Dear Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the IPF EC I would like to wish you all a nice Christmas and a Happy New Year.
One more year has passed, and we have made great progress in our lovely sport again, despite some people trying to put stones in our way just for their own ego.
For me and the whole EC our priorities have always been and will always be to serve our lifters and our sport.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case with some officials who were only considering their own interests and their goal was to destroy IPF.
Lifters from those Federations have just been misused to continue their own politics and of course they believed what they have been told.
It is easy to see all that has been done by the IPF to bring the sport forward and only those who cannot or do not want to recognize this, have no idea what is really going on.
The IPF will continue its good work that has been done so far to make IPF an IOC recognized federation.
This means that all our member associations must follow the IOC principles and the WADA code. Whether it's wanted or not, it has to go on.
The member Federations want us to do the most possible to achieve this, but everyone has to contribute.
Nobody is forced to be an IPF member. Anyone who thinks they just want to do business and not accept the WADA code, IOC principles or IPF compliance can leave at any time.
We have a mandate to our affiliates (member Federation) to go continue the good work and we are going to. Therefore, we do not want or cannot accept that some individuals or affiliates prevent us from doing what is expected of us by our members.
It is well known that the road to recognition of the IOC is not an easy one and especially not for those who are not structured as expected in sports, which is not new, and everyone must make efforts.
Not only the EC board of the IPF and the Regions but also our member Federations.
Who is the IPF? It‘s all of you as the members of the IPF and you are the IPF. It is not an individual person, it is not a private company which belongs to one person which cannot be voted out. It is a very well-organized Federation with a board of 14 EC members that gets elected every 4 years. Our member federations have the choice to elect them or not as each of our member federation has one vote and one voice. Anyone should be treated with equal rights and respect.
We invited the Oceanian members to our annual Congress last November and they saw by their own eyes what respect the IPF has for them. That gave them an opportunity to form their own opinion of the IPF and how it operates. Therefore, they decided to stay with the IPF. Of this we are very proud. It was a good decision for their lifters and will give them the opportunity to be members in a very well structured democratically run international federation i.e. the IPF.
The IPF is working in favour of the sport, for our members and especially for our lifters.
The IPF has become more and more popular from all what we have done in order to make our lifters stars with the streaming and with better and better organized championships.
Together with our VIP partners Eleiko, SBD and Aplyft, we do everything in our power to advance our sport.
I would also like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation to our sponsors, the manufacturers and for their great support.
I also want to thank all the countless volunteers who work tirelessly for our lifters and athletes every day, as well as all the members of the IPF commissions and committees, our regional federations and our EC board members who work tirelessly as a team and as friends. Also, a great thanks to all our lifters.
Thanks to the Media team and all our employees. Thanks to all the referees, results manager Sacha and Boris.
With all this said the IPF EC wants to wish you all the best for 2019, good health, and friendship. May all our lifters reach their goals.
On behalf of the IPF EC
Gaston Parage
IPF President
