The first session of the IWF World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia on Sunday is highly likely to draw more attention than the 21 that follow over seven days of competition.
The reason is the presence of a 13-year-old girl who has nearly half a million followers on social media.
Rory van Ulft, a dual national who lives in Canada and will compete for Aruba, has built her huge following with a series of remarkable pre-teen achievements, one of which was becoming the youngest person ever to lift double their own bodyweight. She was nine years and 350 days when she clean and jerked 66kg weighing 32.8kg at a local competition in Ontario in 2022.
Rory is unbeaten in six years at local and national competitions in Canada, the United States and Aruba. She is capable of beating youth world records – as she has shown when too young to lift in IWF competitions – and was watched by millions when she performed a gymnastics and weightlifting routine on the TV show Canada’s Got Talent.
Rory van Ulft (ARU)
Until now, Rory has not appeared on the international stage. She was 13 in February and is excited about making the longest journey of her short but eventful life – more than 4,500km from Ottawa to Cali – for her international debut.
“I want a world record – that would be really cool. I know I’m capable of it, especially in clean and jerk,” said Rory, who has the highest entry total in her 44kg category. The numbers to aim for are 73-93-162, and her best efforts in training would be enough in snatch, clean and jerk and total.
Rory’s parents, Cavan van Ulft and Lindsay Noad, will be there along with her younger brother Ari and coach Spencer Moorman.
Moorman, a double US national champion who started weightlifting aged eight, retired as an athlete about 10 years ago and focused on coaching in California. He has spent a lot of time working with youngsters, and moved to Ottawa around the time Rory started training.
“When I first met Rory it was clear she had a remarkable ability to take in information and great jumping ability, which is a good sign for weightlifting. But nobody had any real idea about her strength,” he said.
Rory said, “I started so young I can’t remember not doing it. When I began competitive gymnastics (age five) my parents did some research to see what was the best way of preventing injuries and decided on weightlifting training. I turned out to be really good at it.”
Both her parents had never seen weightlifting. When they realised their daughter was special, Cavan came up with the idea of Rory representing Aruba.
Ivy Buzinhani Brustello (CAN)
“As a Dutch citizen living in Canada, I was always aware that I was eligible for Aruba, which was part of Netherlands Antilles when I was a kid – not that I had any sporting talent! So I knew it was always a possibility for Rory.”
He contacted Hugo Themen, the Aruba federation president, in February 2024 after Rory lifted above an IWF youth world record in competition for the first time. She has since been to Aruba several times for a try-out, training, national competitions and to be kitted out in an Aruba costume.
Rory is fashion-conscious. She has what she calls “the best-looking singlets on the planet right now” made for her, and likes to ‘wear’ removable tattoos of animals, flowers and skulls. Behind the phenomenally strong weightlifter is a normal young girl who likes playing outside, drawing, painting, building Lego, reading, watching TV, making craft jewellery and playing video games with Ari.
“I spend a lot of time reminding her that she’s still a kid, that she still needs to have fun, to go out and play,” Lindsay said in an earlier interview. “That’s my job as a mum.”
The message resonates with Rory. Asked about her future she said, “I can’t think a long time ahead but I do want to go to the Olympics and win. The most important thing is still to be having fun.”
Coincidentally the last person to beat Rory in a competition, when she was six years old, will be in Cali. Ivy Buzinhani Brustello, who lifts for Canada at 48kg, is now 16. When she won at 40kg at the 2023 World Youths in Albania, Ivy became the youngest ever world champion at 12 years 264 days.
While Aruba is hoping for its first world champion, nations from the Arab world could collectively win a big haul of gold medals.
Ali Abdelradi (EGY)
Egypt has five athletes at the top of the entries, including Ali Abdelradi, who set a sweep of youth world records when fifth at the World Juniors in his home country in May. Sadek Mahmoud is favourite in the men’s 65kg, and the women with a big chance are Basma Ramadan at 53kg, Yasmine Mohamed at 58kg and Roshdy Farouk at 69kg.
Mohammed Al Ojaian from Saudi Arabia, second last year, tops the entries at 56kg, as do Mousa Khudhair from Iraq at 94kg – from a strong weightlifting family – and the super-heavyweight Fares Ahmed Gaber from Qatar.
The Asian Youth Games champion Nurzhan Zhumabay from Kazakhstan is a strong contender at 88kg.
By Brian Oliver
