Revista Sudamericana de pesas revista 3 confederacion sudamericana de pesas | Page 3

MESSAGE OF THE IWF PRESIDENT Dear Colleagues, dear Friends, You know very well how busy year we have behind us, especially the last months be- fore the IWF Elections. As I have already mentioned on various platforms, I have de- voted my whole life for weightlifting sport, so I am extremely happy for my re-elec- tion as President. I am also very excited, as I still have many new ideas and looking forward to cooperate with my new Executive Board for the benefit of our sport and our Member Federations. This Election confirmed that it was worth working very hard in the past years and even if I know how much we have done for weightlifting so far, I know exactly there are many things we have to do even better in the future. What we need for the forthcoming years is unity and partnership. And you, my dear South American friends, you are my partners to make weightlif- ting even better – in spite of the challenges we have - during the next period. As I mentioned in my Program, as the most important partners for the IWF are the Member Federations, we will help them much more directly. The IWF provided a su- pport of 175.000 USD for each Continental Federation during the last for years but unfortunately some of the CFs have not utilized the allocated contribution in the proper way. The Pan American Federation had the opportunity to ask for 125.000 USD each year for organizing projects for their Federations but failed to send appli- cations for the whole amount and left a lot of money on the account of the IWF, what is a pity and you do not deserve it. I am very proud of the fact that during my last four years as President, the IWF has had a great relationship to the South American Federation. I know that each of you have to face challenges and difficulties in your country but are working tenaciously and spend a lot of time and energy for fighting for our beloved sport. I appreciate it 2