Lake Macquarie has produced another home-grown world champion, Stephen Craven, from Dora Creek. Braving the Arctic Circle's freezing temperatures, Stephen travelled to Rovaniemi, Finland earlier this month to compete in the 2024 Masters Weightlifting IMWA World Championships. I imagine acclimatising to the harsh environment would challenge most people, but not Stephen, who performed like the champion he is. Stephen took a 25 kg lead in the snatch, then moved onto the clean and jerk where he outlifted his closest competitor by 30kg, with a total of 205kgs to win gold for the class. Stephen is the epitome of a comeback king. He originally started weightlifting in 1986, and over the next decade went on to become NSW Champion. He took out the best weightlifter category in a National Country Competition before retiring from the sport in the mid-90s. But Stephen's desire to lift remained, and after a 20-year break, he returned to training and Olympic weightlifting in 2019, this time competing in the Masters division. He is currently the NSW, Australian, Oceana and Commonwealth Champion. Congratulations Stephen on your recent success and a phenomenal weightlifting career.