I can't say for sure where powerlifting is really going. I think 2 things almost nobody realizes are:

1. We are a cult sport. What we do is basically only of mild interest to the average person, rergardless of how the sport is presented (raw/multiply/IPF/etc)
2. We are a very young sport. Until internet coverage, you could barely find out what happened in the meet downtown, let alone on the other side of the world. Now that all of this information is available, and people can really see this young sport evolving and taking shape, there will be a lot of turmoil and changes.

Everything always changes, that is a fact of life. 25 years from now, nobody will probably even remember the WPO, except for the few of us who lifted there. Nobody will remember what the IPF chanegd in its rulebook, except the dinosaurs who sit in the audience and ***** about how they lifted in the old days, how it was so much harder/better/etc back then.

Here is my guess:

*The IPF will keep changing its rulebook and pissing off lifters until people finally fight back. They will likely loose a large portion of their lifters and a competing international body will emerge. maybe at that point the IPF leadership will wake up and see what they are doing. Somehow I doubt it.

*Powerlifting will never make the olympics.

*The small-time backwoods feds in the US and elsewhere will continue to come and go and be primarily regional organizations. Some will be great, some will be terrible, but none of them will grow to anything more than what they are--------and I think that is actually a good thing!!!!!! Sometimes the grassroots organizations are needed to keep the balance, and this is what will keep powerlifting sane.

*A large US based multi-ply organization will emerge as the dominant fed. My money is on the UPA, they really seem to be heading in the right direction at this point. They may or may not wind up with a world presence. Personally, I don't care either way-----I'm not planning on going to another country to compete in anything except a drinking contest.