INTERNATIONAL WEIGHT-LIFTING FEDERATION CENTENNIAL

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2005. It was founded on June 10, 1905 in Duisburg during the 7th Men’s World Championships (the first official world championships were held in London in 1891). In 1905 the Federation was founded by Denmark, Germany, Holland and Italy. Today the IWF has 171 member countries on all five continents. Among the almost 100 sports federations and organizations officially recognized, the IWF was the eighth in order to time. The first and only President of the IWF was the Hungarian Dr. Pèter Tatics, elected in Berlin in 1913. Only on December 8, 2002, 87 years later, in Athens, another Hungarian was elected President of the federation, Dr. Tamas Ajan. Tens of thousands of athletes participate every year in the official competitions: the entries in the world championships increase year by year and the record was registered at the World Championships in Athens in 1999 with 660 athletes from 88 countries. Including the Olympics of 2004 in Athens, men have participated in 22 Olympics, 73 World Championships, while the Junior category has participated in 30 Junior World Championships. Women participated in the Olympics for the first time in Sydney in 2000 and in Athens they were a great success: they have also taken part in 16 World Championships and 10 Junior World Championships. The stamp depicts the artistic game from two perspectives, two emotional planes of the visual intersection of graphics with painting where the artist Sergio Favotto succeeds perfectly in identifying the essential elements of the athlete. A sharp black outline highlights the anatomical lines of the physical structure during the exercise and exalts the human effort of the moment as expressed in the face marked by deep brushstrokes in cobalt blue.

Date of issue: February 28, 2005

Values: 1 stamp with a value of € 2,20 in sheets of 20

Size of the stamps: 30x40 mm

Perforations: 13x13

Design: Sergio Favotto

Print run: 130,000 sets

Offset printing by Impremiere des Timbres-poste et Valeurs Fiduciaires