Introduction

 This title might seem strange.  There is no such thing as a "strong" country.  But considering the demonstration from Goyang City, Korea during the 77th edition for men and 20th edition for women's World Weightlifting Championships, everything there was big and strong.  The organization was superb using the KINTEX Convention Centre as the venue, not only for the ten day athletic competition, but also the opening and closing ceremonies were located in ample halls where hundreds of guests enjoyed a fabulous reception.  The food was exquisite at all times, may it be at the venue or at the Grand Hilton Hotel where the IWF Technical Officials from all around the world stayed in the most comfortable rooms.  

 After the customary meetings by the Technical, Research, and Medical Committees, the IWF Congress and all necessary reunions hosted at the Grand Hilton Hotel, the KINTEX Convention Centre was absolutely ready to receive the 340 plus athletes who provided the best weightlifting show in the fall season. 

 The competition

 It is to no surprise that the Chinese took over where they left in Beijing 2008, leading the way in men and women, followed by the host country, Korea, in very close and emotional battles over the platform. 

 Among the women, the best demonstrations were offered by Svetlana Podobedova, originally lifting for Russia, where she had several world records to her name.  In this contest she rewrote the senior world records in the 75kg category, representing Kazakhstan.  Another sensational appearance came from Armenian Nazik Avdalyan, in 69kg who "flipped" her way to a gold medal in an fierce battle against Oxana Slivenko, from Russia. 

 In the men's group it was nice to see a third Dolega brother, this time Daniel came to join his more experienced brothers Marcin and Robert, all in the higher bodyweight categories (+105 for Daniel, 105kg for Robert and Marcin).  Although Daniel's demonstration lacked the luster imparted by his older brothers, there is no doubt that the Dolega tradition from Poland will live for many years to come.  Only two senior world records in men were recorded by the Chinese athlete Lu Xiaojun, in the 77kg category, earning him the Best Lifter Award of the meet according to the AIPS evaluation. 

 Best performances

 But to justify the title of this article I certainly need to shift our attention to the "big guns".  The super categories that are the closing shot of any weightlifting competition.  Up to the very last day of competition the Korean team had been a shadow away from the gold, silver and bronze.  It had to come to the very last attempt in the clean and jerk by Olympic Champion and local hopeful Jang Mi-Ran to bring the Goyang City crowd to their feet with a record breaking, gold-medal-winning-lift that made this whole organizing endeavor a worthy effort.  For all logical reasons Jang Mi-Ran also received the Best Lifter Award granted by the AIPS. 

But that's not all.  Just an hour later in the +105kg for men, An Yong -kwon, KOR, after a third place in the snatch, cleaned and jerked his way to a sounding victory over the rest of the group to merit the gold medal in total by the minimum margin of bodyweight.  As a team, Korea placed second in men and in women right behind the powerful teams of China. 

 Closing remarks

 These extraordinary Championships in Goyang City have certainly captivated the attention of the world of weightlifting.  Every athlete, technical official, team leader or member rendered satisfied by the great hospitality of hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers that made our stay a very enjoyable one.  Many kudos to the President of the Korean Weightlifting Federation Mr. Yeo Mu-nam and to the Major of Goyang City, Mr. Kang Hyun-suk for a job superbly done.  There is no doubt that for the time being, Korea is the strongest country in weightlifting.