With an unforgettable stardom of legendary athletes and coaches of Olympic weightlifting, the ones who organize the championships and run federations are quiet often underexposed in the spotlight of glory. Sports managers and administrators obviously deserve much more recognition than they often get. One of the greatest weightlifting presidents of all times is Gottfried Schoedl (b. 1924), Austria. He was the President of the the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) - from 1972 to 2000 and ran the world weightlifting for a record number of 28 years from the cancellation of the press lift in the Olympic weightlifting to the end of the 20th century.

Gottfried Schoedl began his sports career as a skater and then turned to Olympic weightlifting. He was an international category I referee since 1964 and served as the President of Austrian federation from 1969 to 1990. During the time he ran the IWF, the sport of Olympic weightlifting reached its all-time records in terms of international exposure in terms of nations and athletes competing for the Olympic and world titles.

Besides his success in managing the IWF, Gottfried Schoedl is a distinguished journalist and sportswriter and one of the sport's greatest historians and statisticians. His books and publications are historical masterpieces of the sport of Olympic weightlifting.