On the 21 st of September 2024, in Baunatal, at the German Weightlifting Electoral Congress, Florian Sperl was confirmed as President of the German Weightlifting Federation (BVDG) for a further term. Sperl, who has been president since 2020, can look back on a successful of office. The entire board and the expert advisors were also elected.
Much has been achieved in the past four years to secure the future of the sport in Germany. An important milestone was the implementation of the “Agenda 2028”, a strategic plan, which paves the way for the future of weightlifting in Germany. Furthermore, personnel restructuring measures were realized to modernize the federation and make it more efficient. Sperl also reported on international sports policy and underlined the excellent cooperation within the IWF and EWF Executive Board for the benefit of weightlifting. In 2023 this was crowned by the announcement of the IOC that weightlifting will remain an Olympic sport beyond Paris 2024.
The Vice Presidents Prof. Dr. Thomas Rieger, Daniela Jantzen, Carsten Diemer and Dennis Eichner were also re-elected. Simon Brandhuber was confirmed as Athlete representative. Prof. Dr. Thomas Rieger highlighted the progress, which has been made especially regarding the development of innovative competition formats and the restructuring of the national regulatory framework.
The German Weightlifting Bundesliga is a unique league competition and a very important element for the federation as part of the strategic plan. Nevertheless, plans have been made to furth develop its attractiveness and popularity. The upcoming finals of the Bundesliga are scheduled for the end of April 2025.
“Despite the progress made, German Weightlifting still faces many challenges. Particularly regarding the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The intensive work must continue to create conditions for a successful participation”, stated Sperl.
In his speech, Florian Sperl emphasized that the German Weightlifting Federation will continue to develop the sport on all levels and thanked the delegates for the good cooperation.
The EWF leadership reacted with enthusiasm for the re-election of Mr. Sperl, addressing a message of support and congratulations: “In my own name and on behalf of the General Secretary of the EWF, but also of the colleagues from the Executive Board, we send congratulations to the re-elected President and the entire elected leadership of the German Federation. The collaboration and desire for development of colleagues from Germany did not go unnoticed and the reconfirmation of Florian Sperl at its head is the confirmation that the very good projects started together can continue without delay. Congratulations to everyone and good luck for the future activities and in fulfilling the objectives proposed by the strategy of the national federation.”