#AthletesCommission

Julfalakyan Elected Athletes’ Commission Chairman

By Eric Olanowski

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (October 19) -- United World Wrestling has announced that Arsen JULFALAKYAN (ARM) was elected Chairman of the Athletes’ Commission.

Julfalakayan was selected as the Commission’s Chairman by the six other Athletes’ Commission members -- Tamas LORINCZ, (HUN), Yui SUSAKI (JPN), Hassan YAZDANICHARATI (IRI), Maxwell LACEY GARITA, (CRC), Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) and Jessica LAVERS-MCBAIN (AUS) – who were voted into office by their fellow athletes through voting that took place at the ‘21 Senior World Wrestling Championships in Oslo, Norway.

“I wanted to express my gratitude to my peers in the Athletes' Commission for their trust and support during the elections. It’s a great honor for me to become the Chairman of the Commission,” said the London Olympic silver medalist.

Julfalakayan has served as an active member of the Athletes' Commission since ’17 but will now be a voting member of the United World Wrestling Bureau. He replaces ‘12 London Olympic champion and five-time world gold medalist Jordan BURROUGHS (USA), who has served in the role since September 2017.

In addition to sitting on the Bureau as the Athletes’ representative, Julfalakayan will also represent wrestlers/wrestling in the IOC Athletes Forum, WADA and in other organizations.

“I’ll make sure to use all my knowledge, experience and energy to bring the Commission to even a higher level. Of course, that will be possible only with tightest cooperation with all the members of Commission and UWW,”

Julfalakayan’s first responsibility as the Chairman of the Athletes’ Commission will come later this month in Belgrade, Serbia, at the UWW Bureau and Congress meeting.

The Athletes' Commission was established in 2013 with the role of protecting the rights and interests of all United World Wrestling Olympic style athletes. The Athletes' Commission members reach out and communicate with active athletes as peers to collect feedback.

United World Wrestling is the international governing body of wrestling and is headquartered in Corsier--Sur-¬Vevey, Switzerland. To learn more about United World Wrestling and the activities of its 179 national federations, please visit: www.uww.org, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

#UnitedWorldWrestling

Wrestlers, coaches successfully complete ITA anti-doping seminars

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (June 25) -- In it's aim to empower wrestlers and others to play clean, United World Wrestling was of the leading International Federations in the International Testing Agency's IF webinar series on anti-doping.

After the completion of the series, a total of 1906 certificates were delivered to wrestlers, coaches and support staff related to wrestling.

The ITA webinar series consisted of three sessions, held every Wednesday from April 9, moderated by either anti-doping specialists or former Olympians.

UWW made it mandatory for all wrestlers participating in the U17, U23, and Senior World Championships, as well as for wrestlers included in the Registered Testing Pool [RTP] list.

This was a significant jump for UWW in the sheer number of participants of the webinars. Last year, for the first season of the ITA IF webinar series in collaboration with UWW, participation was mandatory for wrestlers competing at the World U20 Championships in Pontevedra.

This was also the first time that UWW asked the athletes participating in Grappling and Pankration/Amateur MMA styles to attended the webinars, another leap in guiding, educating and informing the community on anti-doping rules and responsibilities.

All National Federations were made aware of these webinars through a circular from UWW.

"Clean sport education is a cornerstone for clean sport. UWW is bound by the World Anti-Doping Code to plan, implement and promote education, and it remains committed to safeguarding athletes’ health and the integrity of its sport. As part of the global anti-doping movement led by WADA, UWW is also part of a collaborative worldwide movement for doping-free sport. In line with this, all associated Grappling & Pankration Federation must understand and recognize their role and put into place the rules, policies and systems necessary to fulfil their duties under UWW Anti-Doping Rules. UWW Associated Grappling & Pankration Federations are also responsible for providing anti-doping education to ensure that athletes receive proper guidance on clean sport," the circular read.