There were 29 world records at the IWF World Championships, where athletes from PRK, China, Bulgaria, the United States, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Iraq and elsewhere put on a show that will long be remembered. So did the host nation.
Every member of PRK’s team of 17 won at least one medal in Manama. Two of PRK’s world record breakers were especially impressive, Ri Suk at 64kg and Kim Il Gyong, who won the women’s best lifter award, at 59kg.
Ri Suk (PRK)
China gave its five Olympic champions a break. Its junior newcomers excelled, led by super-heavyweight Li Yan who set a world record on her international debut. PRK and China filled 15 of the top 16 places in the women’s individual rankings, in which the only interloper was the American Olivia Reeves, who ended the year with Olympic and world titles at 71kg.
Li Yan (CHN)
Karlos Nasar from Bulgaria also did the Olympics-World Championships double, setting yet more 89kg world records at the age of 20. PRK filled the next three places behind Nasar – named best male lifter – in the individual rankings.
Karlos Nasar (BUL)
Kazakhstan’s men put on a show of strength with victories for Nurgissa Adiletuly and Artyom Antropov, as well as 81kg silver for Alexey Churkin, the top-ranked junior after Nasar. In the super-heavyweights Varazdat Lalayan claimed gold for Armenia while Ali Ammar Yusur from Iraq became the first junior to total more than 450kg.
Alexey Churkin (KAZ)
These superlative efforts were matched off the platform by the hosts, who got everything right. “It has been like a festival – nobody wanted it to end,” said Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq, president of the Bahrain Weightlifting Federation and head of an organising committee that worked for 18 months on the biggest hosting project in Bahrain’s Olympic sport history.
“The competition venue, presentation, spectator engagement, training hall, hotels, transport, food, fanzone… everything worked really well. We have not had a single complaint about anything.”
The IWF President Mohammed Jalood stated at the closing ceremony, “Bahrain has raised the World Championships bar to a new level.”
Mohammed Jalood (IWF President)
Sam Coffa, chair of the IWF Technical Committee who has been involved in weightlifting across seven decades, rated Bahrain 2024 as “the best World Championships I have ever witnessed or worked in”. His view was echoed by federation officials from China, Great Britain and Germany plus countless athletes and coaches. “How does anybody follow this?” asked one coach.
Eshaq said Bahrain had set a couple of world records itself, for the biggest billboards in weightlifting, and the biggest tent. Those billboards, featuring Gor Minasyan, Olivia Reeves, Sara Samir and others, adorned buildings all over Manama. “You’d have to be living under a rock not to know about this event,” he said.
The 1,000 seat arena, plus training hall, merchandise area and fan zone, were all inside a giant tent standing nearly 16 metres tall. “It was on a sand plot with no electricity, no wifi, no bathrooms when we started. We built it over 45 days,” said Eshaq.
Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq (President of the BRN Weightlifting Federation)
“It was a risk, and it paid off. Our long-term planning worked, strategic sponsorship partnerships for food, vehicles, accommodation, promotion. Our volunteers were available 24 hours a day at all the competition hotels. It’s so much better when you can plan ahead.
“We tried to treat everyone like a VIP. This is the biggest Olympic sports event ever staged in Manama, and we did it in one the most global sports. We did it with a smile. It has been a source of national pride.”
By Brian Oliver
Photos by DBM/Deepbluemedia
