Whether it was because of the new marketing campaign or the world-class athletes who delivered it, it didn't take long for the 2008 Junior World Weightlifting Championships Host Society to get their point across.

As they unveiled a brand new logo and a new, impressive website at a Business After Hours function at Sport Yukon Thursday evening, one thing became clear: this is huge.

In fact, while the 2008 junior worlds will follow the 2007 Canada Games, the weightlifting event is actually on a much larger scale, both competitively and economically.

A few handfuls of people gathered for the launch Thursday, but as the 2008 championships gain steam, more and more of the entire world's focus is going to fall on the Yukon. Eight hundred athletes, coaches and officials from 100 countries will descend on Whitehorse in May of that year, with an up to 1,000 more family, friends and interested spectators estimated to join them.

The 2008 championships, which dovetail into the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, will have an expected $5 million economic impact and will garner at least 100 million viewers world wide. It could end up being much more than 100 million, as Tamara Goeppel, the chief organizer for the event, explained.

Goeppel recently returned from the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia earlier this month, as well as a special trip to Beijing.

'At the Commonwealths, we had meetings with the (International Weightlifting Federation), as a courtesy to let them know the direction we are going in. We gave them our business case and it was extremely well received. That gave us the courage to keep going.'

Goeppel, as well as Moira Lassen, the president of the 2008 host society, then went to Beijing and met with members of the Olympic committee and government officials.

The idea was to convince them their broadcast company should follow their weightlifters to Whitehorse for the junior worlds, then follow them back to the Olympic podium in Beijing. They too were very enthusiastic about the ideas they heard, said Goeppel.

If that pans out, it could mean millions more will tune into their televisions in Asia and witness the Yukon scenery and hospitality. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if even a fraction of the expected viewers decided to explore the Yukon on their own, or even a fraction of the athletes return after 2008, the economic benefits could be huge.

Yukon weightlifters Jeane Lassen and Emily Quarton, gold and silver medalists respectively at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, have been to the junior world championships before.

The two local heroines are in town this week, thanks to a flight from Air North, showing off their newly acquired hardware.

Both were at Sport Yukon for the launch and Jeane spoke to the crowd about her experiences in international destinations, and the importance of Yukoners coming together to make a good impression on their visitors in 2008.

'Most of you know that Emily and I just returned from the Games in Melbourne. (Canada) had the most successful women's team ever six girls, six medals. But that isn't the memory that I will take away from Australia with me.

'Don't get me wrong. I'm proud to have won the gold, but for me, it was how the crowd cheered for me when I made my lifts and applauded me even when I failed attempts that made me feel like a champion. They did the same thing for an athlete from a small African country that was lifting just a fraction as much as me and was obviously not in the run for a medal.

'The organizers, volunteers and fans created an atmosphere that inspired amazing performances and made everyone feel like a winner.

'I will remember the feeling I had coming out to my first attempt in front of 3,000 people. It was very different from how I felt coming out for my first attempt at the world championships in Qatar, where about 100 participants were scattered throughout the stands.'

But crowds aren't the only thing that make athletes feel valued, Lassen pointed out. Having proper transportation, nutritious meals that offer options for religious beliefs, and entertainment opportunities are just as key. Jeane has been to six junior world championships and a couple dozen other international competitions. There are some places she would love to go back to, she said, and others she would never go back to, all based on the overall experience.

'I'd love to go back to Russia. And believe it or not, between Italy and Bulgaria, I'd rather go back to Bulgaria.'

Nothing advertises better than word of mouth, she added, guaranteeing that if the junior athletes are shown a great experience, they'll fly back to their homes across the globe and tell friends and family to visit the Yukon.

'With the junior worlds in 2008 in Whitehorse, Canada will be the only country in the world to host a junior and senior world championships within five years of each other. In 2003, Vancouver held the world championships and Olympic trials. Some athletes liked it so much they never left.

'That actually might be something we have to think about, we may just get some defectors considering how great this place is,' she added to laughter from the crowd.

Lassen closed her speech by addressing the excellent level of support she, Quarton and former Yukon weightlifter Scott McCarthy have always received from the territory, both in terms of morale and finances. She said athletes she talks to Outside are always blown away by the support and recognition Yukoners receive.

'Most people think of weightlifting as an individual sport, and in many aspects, it is. I know I'm repeating myself when I say this; I have to lift that weight by myself, but I can't do it alone. I am lucky because I believe I have a team over 30,000 strong that want to see me succeed. They all have a part in all that I achieve.

'I hope that we can make a team both strong in size and heart, that is ready to help make the junior worlds in 2008 a success.'

The first and most important step, in hosting any sporting event, is getting the core funding in place. And despite the scale of the event and the amount of economic impact, Goeppel said the 2008 host society has yet to see the funding it would like to from government sources.

'We've come this far to date using our own sources,' said said. 'We're at a very critical spot now. If we don't get the fund, from territorial and federal sources, we'll have to start seriously negotiating with the IWF to consider removing Whitehorse as the host for 2008.

'The window is closing fast.'

Goeppel hopes the new marketing campaign will help get the ball rolling. The website offers options for sponsors and the logo pays tribute to the Olympic colours, calling attention to the fact the 2008 event directly precedes the Summer Games in Beijing.

The website and logo were designed with help from a company in Winnipeg, Modern Earth.

'It was quite a journey to get that logo,' said Goeppel. 'It took quite a few months to come up with it. We wanted something to show upward movement, we wanted something clean, and we wanted the Olympic colours.

'We dropped the gold colour because it was a bit too much and we figured we could get away with it, because it's the Yukon. There's the gold itself. It also shows like a spotlight toward the athlete. We really wanted the athlete to be number one.'

And if athletes are the number one priority, what better way to launch the logo and website, to put a firm eye on the 2008 Junior World Weightlifting Championships, than to feature two of the most successful athletes in our own territory? Athletes who are fully aware of what the Yukon is capable of?

'I think I will probably take (my silver medal) back to Montreal, so I can show people,' said Quarton, referring to the city in which both her and Jeane train. 'But I think it will definitely end up in the Yukon, because that's where it belongs.'