Dear friends of Powerlifting!
This year, 650 Athletes from 55 Member Nations competed in Romania at the Word Sub-junior and Junior World Powerlifting Championships. By far, the largest World Sub-Junior and Junior Championships in history! I want to send my personal thanks to the Romania Powerlifting Federation for their exceptional direction of this event, as well as to all of the member federations that sent athletes, coaches, officials and referees that made this World Championship a truly historic and special event.
The bar was loaded 5850 times for our athletes with not one misload and no injuries to our lifters. The spotters and loading team were exceptional – thank you for your great work! The athletes were kept safe at all times.
Julia Govinden and Michael Greiner from United Through Sports were present, and were extremely impressed by the event and superb performances turned in by our young athletes. The motivation and the spirit of our sport keeps improving each year! The IPF is very proud of our young lifters and how much our sport is growing. With the advent of Social Media and our contract with Eurosport, everyone now knows who is the leading powerlifting organization in the World – the IPF!
The future of our sport is set and shall be placed into the hands of these athletes, which surely deserve IOC recognition – no question! The IOC can no longer close their eyes and turn their heads. The IPF is now 50 years old, and we have now exceeded the required standards and requirements of most existing Olympic Sports. The IPF is supported by a solid managerial structure, augmented by thousands of volunteers world-wide. Mr De Coubertin, the founder of the Olympic Games would be so proud, as we have fulfilled his vision of how an amateur sport is to be directed and managed. The IPF has demonstrated to the IOC this process still works! Of course some personnell still need to be hired for the ongoing daily work; however, most tasks are carried out by extremely dedicated and skilled volunteers. With this said, I want to personally thank the entire competition staff, and of course our media team once more. Their tireless work has been phenomenal and deserves your praise.
To close, I want to thank Mr. Ovidiu Panazan, and his entire team for organizing this year’s event. Well done. Thank you!
Gaston Parage
President International Powerlifting Federation
