The speaker's corner
David Colon: What happened in Bucharest

What happened in Bucharest?  Everything good except world records!

Seen through the eyes of the person with the best seat in the house, the 35th men's and 15th woman's Junior Worlds Championships held from June 12 to 22 in Bucharest, Romania, fulfilled the expectations of a superb sports event.

As the delegations arrived
The organizing committee, chaired by Nicu VLAD, well known Olympic champion and President of the Federatia Romana de Haltere received forty nations in what could be considered the best organized junior world championships to this date.   Just a few months before, Nicu and his close collaborators hosted the European Championships in what served as a proper warm-up for this more complicated event attracting countries from all around the world.  Right from the airport the visitors were greeted by the organizers and transportation was highly efficient.  All delegations stayed at the Rin Grand Hotel, one of the best in Bucharest at almost half the regular price per room, considering the high tourist season.  The buffet meals were to the satisfaction of all tastes and the ever present chocolate cake was a fine complement to fresh fruits.  

Meetings and official business
All IWF Committee meetings as well as the Congress and the Technical Officials meeting were held in the 13th floor of the Rin Grand Hotel with ample space and interpreter services that made the communication easy and efficient.  The IWF Secretariat handed out the 2009-2012 edition of the IWF Hand Book, what is considered in the very words of IWF President Dr. Tamás AJÁN: the "Bible of Weightlifting".  

The competition site
The competition was held in the Polivalenta Sports Hall, just ten minutes bus drive from the Rin Grand Hotel home of many other sports with unlimited capacity for the weightlifting family that were housed comfortably at all the sessions.  With a usual schedule of four sessions per day, the stadium started attracting fans as early as 10:00am and did not leave the premises until 10:00pm when the last national anthem was heard.  The platform was constructed in less than 24 hours, for there was a handball tournament that finished a day before the unset of the weightlifting event.  Special congratulations go to those working all night in order to have everything ready for the next morning.  

The woman's competition
In the absence of Chinese lifters, who usually have a strong contender in the 48kg body weight category, the Thai athlete, Panida KHAMSRI won the first gold medal over Colombian Katheryn MERCADO.  From there on the medals were distributed within the other 27 nations, such as Chinese Taipei, China and Korea.  The Russian team won overall in the team classification thanks to a full team of seven lifters ranging from 2nd to 5th in most categories.  Despite several gold medals by the Chinese women, a team of six could only reach a much contested second place all around.  Several countries, such as:BLR, ALB, MEX, PUR, HUN, AUS, ITA, and GRE brought just one girl each to the platform.  Maybe the most significant achievement in this group is the presence of a competitor in the +75kg category, Narita VILIAMU from Niue Island, the smallest country in the IWF Index of Affiliated National Federations.   The most outstanding junior female athlete was LI Changjing, from CHN who had a fine contender in Leidy SOLIS, from Colombia, ending in second place according to the Sinclair formula.  The Chinese girl received the AIPS trophy from Mr. Dezső Dobor, Board Member for AIPS.  A final count of 93 junior women participated in this event. 

The men's competition
There is no doubt that the Russian team, as well as all the other teams, is focusing their attention in London 2012.  These young athletes, if monitored closely until that date, should be the prime elements to visit the platform and search for the medals within the next Olympic cycle.  Their performance in these Junior Worlds brought them (the Russians) 6 gold and 4 bronze medals.  Not only this, but also the teams first place classification and above that the Best Lifter of the Competition in Alexandr IVANOV in the 94kg category, who beat the Polish Adrian ZIELINSKI by just one Sinclair unit.  Ivanov received the AIPS trophy from Dezső DOBOR, spokesperson for the IWF.  Countries with just one athlete were AUS, ARM, HUN, PUR and SRB.  This last piece of information is not to deter the high quality of this competition.  On the contrary, the effort of bringing only one athlete speaks positively of the excellent conditions provided by the Organizing Committee that attracted countries with smaller populations to this fine event.  A total of 151 junior men competitors had a chance to show their best form over the platform at the Polivalenta Sports Hall.

Technical support
The whole competition was immediately broadcast after each session through the internet thanks to the IWF Electronic Technical System efficiently managed by The Competition Director Attila ÁDÁMFI.  The working crew includes Technology Director Róbert NAGY, Technology Engineers Csaba AIRIZER and Mihály KELEMEN.  Thanks to these fine professionals all the memoires of the competition were in the hands of the coaches and delegation leaders right after the final lift at the closing ceremony.

Final remarks
For seven competition days the eyes of the Romanian weightlifting fans were focusing on the possibility of a new world record in the junior ranks.  But experience tells us that these records are not likely to happen in a post Olympic year.  These talented junior athletes that will fill the news for the next three years are just starting to feel the pressure of performing at an increasing rate to show there peak at London 2012.  It is their potential and not the present performance what the knowledgeable officials in the sport were looking at.  As for the general public, as well as for all of us who enjoy a good show, this was one of the best on earth and we are all happy that an injury-less event was held in what we may consider the Capital of Junior Weightlifting in Europe: Bucharest 2009.

Special summary for IWF webpage by:        
David Colón-Arroyo (PUR)
General Secretary of the PRWF
Multi-lingual Sports Event Speaker