Weightlifting could lose spot in Olympics, after an independent report last week said the IWF was plagued by decades of corruption orchestrated by autocratic former president Tamas Ajan, Reuters reports.
This included vote buying, doping cover-ups and $10.4 million in cash that cannot be accounted for. Ajan has denied any wrongdoing.
“We are deeply concerned and shocked by this report and the scope of these activities being reflected in this report with regard to anti-doping and governance,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in a virtual news conference.
“We made it very clear depending on the results of the findings of the IWF oversight commission… that we reserve the right for very far-reaching measures including but not limited to the question of weightlifting being on the program of the Olympic Games,” he said.
The 81-year-old Hungarian Ajan, a former IOC member himself, had been at the IWF since the mid 70s, serving first as secretary general and then as president from 2000 until his resignation in April.
The investigation found the primary sources of this cash were doping fines paid personally to Ajan and cash withdrawals of large amounts from the IWF’s accounts.
Bach added that the IOC would also not grant any accreditation for the Tokyo Olympics next year to any IWF official implicated by the ongoing inquiry.
