Doha, Qatar - Nothing could stop Jang Mi-ran (Korea) tonight and some were quick to say that her gold medal at the World Weightlifting Championships helped to make up for "only" leaving Athens with the silver medal at last year's Olympics.

Mu Shuangshuang (China) was the main opponent who stood between Jang and the right to call herself the strongest woman in the world, and Mu won the snatch - after missing 125, she came back and made it, and then hit a nice 130 on her third attempt. Jang was in for the silver, with 125 and 128; she missed the 130 that would have given her the gold. The Ukrainian junior Olha Korobka finished with 127, for the bronze medal in the snatch.

Jang opened with a good 162, for gold medal position in the jerk and total, and Mu replied with an easy 165, and then another easy lift with 170 kg. Jang took 172 on her second attempt, to regain gold medal position in the jerk and total, and she cleaned the weight strongly and followed with a solid jerk. Mu ended a very strong night of lifting by taking 174 kg - it would put her first in the jerk and the total, and, in fact, it would give her a total a mere one kilo under the world record, but it wasn't to be, and Jang, going for a world record total, cleaned 178 kg on her third attempt, had the bar overhead, but then lost it behind. Cheryl Haworth (USA) got the bronze in the jerk and in the total, going six for six.