A new constitution has been adopted by a sport that has been riddled with doping and corruption in an attempt to retain the place it has held on the Games’ schedule since 1896
In all the excitement it was easy to miss the press release put out by the International Olympic Committee on 6 August announcing a tweak to rule 59 1.2b of the Olympic charter. But in one little corner of the Games hundreds of athletes and officials were hanging on the change. The rule now states that the IOC’s executive board has the power to “suspend any sport, discipline or event” if the federation running it acts “in a manner likely to tarnish the Olympic movement”. Which, for those in the know, was a clear and unequivocal threat to the International Weightlifting Federation: clean up or be kicked out of the Olympics.
The board had the first opportunity to use its new power on Wednesday, for its review of the Tokyo Games. The IWF has just held a conference too, in Doha last week, where its members voted to adopt a bold new constitution. They hope that they have done just enough to earn a stay from the IOC. “I’m not sure we’ll get confirmed on the Paris 2024 programme,” says Phil Andrews, chief executive of USA Weightlifting, “but I do think we made enough progress in Doha that the IOC will give us a chance.”
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