the allegations, which concerned alleged financial malpractice 10 years ago, and corruption in anti-doping procedures.
An IWF statement said: “The IWF Executive Board notes that an independent investigation by Professor Richard McLaren is currently ongoing, examining allegations made by ARD (the German TV station) and related issues.”
Papandrea said: “The IWF thanks Tamás Aján for more than four decades of service to weightlifting, and most notably for his work in recent years to ensure an anti-doping programme which meets the standards of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) is in place.
“We can now begin the work of determining a fresh path towards achieving the full potential of our sport.”
Aján’s behaviour in attempting to hold on to power had irked many members of the Executive Board, who met for many hours by teleconference today and were still in discussions going into the evening.
It is believed that a clear majority of the Board were in favour of expelling Aján, who avoided that fate by resigning.
The 81-year-old Hungarian stood aside as President, originally for 90 days, in late January when the independent investigation began into claims made by ARD’s journalists – the same team that exposed state-sponsored doping in Russia.
That investigation is being led by the man who played such a significant role in the Russian doping scandal, the Canadian professor of law Richard McLaren.
The Board later extended the interim role of Papandrea from mid-April to mid-June, and Aján’s apparent refusal to accept being sidelined led to a prolonged discussion over his future by the Board.
He was accused by Papandrea, in a private email that was leaked to ARD last weekend, of making “insults and implicit threats” against her, including one occasion when he threatened to have her arrested in the IWF offices for bringing in members of McLaren’s investigative team.
Papandrea also accused Aján of taking part in conference calls with the IOC when he should not have done, obstructing access to IWF bank accounts, overseeing a bank transfer without Papandrea’s knowledge, conducting “business as usual” with the IWF Secretariat in Budapest when Papandrea should have been in command, and interfering in the timing and venue of Board meetings.
“You, President Aján, have not stepped into the background of operations,” Papandrea wrote.
“I believe you are no longer suited to either represent or lead this organisation.”
Papandrea was “incredibly upset” that the private email, addressed to Aján and 19 other Board members, had been leaked.
“I hope the damage to our sport is reparable as my ultimate goal is to restore the reputation,” she told insidethegames.
That reputation has taken many knocks over the years, reaching a low point in June 2017 when Thomas Bach, the IOC President, said weightlifting must address its “massive doping problem” or face expulsion from the Olympic Games.
Aján had been at the IWF during previous Olympic doping scandals, most notably in 1988 and 2000, but this one was more serious because it involved such high numbers of cheats.
The IOC stored samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games and retested them: at the time of Bach’s comments 49 weightlifters had come up positive, more than half of all the doping violations across all sports.
That number has since risen to 61, many of them medallists who have been disqualified, but in the period between Bach’s “strong signal” to weightlifting and the broadcast of the ARD documentary the sport had made huge advances.
Attila Adamfi, Aján’s son-in-law who is director general of the IWF – and whose position led to claims of nepotism in the Lord of the Lifters documentary – played the lead role in devising a new Olympic qualifying system that compelled athletes to undergo far more testing.
It was praised by the IOC and led to the removal, a year ago, of any threat to weightlifting’s Olympic status.
Nine nations were suspended for a year for having three or more positives in those IOC retests, a new anti-doping policy came down harder on cheats, new commissions and panels were created to deliberate on cleaning up the sport, introducing new body weights categories, and punishing serial dopers, the IWF partnered up with the International Testing Agency (ITA) and Thailand, Egypt and Malaysia were banned from Tokyo 2020 for repeated transgressions.
It angered Aján and his IWF colleagues that the ARD programme made no mention of such reforms, and that many of the allegations in the documentary related to incidents from years ago.
But those alleged historical transgressions, which Aján has continued to deny, have come back to haunt him.
In the 14 weeks since the broadcast of the ARD programme, the weightlifting headlines on insidethegames have included “Aján moves aside as IWF President for 90 days”, “Aján resigns as honorary IOC member”, “Aján’s 44-year reign at IWF under threat as Executive Board members demand change”, “Exclusive: Angry Board members may move to formally suspend Aján as IWF President”, “Aján not allowed to resume IWF leadership in April after Board extends his absence” and “Aján faces expulsion from IWF as Board members are asked to vote on his future.”
Given the weight of opposition to him within his own Executive Board, his resignation was not a surprise to its members.
In the IWF statement Aján said, “I offered the best of my life to our beloved sport.
“When health circumstances related to the pandemic allow, holding elections would enable a new generation to start work as soon as possible on ensuring a bright future for the sport we love.”
The prolonged Executive Board meeting continued, after accepting Aján’s resignation.
The Olympic Qualifying system and IWF governance matters were up for discussion.
“In these difficult and uncertain times, the IWF is determined to provide clarity over qualifying for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics to weightlifters everywhere,” said Papandrea.
“Our athletes are our first priority and they are currently facing significant challenges and disruption.
“We therefore want to ease the burden on them and ensure that we are providing them with further details about how we will deliver a safe and fair qualification process.”
-insidethegames
Kirsty Coventry became the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the most powerful person in sport, on Monday in a handover ceremony with her predecessor Thomas Bach.
The Zimbabwean is the first woman and African to head the body, and at 41, the youngest since Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who is credited with founding the modern-day Olympics.
Coventry accepted the Olympic key from Bach, who, like her, is an Olympic champion — he won a team fencing gold in 1976 and she earned two swimming golds in 2004 and 2008.
Stepping down after a turbulent 12-year tenure, Bach expressed his confidence that the Olympic movement was “in the best of hands” and Coventry would bring “conviction, integrity and a dynamic perspective” to the role.
Coventry, who swept to a crushing first-round victory in the election in Greece in March, leans heavily on her family.
Aside from her parents, who were present at the ceremony in Lausanne, there is her husband Tyrone Seward, who was effectively her campaign manager, and two daughters, six-year-old Ella, who Bach addresses as “princess”, and Lily, just seven months old.
“Ella saw this spider web in the garden and I pointed out how it is made, and how strong and resilient it is to bad weather and little critters,” said Coventry, who takes over officially at midnight Swiss time Monday (2200 GMT).
“But if one little bit breaks it becomes weaker. That spider web is our movement, it is complex, beautiful and strong but it only works if we remain together and united.”
‘Pure passion’
Coventry said she could not believe how her life had evolved since she first dreamt of Olympic glory in 1992.
“How lucky are we creating a platform for generations to come to reach their dreams,” she said to a packed audience in a marquee in the Olympic House garden, which comprised IOC members, including those she defeated, and dignitaries.
“It is amazing and incredible, indeed I cannot believe that from my dream in 1992 of going to an Olympic Games and winning a medal I would be standing here with you to make dreams for more young children round the world.”
Coventry, who served in the Zimbabwean government as sports and arts Minister from 2019 to this year, said the Olympic movement was much more than a “multi-sport event platform.”
“We (IOC members) are guardians of this movement, which is also about inspiring and changing lives and bringing hope,” she said.
“These things are not to be taken lightly and I will be working with each and every one of you to continue to change lives and be a beacon of hope in a divided world.
“I am really honoured to walk this journey with you.”
Bach, who during his tenure had to grapple with Russian doping and their invasions of the Crimea and Ukraine as well as the Covid pandemic, said he was standing down filled with “gratitude, joy and confidence” in his successor.
“With her election it sends out a powerful message, that the IOC continues to evolve,” said the 71-year-old German, who was named honorary lifetime president in Greece in March.
“It has its first female and African to hold this position, and the youngest president since Pierre de Coubertin. She represents the truly global and youthful spirit of our community.”
Bach, who choked back tears at one point during his valedictory speech, was praised to the rafters by Coventry, who was widely seen as his preferred candidate of the seven vying for his post.
After a warm embrace, she credited him with teaching her to “listen to people and to respect them,” and praised him for leading the movement with “pure passion and purpose.”
“You have kept us united through the most turbulent times.
“You left us with many legacies and hope, thank you from the bottom of my heart for leading us with passion and never wavering from our values.”
-AFP
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Former Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry took over the leadership of the International Olympic Committee from Thomas Bach in a ceremony on Monday with the 2028 Los Angeles Games already threatening to fill her in-tray to overflowing.
Coventry, who starts her eight-year spell officially on Tuesday as the most powerful sports administrator in the world, became the first woman and first African to be elected head of the Olympic ruling body in March.
Much of the discussion during campaigning focused on the IOC’s need for change in its marketing strategies with several top Olympic sponsors having left in the past 12 months.
However, with Los Angeles hit by protests against immigration raids, and relations tense between state and city officials, and the U.S. government, the 2028 Games have become the major talking point in the movement that would ordinarily be focusing on next year’s Milano-Cortina Winter Games.
Coventry has long-standing ties with the United States, dating back to her time as a leading swimmer at Auburn University in Alabama. That will prove useful ahead of LA 2028, and she has said she will seek to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the Games.
Coventry will also need to find time to help secure the long-term finances of the movement. The IOC, which generates billions of dollars in revenues each year in sponsorship and broadcasting deals for the Olympics, has secured $7.3 billion for 2025-28 and $6.2 billion for 2029-2032. More contracts are expected for both periods.
COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES
Coventry is also expected to continue the IOC’s plans to expand commercial opportunities for sponsors at the Olympics with the organisation’s finances in a robust state and the privately-funded LA Olympics a good place to start.
Coventry needed only one round of voting to clinch the race to succeed Bach, beating six other candidates, making history for the African continent, with the IOC having been ruled for 131 years by European or North American men.
Her background and being the first female president will be assets in a diverse IOC membership and the international makeup of Olympic stakeholders.
On Monday she was handed the golden key to the IOC by Bach, who was the organisation’s president for 12 years.
“I am really honoured I get to walk this journey with you. I cannot wait for anything that lies ahead,” Coventry said in her address to IOC members and other Olympic stakeholders.
“I know I have the best team to support me and our movement over the next eight years.”
Coventry will hold a two-day workshop this week to get feedback from members on key IOC issues.
“Working together and consistently finding ways to strengthen and keep united our movement that will ensure that we wake up daily… to continue to inspire,” she said.
A seven-time Olympic medallist, Coventry won 200m backstroke gold at the 2004 Athens Games and in Beijing four years later.
“With her election, you have also sent a powerful message to the world: the IOC continues to evolve,” Bach said in his speech. “With Kirsty Coventry, the Olympic movement will be in the best of hands.”
-Reuters
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Penalties scored when a player accidentally touches the ball twice must be retaken, world soccer’s lawmaking body IFAB has said after Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez had his spot kick disallowed in a Champions League last-16 match.
During a tense shootout with Real Madrid in March, Argentine forward Alvarez slipped and the VAR spotted that his left foot touched the ball slightly before he kicked it with his right.
Although Alvarez converted the penalty, the goal was chalked off and Atletico went on to lose the shootout and were eliminated from the Champions League.
European soccer’s governing body UEFA said the correct decision was made under the current laws but IFAB (International Football Association Board) has said that in such cases the penalty must be retaken.
Atletico Madrid v Real Valladolid – Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain – April 14, 2025 Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez scores their first goal from the penalty spot REUTERS/Susana Vera/File Photo
“(When) the penalty taker accidentally kicks the ball with both feet simultaneously or the ball touches their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick: if the kick is successful, it is retaken,” IFAB said in a circular.
“If the kick is unsuccessful, an indirect free kick is awarded (unless the referee plays advantage when it clearly benefits the defending team). In the case of penalties (penalty shootout), the kick is recorded as missed.”
The decision to disallow Alvarez’s penalty left Atletico boss Diego Simeone livid and the club’s fans outraged.
IFAB added that if the penalty taker deliberately kicks the ball with both feet or deliberately touches it a second time, an indirect free kick is awarded or, in the case of shootouts, it is recorded as missed.
The new procedures are effective for competitions starting on or after July 1, but IFAB said it may be used in competitions that start this month.
-Reuters
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