Weightlifting head Ajan resigns amid investigation

The long-time leader of weightlifting’s governing body resigned amid an investigation of suspected corruption exposed by a television programme.

The International Weightlifting Federation “approved the retirement” of the 81-year-old Tamas Ajan, president for the past 20 years and a former International Olympic Committee member.

“We can now begin the work of determining a fresh path towards achieving the full potential of our sport,” IWF acting president Ursula Papandrea said in a statement.

Ajan had stepped aside soon after German network ARD broadcast allegations in January implicating him in financial wrongdoing involving Olympic revenues and covering up doping cases.

The Hungarian official denied wrongdoing, but in March resigned his honorary IOC membership “in order to save the Olympic movement from negative rumours.

Weightlifting’s reputation under Ajan had already been hit by dozens of steroid doping cases revealed in retests of samples from the Olympics since 2008.

After the ARD broadcast, the interim IWF leadership invited Richard McLaren, lead investigator in the Russian doping scandal, to assess the allegations. That probe is ongoing, the IWF said. — AP