COMMONWEALTH WEIGHTLIFTING FEDERATION

Latest News October, 2012 CANADA WINS OLYMPIC MEDAL

Christine Girard, Canadian and Commonwealth top female weightlifter won a bronze medal at the recent held in London in the 63kg category with a brilliant total of 236kg. (Snatch 100kg C&J 136Kg)

She was the only Commonwealth lifter to win a medal at these Olympics. The last Commonwealth lifter to win an Olympic medal was at the 2000 Olympics. The Commonwealth Weightlifting Federation wishes to congratulate Christine on her outstanding effort. Her medal became the 20th Olympic medal won by commonwealth lifters.

Christine Girard with her bronze medal Olympic Bronze medallist Christine Girard- Canada

For weightlifting in Canada, this medal was the 3rd Olympic medal in its history. The last medal won by Canada was back in 1984 at the Los Angeles Olympics when Jacques Demers won the silver medal in the 75kg category with a total of 335Kg. Below are the 20 Commonwealth lifters who have won Olympic medals since 1896.

1896 Athens Elliot Launceston GBR Gold One hand Snatch 71.0Kg Elliot Launceston GBR Silver Clean & Jerk 111.5Kg

1948 London Julian Creus GBR Silver 56Kg Category 297.5Kg (3 lifts) Rodney Wilkes TRI Silver 60Kg Category 297.5Kg (3 lifts) James Haliday GBR Bronze 67.5Kg Category 340Kg (3 lifts)

1952 Helsinki Rodney Wilkes TRI Bronze 60Kg Category 322.5Kg (3 lifts) Vern Barberis AUS Bronze 67.5Kg Category 350Kg (3 lifts) Gerard Gratton CAN Silver 75Kg Category 390Kg (3 lifts) Lenox Kilgour TRI Bronze 90Kg Category 402.5Kg (3 lifts)

1960 Rome Tan How Liang SIN Silver 67.5Kg Category 380Kg (3 lifts) Louis Martin GRB Bronze 90Kg Category 445Kg (3 lifts)

1964 Tokyo Louis Martin GRB Silver 90Kg Category 475Kg (3 lifts)

1984 Los Angeles Jacques Demers CAN Silver 75Kg Category 335Kg (2 lifts) Robert Kabbas AUS Silver 82.5Kg Category 342.5Kg David Mercer GBR Bronze 90Kg Category 352.5Kg Dean Lukin AUS Gold +110Kg Category 412.5Kg

1996 Atlanta Stefan Botev AUS Bronze +108Kg Category 450Kg

2000 Athens Kaman Malleswari IND Bronze 69Kg Category 240Kg Ruth Ogbeifo NGR Silver 75Kg Category 245Kg

2008 London Christine Girard CAN Bronze 63Kg Category 236Kg

Elliot Launceston - GBR Julius Creus (left) – GBR Rodney Wilkes - Trinidad 1 896 Gold & silver medallist 1948 Silver medallist 1948 Silver , 1952 Bronze medallist

James Haliday GBR Vern Barberis – Lenox Kilgour - Trinidad 1948 Bronze medallist 1952 Bronze medallist 1952 Bronze Medallist

James Haliday GBR Vern Barberis – Australia Lenox Kilgour - Trinidad 1948 Bronze medallist 1952 Bronze medallist 1952 Bronze medallist

Gerard Gratton - Canada Louis Martin MBE, – GBR Tan How Liang - Singapore 1952 Silver medallist 1960 Bronze , 1964 Silver medallist 1960 Silver medallist

Jacques Demers - Canada Robert Kabbas - Australia Dean Lukin -Australia 1984 Silver medallist 1984 Silver medallist 1984 Gold medallist

David Mercer - GBR Stefan Botev- Australia Ruth Ogbeifo – Nigeria Kaman Malleswari - India

1984 Bronze medallist 1996 Bronze medallist 2000 Silver medallist 2000 Bronze medallist

2012 CWF Congress The 2012 CWF Congress was held this year in the beautiful surroundings of the ExCel Convention Centre in London. It was held on the 5th August, during the Olympic Games. The hall which was organized by the CWF Vice President, Matthew Curtain and with some assistance from his London Olympic staff, the hall was well set up. The Congress was well attended and we had the honour also to have the IWF President, Dr.Tamas Ajan attending the meeting.

There were reports presented by the President, the Hon. Vinson Detenamo, the General Secretary, Paul Coffa, the Chairman of the CWF Technical Commission, Sam Coffa, the Chairman of the CWF Medical Commission, Dr. Mike Irani, and a report was also made by Jesmond Caruana from Malta on the 2013 Commonwealth Championships.

Sam Coffa named the 5 members of the Commonwealth Technical Commission coming from the five Continents. The 5 officials were unanimously endorsed by the Congress. The officials are as follow: Moira Lassen (Pan America), Jesmond Caruana (Europe), Kumbasi Subramanya (Asia), Kevin du Plooy (Africa) and Sam Coffa (Oceania).

On records and rankings – a recommendation was mad by Michael Noonan, the CWF statistician and this was unanimously supported by all countries, “that Commonwealth records from that date onwards, senior, junior and youth, can only be broken in tournaments where there is doping control and refereed by category 2 or category 1 referees and record claim be submitted by the National Federation.”

Discussions were held also on the introduction of Masters and it was left to the General Secretary to follow up the possibility of setting up masters in the Commonwealth.

The 2012 Commonwealth Weightlifting Federation Congress. Countries attending were: Australia, South Africa, England, Nauru, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Wales, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Ghana, Malta, Canada, Uganda ,Vanuatu, Malaysia Tanzania and Fiji as guest.

2012 London Olympics Matthew Curtain, you have certainly delivered ! The London Olympics were simply the best. The event was a sporting theatre - it was not just a competition. The organisation was impeccable. But most important, the way the whole structure of the event was delivered was faultless. The training hall with all the Eleiko equipment was impressive. The facilities for the athletes, officials, staff members, IWF rooms, rest rooms, weigh-in room, etc, etc, were superb. There was nothing missing from the warm up room. And of course the presentation of athletes and victory ceremonies added to the sporting theatre.

Matthew Curtain with the IOC President The weightlifting stage at the ExCeL Convention The magnificent training hall adjoined to the Dr Jacques Rogge and Dr Tamas Ajan. Centre in London. Weightlifting auditorium.

The television coverage was delivered at the highest level. And of course Eleiko must be praised for producing such high quality equipment to fit in with such a high quality event. The staff members of the organising committee were hand picked and certainly assisted in the smooth running of the event. All in all Matthew, it could not have been delivered any better. Congratulations again Matthew from the CWF. The CWF also wishes to acknowledge the immense contribution provided by the IWF secretariat, the two Technical Directors of the Games, Sam Coffa and Attila Adamfi and their team of technical officials. And more important to Dr. Tamas Ajan, the President of the IWF, in making weightlifting one of the most exciting sports at the Olympics.

2013 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships shifted from Malta. A unanimous decision by the CWF Executive Board was made last Thursday October 24th, to shift the 2013 Commonwealth Championships for senior, junior and youth from Malta to a new location. All countries will be notified once the CWF secures a new location. The CWF envisages that the championships will be held later in the year now, after the world championships.

Congratulation to Sir Hubert Ralph Montgomery CWF Life Member, Hubert Ralph Montgomery from South Africa has been knighted by the Grand Duke of Spain in the Royal House. He is now officially, Sir Hubert Ralph Montgomery. Congratulations Sir Hubert, from all CWF member nations on this very prestigious recognition.

Amongst his many achievements, especially in weightlifting, Sir Hubert was one of the founding members of the oldest weightlifting club in south Africa, where he served as coach from 1953. In 1963 he represented South Africa at the World Championships in Stockholm. Between 1970 and 1980 he served as chairperson of the Western Province Weightlifting Association and from 1981 to 1987 as president of the South African Weightlifting Union. From 1969 to 1991 when sports in South Africa were isolated, Sir Hubert organised many international events to keep weightlifting in South Africa alive. Sir Hubert Ralph Montgomery

Congratulation Tonga During the recent Pacific Games Council congress held in Wallis & Futuna, Tonga won the bid to host the 2019 Pacific Games. Weightlifting in Tonga will be one of the highlights of the Games due to the high standard of Pacific lifters. In fact it will be one of the highlights at the 2013 Mini Games in Wallis & Futuna, the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby- Papua New Guinea, and the 2017 Mini Games in Port Vila -Vanuatu.

New Officers in New Zealand and Solomon Islands Mike Reid is the new President of Olympic Weightlifting New Zealand whilst Gavin Hubbard is now the new Executive Officer. In the Solomon Islands, with the resignation of Allen Castro, Martin Rara is now the new General Secretary. On behalf of the CWF we wish these gentlemen all the very best.

Congratulation to Sam Coffa Sam Coffa , IWF Vice President and President of the Australian Association (ACGA), at the recent Commonwealth Games Federation meeting held in Uganda, was co-opted to the Commonwealth Games Federation Executive Board. Congratulation Sam on behalf of every country of the CWF.

Paul Coffa CWF GENERAL SECRETARY