bigarnie: whats the story with the WPC now?

[IrishPower]

I read in your last thread that the WPC disbanded in South Africa? Reallly? I swear i just read an article on the WPC Worlds in RSA by Ian Morris. He was complaining about the IPF, but indicated that the WPC was strong.

So, can you give us a summary of what happened?

/irish

 

[BigArnie]

Irish, this is getting into political territory, but still quite interesting nonetheless. You're right in saying that Ian Morris put up the WPC worlds in Cape Town last year. This was a very good show with some of the most amazing lifting I've ever seen. However, things were not all well beneath the surface. The SA government has decided that South Africa is too small a country to justify two powerlifting federations, which probably makes sense.

Anyhow, the national dope testing body rocked up at the mentioned worlds and started testing people left, right and centre. Guess what, this pissed everybody off incredibly. The minister of sport pitched up himself and told Ian Morris et. al. that this was their last show ever in SA and that they had 30 days to amalgamate with the IPF, which has always carried the full blessing of the government. If they ever held a contest again, all competitors and officials would be criminally charged!

So as you can see, there was no way out for these poor guys but to come over to the IPF and on the IPF's tems too. Talk about democracy.....

 

[IrishPower]

wow. that is crazy.

to put on a sporting event, you must be sanctioned by the government? holy shit. forgive my political ignorance, but is your government democratically elected?

i remember when i was competing at the junior worlds, the rsa lifters were friggin huge. it was obvious they were down with the goodies.

so, where does ernie frantz fit into this picture? is he completely disassociated from the wpc?

interestingly enough, i am going to compete at a WPC canadian meet in 5 weeks, and I understand that all records/lifts count towards APF records as well.

Confusing as hell.

Good luck!

/irish

 

[BigArnie]

This move will only mean that Ernie Frantz is not involved in South Africa any more. I dunno, maybe if they get good lawyers then maybe nobody will be able to stop them from hosting comps here but I think the local guys like Ian Morris just felt outnumbered and didn't put up a real fight.

Our government is actually out to nail its own athletes wherever possible. While we are being subjected to frequent out-of-contest drug tests, the Eastern Europeans and Chinese are pumping themselves full of chemicals while their governments look the oter way, only making sure that their athletes are indeed clean before leaving the country to avoid embarassment.

This is why we don't stand a chance internationally any more.