Weightlifting: IWF relocates to Switzerland under acting president Papandrea

[April 24, 2020]    (Reuters) - The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) will relocate to Switzerland from Hungary following the resignation of Tamas Ajan as president last week, acting chief Ursula Papandrea told the Inside the Games website.

Papandrea said the governing body's offices in Budapest, Ajan's home city, were already being moved to Lausanne, where the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is based and the IWF is legally registered.

"The Executive Board has been clear the leadership should be permanent in Lausanne as this will truly be our headquarters," Papandrea told Inside the Games.

Hungarian Ajan, who had been at the IWF since 1976 serving 24 years as general secretary and 20 as president, is facing an investigation into alleged corruption.

The 81-year-old has repeatedly denied allegations made in a German TV documentary, Lord of the Lifters, broadcast by ARD on Jan. 5.

The IWF board elected former international lifter Papandrea as acting president in January before extending her tenure until mid-June.

The American is the first woman to lead the IWF, which has existed under different names since 1920 and has had only two presidents since 1972 -- Ajan and Austrian Gottfried Schoedl.

Papandrea will work with USA Weightlifting Chief Executive Phil Andrews, who was given temporary charge as the IWF deputy director general.

Inside the Games reported that Papandrea will lead the sport's governing body until its next electoral congress.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; editing by David Evans)

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