With the world weightlifting championships opening Saturday in Houston, here's a guide to who, what and how to watch.
CBC Sports will have live streaming coverage of the event beginning Saturday at 2 p.m. ET. Click here for full details and to watch live.
Overview
One of the original Olympic disciplines, weightlifting is a sport where competitors complete two fast, powerful movements in a competition to lift the most combined weight. Divided into weight categories — eight for men and seven for women — athletes are given three attempts at both the snatch and the clean and jerk lifts. Their heaviest weight successfully hoisted in each of the two lifts are combined for a total score.
At certain competitions, including the world championships, medals are also awarded for the largest individual lifts, though at the Olympics and other multi-sport championships they're only awarded for the heaviest combined scores.
All attempts are judged as either a "good lift" or "no lift." To be legal, two of three judges must mark an attempt as a good lift. There are a number of ways an attempt can be judged as no lift, but generally to avoid that the athlete must keep the bar stable and under control throughout the movement. Arms must finish extended above the head, and feet (the only part of the body allowed to touch the platform) must be in line with the plane of the body.
The snatch
This is the first discipline contested. The bar begins on the floor and is moved in one single motion above the lifter's head. Athletes can split or bend their legs and are given as much time as required to move from that position to their final, upright, motionless finish with arms fully extended.
The clean and jerk
This involves two motions: first from the floor to the shoulders, then from the shoulders to the finished position above the head. In the first movement, lifters may split their legs or bend their knees but must return their feet to the starting position before performing the jerk. For the jerk, in a single motion, the bar is moved from shoulders above the head to the final, upright position with arms straight.
Canadians to watch
Canada's weightlifting team is led by longtime member George Kobaladze. The 39-year-old is the Commonwealth Games record holder in the +105 kg category from his 400 kg score at the 2014 Games in Glasgow, Scotland. He also broke the Games clean and jerk record with a 229 kg lift on his way to the title.
The Canadian team also features a strong group of women in the 69 kg category, led by Marie-Ève Beauchemin-Nadeau, a decorated 27-year-old Montrealer who also won gold in Glasgow, in the 75 kg category. Toronto Pan Am Games competitors Kristel Ngarlem and Marie-Josée Arès-Pilon, who finished fourth and sixth, respectively, are also competing in the 69 kg category.
International athletes to watch
One of the biggest names is China's Lü Xiaojun, the world and Olympic record holder in both the snatch and total at 77 kg. He's a reigning Olympic champion and has three times won at worlds.
Om Yun-Chol, a reigning world and Olympic champion, will lead the men's 56 kg division and the North Korean team. His compatriot, 2012 Olympic champion Kim Un-Guk, will compete in the 62 kg grouping.
Maiya Maneza, a Kazakhstani lifter who won Olympic gold in London in the women's 63 kg division, will make her debut up one weightclass, competing at 69 kg.
Chinese 2014 world champions Deng Mengrong and Deng Wei will compete in their respective women's 58 kg and 63 kg categories.
Notably missing from the men's competition will be Iranian world and Olympic champion Behdad Salimi. The world record holder in the snatch reportedly underwent knee surgery on Wednesday in Tehran for an injury he sustained during training in October.
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