Vancouver, British Columbia – Hossein Rezazadeh (Iran) might have missed his attempts at breaking his own world records in the snatch and in the clean and jerk, but he left the 2003 World Weightlifting Championships as the King of the Hill.

Ronny Weller (Germany) didn't start, so that immediately changed the field in the snatch.  Jaber Saeed Salem (Qatar) took the gold in the snatch with 210 kg, beating Udachyn (Ukraine) on bodyweight.  Both lifters had made three good attempts (200, 205, 210), and Rezazadeh, after making 200 and 207.5, called for 213.5 but he couldn't lock it out.

Going into the clean and jerk, it looked like it might come down to the final clean and jerk between Salem and Rezazadeh, but Salem pulled out, leaving Rezazadeh to open at 250 before moving to 263.5 in a bid to break his own world record in the clean and jerk.

After an easy clean, though, he missed the jerk and passed up his third attempt.  Even with the attrition in the field, it was a super ending to the 2003 World Weightlifting Championships, with a packed house cheering loudly, showing incredible support for the defending Olympic champion, Hossein Rezazadeh.