Thursday, 28 January 2021 For the fourth time in less than four months the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has strongly criticised the way weightlifting is governed. Thomas Bach, the IOC president, spoke out after learning that the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) had changed its anti-doping rules without consulting the IOC. News of the controversial decision, which was made without any public announcement or internal communication to the IWF’s 192 member federations, was revealed by The most significant change was a new threshold - four doping violations rather than three - for punishing nations with multiple offences within a year. The IWF Board also voted to remove any reference to "bringing weightlifting into disrepute", an offence which was punishable with a two-year suspension under the old rules.