Weightlifting's president ousted

DÜSSELDORF, Germany — The future of weightlifting at the Olympic Games was put in further doubt Wednesday after the governing body's interim president was ousted and the International Olympic Committee expressed concern.

Interim president Ursula Garza Papandrea told The Associated Press that board members voted to remove her from office Tuesday during a virtual meeting which she did not attend, after she had called the meeting for Wednesday. The IWF said that first vice-president Intarat Yodbangtoey of Thailand chaired the meeting and assumed the powers of president.

Papandrea, a former weightlifter and coach from the United States, questioned the board's authority to remove her before a full electoral congress. She said board members repeatedly thwarted her attempts to reshape the IWF after an investigation alleged long-running corruption and doping cover-ups.

Papandrea said the IWF was "dysfunctional" and long-serving officials were hostile to reform.

"As soon as I was in a position to make changes, I did," she said. "These guys, they've had decades to write a new constitution, they've had decades to reform, and all of a sudden they're really going to do it now? I'm a little skeptical."

Leading board members opposed her choices for ethics posts and blocked her plan for a new integrity commission, Papandrea said.

"I've got athletes, clean athletes, relying on me to try to make change, but change with this group is just untenable, in my opinion," she said.