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African Championships: Nigeria’s women in top form – and a surprise medal for lowest-ranked athlete

Nigeria finished top of the medals table at the African Championships, which ended in Mauritius at the weekend. Nigeria’s four female champions, led by 20-year-old Onome Didih, finished first, second, third and fifth in the individual rankings. Egypt had the top-ranked male in 81kg champion Mohamed Younes, a silver medallist at last year’s World Junior Championships. Egypt also had the best youth performer in 15-year-old Basma Ramadan, who set a continental clean and jerk youth record in winning the women’s 49kg on 68-88-156. Onome Didih (NGR) A record 22 nations took part including three who had never sent an athlete to an international competition – Liberia, Mauritania and Cape Verde. The Gambia had six athletes listed on the IWF database, all born at least 35 years ago, but none of them ever recorded a result outside the Commonwealth Games, which is not an IWF event. Now, after an unlikely series of events, Muhammed Njie from The Gambia has not only a result, but a medal – despite the fact that he finished 40th and last in the individual rankings. Njie snatched 90kg, considerably less than his body weight, in the 109kg category. Junior Ngadja from Cameroon made 161kg, the former youth world champion Aymen Touairi from Algeria made 166kg, and the Tokyo Olympian Aymen Bacha from Tunisia recovered from two failures to lead on 172kg at halfway. Njie, 31, then made 130kg in clean and jerk and sat back to watch his three rivals, all of whom opened at least 70kg higher. Bacha and Touairi both bombed out, collectively failing six times on 203kg. Mohamed Younes (EGY) Ngadja won on 161-206-367 and Njie was the only other finisher. Despite the fact that his 220kg total left him bottom of the individual list on 103.87 Robi points, he had silver in clean and jerk and total. Younes scored 738 points in first place after winning his second African senior title at the age of 20. His 162kg snatch was 6kg below Li Dayin’s junior world record, set in 2018. Younes made 162-183-345 from five good lifts, which was 5kg lower than his effort at the World Juniors seven months ago. Samir Fardjallah from Algeria, the African Games champion, was second in the 81kg contest and the individual rankings to Younes on 152-180-332. Karem Ben Hnia from Tunisia had the third highest Robi points total when he won his ninth continental title. Ben Hnia declined his final attempt after making 142-176-318 to win at 73kg. In the women’s Robi list, Didih was well ahead of team-mates Rafiatu Lawal and Sarah Matthew. She weighed in light before winning at 55kg on 92-111-203, and will now switch to the new 53kg category for her next big targets, this year’s World Championships and the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Didih was fifth on her international debut at last year’s World Championships in Bahrain, where she totalled 200kg. Lawal made 95-118-213 to win by a huge margin at 59kg, and Matthew posted the biggest women’s total of the Championships on 107-130-237 to win at 76kg. Matthew, 18, declined her final attempt. Nigeria’s other winner was Ruth Ayodele at 64kg, on 213kg. Joseph Umoafia and Tuesday Emmanuel were men’s silver medallists at 73kg and 67kg. By Brian

Lima, Preview: China and PRK set for gold – and world records – in Peru  

More than 500 of the world’s best young weightlifters will be in Lima, Peru over the next week when, for the first time, the IWF Youth and Junior Championships are staged concurrently. It will be a very busy six days (April 30 to May 5), with 26 sessions on two platforms. First weigh-in will be at 7am on most days, and the last lift will be about 13-14 hours later. For the first time since the Covid pandemic, the sport’s two strongest nations have entered teams in the Juniors – China with 12 athletes and PRK with two. China also has two in the Youths. Kim Yong-ju (PRK) The United States, which topped the medals table at the past two World Juniors, has a combined youths and juniors team of 25. They include 18-year-old Ella Nicholson, a 76kg world champion in both age groups. Peru has the most athletes with 36, while other large teams include Venezuela, Chinese Taipei, Mexico, Colombia, Bulgaria, Poland and Turkiye. There are 17 Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) from Russia and Belarus. The two juniors from PRK look capable of winning, and could set yet more world records in the process. Elsayed Ali (EGY) Kim Yong Ju will be favourite in the women’s 81kg after two impressive results in senior competitions. Kim, 20, competed at 87kg while weighing less than 82kg, and finished second at the World Cup in Thailand a year ago on 268kg, which is 8kg more than Eileen Cikamatana’s junior world record. She also won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Bahrain last December.    The other PRK entry is Kim Ju Phyong in the men’s 61kg, where he is up against the Egyptian teenager Elsayed Aly, who was second and third at past two Junior Worlds. Chen Guan-ling (TPE) Another athlete aiming for world records is Chen Guan-Ling from Chinese Taipei at 55kg. She set four of them in León, Spain last year when she won the junior world title for the second time. Chen, 20, also won senior World and Asian titles in 2023 and 2024. Chen’s rivals include the 18-year-old newcomer Wei Tingna from China, and Aleksandra Grigoryan from Armenia, who went for the clean and jerk world record twice at the recent European Championships in Moldova but failed both times. China has strong entries at 71kg, where Charlotte Simoneau from Canada will be defending her junior world title. The men’s 81kg and 102kg both look high on quality. Yedige Yemberdi from Kazakhstan, unbeaten in four competitions, is aiming for a third straight junior world title at 81kg, where his rivals include team-mate Yerasyl Saulebekov, a double youth world champion, and the Chinese teenager Chen Shunnan. Mattheus Pessanha (BRA) Mattheus Pessanha from Brazil was second in the individual rankings in León last year behind the man who beat him in a memorable 102kg contest, Shahzadbek Matyakubov from Turkmenistan. Matyakubov is too old for the juniors now and Pessanha will be hoping for gold this time. Mahmoud Hosny from Egypt and Abolfazl Zare from Iran are also contenders. By Brian

IWF120y/76 – 2005: Adoption of the 1kg-increment rule

Traditionally, the rules of weightlifting stipulated that the minimum increase of weight in a bar between two lifts should be of 2.5kg. This meant that whenever an athlete was successfully lifting for example a bar of 150kg, his/her next attempt should be at least 152.5kg. The only exception was the World Record attempt, where the bar could be “upgraded” by intervals of 0.5kg. In March 2005, at its Congress, the IWF decided to change these standards and approved the introduction of a universal 1kg-increment rule. This was considered a “revolutionary step towards a clearer, closer and even more exciting competition” (as written in the report following the IWF gathering), a change that is still in vigour today and is, indeed, quite straightforward and understandable for spectators and fans following a weightlifting competition. The new rule was applied almost immediately, as the first event adopting it was the 2005 IWF World Junior Championships, organised in May 2005 in Busan (KOR). This change also allowed an “easier” reading of the results, as the “.5” decimal simply disappeared, and the weight lifted by athletes is only displayed in natural numbers. In practical terms, the reduction from 2.5kg to 1kg also allowed a reduction in the number of ties, as the “variety” of results can be statistically bigger. Eleven years later, in 2016, a new system to untie the lifters (based on who lifted first, and not based on the athlete’s body weight) completed the 1kg-increment rule, establishing the standards of the weightlifting competition format as we know it

IWF120y/75 – 2000: Nikolay Peshalov clinches sole Olympic gold so far for Croatia

Nikolay Peshalov is one of the very few lifters to have won four Olympic medals throughout a very accomplished career! Born in Bulgaria in 1970, he represented his country until 1998, then switching to Croatia. In 1989, he competes in his first major event, the World Championships in Greece – getting a silver medal in the 60kg category. A year later, in Budapest (HUN), he gets his first title in the IWF showcase, with a total of 127.5-170-297.5. Two more world gold medals will follow, in 1993 and 1994, respectively in 137.5-167.5-305 and 135-167.5-302.5. In the meantime, he qualifies for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and clinches his first success at this level – a silver medal. Four years later, in Atlanta, he is third. After the change of nationality, he qualifies for the Sydney 2000 Games under the Croatian flag and he climbs to the highest march of the podium (150-175-325), winning what is so far the only Olympic gold for Croatia in the sport of weightlifting. He concludes his brilliant career in Athens 2004, with a fourth podium presence – bronze. Those are still today the only successes for the Balkan nation at this level (while for Bulgaria, his two Olympic medals are part of a long and sustained tradition of the country at the Games in our sport). Peshalov improved five World Records as a lifter, namely three in the Clean & Jerk (his best: 170kg) and two in Total. Representing Croatia, and besides the Olympic gold, his best results were a silver at the 1998 Worlds and two European titles, in 2000 and 2001.

IWF120y/74 – 1972: Olympic title crowns a superb career for Imre Foldi (HUN)

Born in May 1938, Imre Foldi had a challenging childhood and teenage years, but became the greatest-ever Hungarian weightlifter and arguably one of the best in our sports’ history. Having lost his mother during World War II, he works as a miner and his extraordinary strength is quickly noticed. He then starts practicing weightlifting and thanks to his coach's intervention, he is not allowed to work underground in order to prevent any possible accident. In 1957, he wins his first national title, and two years later he makes his appearance at the highest level, at the World Championships, where he clinches a bronze medal in the 56kg category. It’s the beginning of an outstanding career, until his retirement in 1977 and his participation in five Olympic Games. He is the first lifter in history to achieve this feat. It all starts in 1960 (Rome), where he is sixth. In Tokyo 1964, he gets the silver, a performance that he replicates in Mexico 1968 (only losing the gold because of his body weight, 300 grams heavier than the winner, with the same Total of 367.5kg). At the 1972 Munich Games, he ultimately earns his only Olympic gold, in 127.5-107.5-142.5-377.5. Finally, in Montreal 1976, he concludes his Olympic career, also with a sixth position. Out of his nine presences at World Championships (besides the Games, counting as such at the time), he gets another six additional medals, including one gold (in 1965), three silver, and two bronze. A specialist in the (extinct) Press movement, he set 15 World Records in this lift (with a best of 137.5kg) and six additional global marks in Total (with three movements). After his retirement, he was a successful coach, namely for his daughter Csilla, a European champion. Foldi passed away in April 2017, aged

IWF120y/73 – 2000: Tara Nott (USA), the first female lifter with Olympic gold

On September 17, 2000 the weightlifting family was in a celebratory mode at the Sydney Olympics. On that day, after more than 100 years only with male participation, the Games presented the first-ever female competition, the women’s 48kg category. It was the beginning of a successful road that presently encompasses perfect gender equality between men and women in the greatest sports event on the planet (in Paris 2024, weightlifting was represented by 60 male and 60 female lifters). After fierce competition at that inaugural event, Tara Nott, from the United States, finishes second (82.5-102.5-185) behind Izabela Dragneva, from Bulgaria. Three days later, the European lifter tests positive for a prohibited substance and loses her gold medal. Even if other women’s weightlifting events had taken place in the meantime, Nott becomes ‘de facto’ and in the history books the first-ever female Olympic champion in weightlifting. Born in 1972, Nott (later married to US wrestler Casey Cunningham) is a sport addict, who excels in many of them. She is the only athlete to have trained at the highest level in three different sports (gymnastics, soccer, and weightlifting) at the US Olympic Training Center! After winning the gold at the 1999 Pan-American Games (she is ninth in the same year at the IWF Worlds – photo), Nott gives the US an Olympic gold medal in a sport where their last champion had been Chuck Vinci, in 1960. She remains one of the two US female lifters with an Olympic gold – Olivia Reeves accomplished the same feat 24 years later, at last year’s Paris Games. Nott revalidates her Pan-American title in 2003, but at the 2004 Athens Olympics, she finishes 10th.