Antalya World Weightlifting Championships 2010

Antalya Expo Center is hosting the World Weightlifting Championships on September 17-26. Altogether 561 athletes from 81 countries will join the competition, which is the first qualification game for the 2012 London Olympics, said President Hasan Akkus of Turkish Weightlifting Federation in a speech at the opening ceremony.

he 78th Men's and 21st Women's World Championships 2010, Antalya set a "World Record" even before getting started. Women weightlifters from 54 countries are participating in the competition that started today, altogether 218 women will perform on stage. This high number of participating countries has never been reached before at any other competition. The previous record was set during the World Championships in Thailand 2007 where women from 53 countries competed in the city of Chiang Mai.

Turkey's Nurcan Taylan[1]has set a world record by lifting 214 lbs./121 kgs. in the clean and jerk at the World Weightlifting Championships in the women's 48-kilogram category. Taylan, a gold medalist at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, said after the contest Friday that she "wrote history in her own country." The previous record of 120 kgs. was set by Chen Xiexia of China in 2007.