Dear members of the International Weightlifting Federation; We the Olympic weightlifters of the world do hereby submit this petition to have the Clean and press formally reinstated as a madatory part of International/Olympic Weight Lifting,because many decades ago before the bench press became the pupular upperbody lift, the Olympic clean & press overhead (often simply called the “Press”) was the standard exercise for the strength world.. The Olympic clean & press overhead was recognized as one of three standard international lifts (the other two are the snatch and the clean & jerk) that was performed in competitions. For quite a few years this lift was performed in a meritorious style (erect stance, nearer shoulder width grip, and elbows consciously held in. Then an odd development begin to manifest itself through a liberalization of the rules, due in part to the influence of the Russian and Asiatic lifters. It got to a point where many of the officials were not able to keep to a strict interpretation of the rules governing this lift and gradually the rules became so lenient that the press was often called the "odd ball" lift. Judging the Olympic clean & press overhead continued to become such a monumental problem (obvious slumped upper body/hyper-extended back, knee-kicks, and sudden jolts in the starting drive of the press) that it was finally abolished as one of the official international lifts in the early 1970s. We the under signed here by petition for the reenstatement of the Clean and Press as one of the officail olympic lifts with strictly enforced adherence to the rules o the lift.. Sincerly