Amongst the seventy nations competing at the Weightlifting World Championships in Qatar, you could assume that China, with a population of 1.3 billion people, might dominate. But no one told sensational Pacific Island lifter Yukio Peter from Nauru, population 10,000, who produced one of the greatest performances in the history of Oceanic Weightlifting as he won a silver medal in the clean and jerk in the 77kg category.
Mr Peter, an International Olympic Committee scholarship holder, clean and jerked 193kg to take second place in the event, propelling Nauru to an overall world ranking of seventh for the championships.
It was a stunning performance from the 21-year-old. Chinese lifter Li Hongli, winner of the event and favourite to win gold in Beijing in 2008, was said to be more than surprised at Mr Peter's performance.
His overall placing at the World Championships is the highest ever performance produced at a world level by any Pacific lifter. He is certainly now a medal contender at the Beijing Olympic Games and a certain gold medal at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games next year.
In September Mr Peter's coach, the Oceania Weightlifting Federation General Secretary and coach of the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in Fiji, Mr Paul Coffa, lost his red sports car in a challenge to Mr Peter by daring him to clean and jerk 200kg in the 77kg category.
In training for October's Commonwealth and Oceania Championships in Melbourne, Mr Peter clean and jerked 202.5kg, only 7.5kg away from the world record. Unfortunately the lift cannot be claimed as a record as he did it in training, but nevertheless Mr Coffa kept his end of the bargain and handed over the keys to his sports car.
"A performance such as this deserves a car," Mr Coffa said.
Another top performer at the championships was Manuel Minginfel, also an Oceania Institute lifter from the Federated States of Micronesia, placing 7th overall and attaining the second highest ever performance next to Mr Peter at a World Championships.
Last Modified on 24/01/2006 16:18