North Korea has not entered a team for the biggest event on this year’s weightlifting calendar – and has passed up a chance to register its greatest sporting triumph on American soil.
North Korea was expected to finish top of the medals table in Anaheim as it had lifters ranked Number 1 in seven weight categories, after the removal of lifters from the nine nations which have been banned for a year for multiple doping offences - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Armenia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Turkey.