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Muhammed Furkan Ozbek put on a masterclass to win for Turkiye at 65kg, and PRK made it three from three in the women’s events when Kim Il Gyong won at 58kg on day three of the IWF World Championships in Forde, Norway. Both winners claimed world records on total.

Rafiatu Lawal from Nigeria became Africa’s first medal winner in Forde when she finished second to Kim, and the Tokyo Olympic champion Kuo Hsing-Chun from Chinese Taipei was third.

Muhammed Furkan Ozbek (TUR)

Hampton Morris from the United States, who was third to Ozbek, failed with two world record attempts, Eko Yuli Irawan from Indonesia was on the podium at the age of 36, and Ivan Dimov from Bulgaria won a medal from the B Group.

Another 36-year-old, local hero Ine Andersson, ended her career in style by making her final lift in the women’s B Group to finish with a 200kg total. She earned huge cheers from another large audience in Forde.

But arguably the biggest achievement on the day was by Jon Mau from Germany, who is back on the global stage after battling against cancer.

In the 65kg B Group, Mau made his first international total in more than three years. During that time he underwent six months of chemotherapy treatment.

Hampton Morris (USA)

Ozbek made all six lifts and took the world record on total, never jumping more than 3kg on his way to 145-179-324. Since his first international competition as a youth nine years ago, Ozbek had never competed this light.

He was fourth at the Paris Olympic Games at 73kg, and the 8kg drop in body weight clearly suits him. When Ozbek, 24, completed his final attempt he led Morris by 13kg and Pak Myong Jin by 14kg. The PRK lifter made 180kg to move ahead of Morris, and the American then failed twice to better his own clean and jerk world record on 183kg.

Pak made 135-180-315 for silver, and Morris 133-178-311 from his two good lifts. Dimov and Irawan both snatched 137kg for their medals, and Pak took clean and jerk gold.

Kim Il Gyong (PRK)

Kim led Lawal by 3kg at halfway and stretched the advantage to 7kg when she made 132kg on her penultimate attempt for the world record on total. She then made 134kg but the jury ruled it a no-lift for deliberate oscillation.

Kim made 104-132-236, Lawal – who also lost a lift on jury review – finished 101-128-229 and Kuo made 96-128-224. Miranda Ulrey from the United States won snatch won snatch bronze with 98kg and finished fifth.

Rafiatu Lawal (NGR)

Mau spoke at length about his remarkable return to the platform.

“Two and a half years ago I started feeling ill, very often,” he said. “It was the first time in my life when something was wrong with my body. I couldn’t eat much, and when I did the food would come back out half an hour later.”

At first, Mau’s doctor could find nothing wrong. Mau thought it might be symptoms of stress during his attempt to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games. The team doctor became concerned at a training camp in Tenerife. “It might be something to do with your lung,” he told Mau.

Back home in Germany, a biopsy showed Mau had cancer.

“I had to wait for two weeks to find out what type,” said Mau. It was Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which is aggressive and potentially deadly.

“It was so unbelievable, like some kind of sick joke. I just didn’t want to believe it.”

Ine Andersson (NOR)

Mau, 27, who has four sisters and a brother, spent more time with his parents. “I wasn’t crying about it, I wasn’t so low. The people around me were in a worse state than I was,” he said.

“The doctors said there was a 90 per cent chance to get rid of it with chemotherapy.

“My mental health is strong and my attitude was, ‘This could be your last day, so live it like it is – day after day after day.  Some days were bad because of the chemo. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. But other days I felt well.”

Jon Mau (GER)

The chemotherapy treatment lasted six months. For a long time Mau, a full-time professional weightlifter, ignored the sport. When the Paris Olympic Games came around he watched only one session on television, the 61kg category in which he had been lifting.

“I didn’t want to look at weightlifting,” he said. “I was ill and I would have found it very difficult seeing others enjoying themselves and making good lifts. I lived for myself.”

The treatment was successful. Mau had a chemo port implanted in his upper chest to deliver drugs into his body, and it stayed for about a year after the treatment ended in case the cancer returned. It did not.

He returned to light training, general fitness at first. His three-monthly checkups became every six months. The next one is in January.

“The first time I lifted the barbell again it was only 40 kilos but it felt very heavy,” Mau said.  

“All this time I kept thinking, ‘What will I do if I can’t do weightlifting? I’ve been in the sport for 15 years and it’s all I’ve ever done.’ I always hoped I would return and here I am.”

When Mau returned to the platform in the German Bundesliga he did snatches only, because clean and jerks were impossible when his chemo port was still in. The port went about six months ago, after which he trained nine weeks for a local competition.

Mau lifted at the Cup of the Blue Swords in Meissen five weeks ago, making 132-163-295, and had hoped to better those numbers in Forde today. “I’m not happy with my performance, this is not what I wanted,” he said after making 129-155-284, his first international total since May, 2022. He went to the 2023 European Championships in Armenia but was not fit to lift.

From a wider perspective, his verdict was: “It’s a great feeling to be back on the stage, competing with the best athletes in the world. It’s wonderful.

“My big target is to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics. I’m doing everything step by step. The next step in the Europeans next April in Georgia, then World Championships at the start of qualifying for Los Angeles.”

Everybody in weightlifting will wish him good luck.

By Brian Oliver

Photos by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia