Although the results cannot be logged officially, Toma, Santavy and Sterckx will be delighted with their performances during weightlifting's long break from international competition because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

All of them made lifts that exceeded existing continental records.

There were many more outstanding performers, including Australia's Eileen Cikamatana and Hidilyn Diaz of The Philippines in the women's events, and the Saudi Arabian Mansour Al Saleem and China's Chenfei Yuan and Minhao Yuang among the men.

The 202 kilograms total by Sterckx, 18, would have bettered the European junior 55kg record by four kilograms had her effort been in an official competition.

Toma exceeded her personal best by making a total of 250kg in the women's 64kg category.

Her snatch of 115kg was two kilograms higher than her own European record.

Santavy, 23, finished 59kg ahead of his nearest rival in the men's 96kg with a 392kg total that featured a snatch of 182kg, better than the Pan American record by six kilograms.

There were plenty of top performers from Oceania too.

Winners included Cikamatana, who took the women's 87kg with an impressive 255kg, Nicola Lagatao of Guam at 45kg and Megan Gifford of New Zealand at 76kg.

Two young Nauruan lifters, Ezekiel Moses and Nancy Abouke, continued their impressive progress.

There was an encouraging effort by Dika Toua of Papua New Guinea, who is hoping to qualify for a fifth Olympic Games.

She was 400 grams too heavy for the 49kg and finished third behind Sterckx at 55kg.

"It turned out to be a great event, with great numbers all round," said Paul Coffa, general secretary of the Oceania Weightlifting Federation, who organised the global contest to mark the original opening date of the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

It was open to all weightlifters worldwide who had been unable to train and compete as usual during the hiatus that began in March and will last at least 237 days.

The next scheduled lift in an international competition is on October 31 in Moscow, at the European Championships – if they go ahead. 

Eleiko, the Swedish equipment manufacturer, awarded bars to all 20 winners and had to add an extra one when there was a tie for first place in the women's 49kg, between Fiorella Uribe of Peru and Noorin Gulam of Britain.

"This exercise has been very productive, giving those athletes who are having difficulties training in proper facilities and under restrictive measures, the opportunity to compete in a tournament," said Coffa.

Marcus Stephen, the OWF President, said: "We are delighted to see individual lifters from 63 different countries – and they are individual lifters in every sense.

"They did not represent countries or clubs, they represented themselves."

Stephen offered special thanks to Bowen Stuart, the Australian Weightlifting Federation manager for information technology and communications, who helped to organise the competition.

Stuart also played a leading role in another online competition, presented on Zoom and organised recently by the Pan American Federation.

List of winners

MEN 

55kg Mansour Al Saleem – Saudi Arabia 255kg

61kg Serai Al Saleem – Saudi Arabia 270kg

67kg Talha Talib -Pakistan 304kg 

73kg Minhao Huang – China 325kg 

81kg Chengfei Yuan – China 345kg 

89kg Rehman Abdur – Pakistan 326kg 

96kg Boady Santavy - Canada 392kg 

102kg Fuxuan Tian - China 385kg 

109kg Marcin Izdebski – Poland 354kg

+109kg Butt Muhammad Nooh - Pakistan 400kg 

 
WOMEN 

45kg Nicola Lagatao - Guam 137kg 

49kg Fiorella Francesca Cueva Uribe -Peru 165kg 

49kg Noorin Gulam -Great Britain 165kg 

55kg Sterckx Nina – Belgium 202kg 

59kg Hidilyn Diaz – Philippines 216kg 

64kg Loredana Toma -Romania 250kg 

71kg Ting Huang – China 240kg 

76kg Megan Gifford - New Zealand 220kg 

81kg Tara Pratt -Australia 194kg 

87kg Eileen Cikamatana -Australia 255kg 

+87kg Weipeng Jia – China 255kg