Newly-minted world champion Hidilyn Diaz has been appointed as a member of the International Weightlifting Federation Athletes’ Commission in its recently concluded Electoral Congress.
In an article by the IWF last Saturday, the 31-year-old Olympic champion will join nine other weightlifters to ensure the federation’s athletes will have representation in decision-making.
Diaz joins fellow Summer Games gold medalists Maude Charron of Canada and Fares El-Bakh of Qatar in the 10-man council.
Completing the group are David Liti of New Zealand, Forrester Osei of Ghana, Luisa Peters of the Cook Islands, Roilya Ranaivosoa of Mauritius, Yasmin Zammit Stevens of Malta, Cyrille Tchatchet II of Great Britain and Keydomar Vallenilla of Venezuela.
The IWF Electoral Congress ran from 5 to 16 December, the same time the World Weightlifting Championship was being held at the Gran Carpa Americas Corferias in Bogota, Colombia.
Diaz dominated the women’s 55-kilogram division after tallying 93 kgs in the snatch and 114 kgs in the clean-and-jerk for a total lift of 207 kgs.
IWF president Mohammed Jalood congratulated the athletes for getting elected.
“I would like to congratulate and express our thanks, both to the athletes elected and all those who put themselves forward in this process. It has been encouraging to see such strong engagement and commitment to shaping a new future for weightlifting from our athlete community,” Jahod said.
“The IWF is proud to be setting a new standard for athlete representation in governance. As we look ahead, we see these elections as a crucial milestone in our journey of reform and towards ensuring a positive, sustainable and athlete-centered future for our sport.”
