DOHA, QATAR It's often a thankless job and one that doesn't involve a lot of glory.

But the officials at sporting events play a vital role in the outcome, and quite often their background stories are just as interesting as those of the athletes.

Many of the officials at the world weightlifting championships in Doha are former medal winners themselves, and some of them still compete.

Nicu Vlad is a three-time Olympic medalist from Romania, who has been involved in officiating at the international level for the past five years.

'Weightlifting is like a virus,' explained Vlad. 'As soon as you get him, he's very hard to get out.'

Vlad won gold at the Games in Los Angeles in 1984, silver in Seoul in 1988, was fourth in Barcelona in 1992 and then picked up a bronze medal at the Atlanta Games in 1996. He retired from weightlifting following Atlanta, but found that it only took a couple of months before he was back in the gym, trying to keep some sort of connection with the sport he loves.

He got involved as an official, became head coach of the Romanian team and eventually, vice-president of the Romanian Olympic Committee.

'I originally started (working in weightlifting) again just to help the Romanian team,' he said. 'But then you just get so involved and so now I'm at all of these competitions.'

Canadian Emery Chevrier can relate to that. His home province of Quebec was in desperate need of weightlifting officials, so he decided to throw his name in the hat. After all, he knows first hand how much help the sport needs. At 69 years old, he still hits the competitive scene as a Masters athlete.

'I started 21 years ago, at 48,' he smiled. 'I started weightlifting at the same time as my son. My son wanted to start, so I went with him and I liked it.

'Some people play golf or play cards. I lift weights. It's my hobby.'

And it's a fairly successful hobby at that. Chevrier won a gold medal at the 2005 World Masters Games in Edmonton and was also named top lifter in his age group. His next big competition is in July, at the Pan American Masters near Montreal. He's also hoping to compete at the 2006 World Masters Championships in Bordeaux, France.

Competing at that level requires some extensive training, and Chevrier has actually been working five or six times a week at the same club as Yukoner Jeane Lassen in Montreal.

When you add those sessions to the 10 or 15 times a year Chevrier dedicates his time as a referee, it's clear that he must enjoy weightlifting. But neither he nor Ladd will jump too far ahead when asked how long they will continue to be involved in the sport. After all, life is full of surprises.

'It's easy to plan, but you never know what life will become,' said Ladd. 'At the moment, this is what I do. It's in my blood. It doesn't matter how much I get paid. It has nothing to do with the money.'

Meanwhile, there has been some unbelievable action already in the first two days of the championships in Qatar. Wednesday saw a new world record set in the women's 48 kilogram class by a Chinese lifter and today, another new record was set in the clean and jerk portion of the women's 53 kilogram class.

Chinese athlete Ping Li and Thailand's Junpim Kuntatean battled it out for the new record, going back and forth until Li finally took it when Kuntatean went down on her third and final attempt. Kuntatean was helped off the stage and placed on a stretcher with what appeared to be a knee injury.

China and Thailand have been dominating the women's competition so far, with the Chinese taking gold in both classes and Thailand athletes claiming the silver in both classes, as well as bronze in the 48 kg group.

Yudergue Contreras of the Dominican Republic stopped the sweep by picking up the bronze medal all around in the 53 kg competition. She also collected the bronze in the snatch but lost it to Thailand's Suda Chaleephay in the clean and jerk.

Yukoner Lassen has been training on a daily basis and will take the stage in the women's 69 kilogram class on Sunday. The Star will have full results and comments in the Monday edition.