Egypt has a long history in the sport and a formidable weightlifting infrastructure that is strongly supported by the state.

It had five Olympic weightlifting champions between 1928 and 1948 and has had two female Olympic medallists this century, one of whom, Sara Samir, was the star performer in Tunis.

Its team of elite athletes, backed up by top-level coaches, are sure to make their mark at the next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Tunisia, whose star lifter Karem Ben Hnia is trying to qualify for a third Olympic Games, was the only nation to field a maximum team of 20 and it paid off when they won more medals than anyone else.

Tunisia has a state-of-the-art 40-platform training centre, newly equipped and strongly supported by state funding.

Algeria also has a chance of qualifying at least one athlete for Paris 2024.

And sub-Saharan Africa? Nigeria might have a presence in the all-important top 10 in the rankings for the 10 weight categories at Paris 2024, but all the other nations will be relying on the few continental slots or tripartite places awarded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

While Egypt and Tunisia have large teams of full-time athletes, coaches and support staff, plus professionally run National Federations with salaried administrators, further south it is a different story.

"They are 10 steps ahead of us. In weightlifting terms, they closer to Europe than the rest of Africa," said John Ogolla, secretary general of the volunteer-run Kenya Amateur Weightlifting Association (KAWA) and a member of his National Olympic Committee.

When the final entries for the African Championships were released, Kenya had 19 athletes listed; they were all set to travel two days before the competition but not one of them boarded the plane.

"The Sports Ministry told us on the day of the Congress that there was no money to pay for their travel," said KAWA President Pius Ochieng.

Because the decision came so late Kenya were unable to take advantage of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) development fund offer that covered the air fare, plus five days accommodation and food, for two athletes and a coach from all competing nations.

"We had very high expectations when we announced the team that our Sports Ministry would cover the costs, and right up to the day of travel we were still expecting it," said Ogolla.

"It was very annoying for the athletes and for us. If the Sports Ministry don’t tell you in advance, you can’t look for alternatives."

Nigeria’s team of five would have been diminished for the same reason - no support from the Sports Ministry - but Dr Ibrahim Abdul, the Nigerian Federation President, paid for the trip from his own pocket.

Of the 20 medal events, one went to Seychelles and one to a sub-Saharan nation. Niyoyita Davis from Uganda won a two-man contest at 61 kilograms.

Davis spoke of the hardship of being a weightlifter in Uganda, where he trains outdoors and has no income apart from what he can make by "selling stuff on the streets".

“It’s very hard for people from other countries to understand just how hard it is for weightlifters from Uganda to compete internationally,” said Davis, who has never even been to Uganda’s Olympic training centre because weightlifting is not part of the funded sport system.

While Davis was in Colombia last December at the IWF World Championships, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics endorsed research showing that more than half of the country’s working population earned less than $60 a month in 2021, the last year when data was available.

South Africa has a new regime at its Federation and did send a larger team than usual, but nearly all of the 13 who travelled to Tunis did so at their own expense and one took out a bank loan to do it. Three of them team were in their 40s and the average age was well into the 30s.

Zambia also sent a larger team, five athletes compared to the usual one or two, to Tunis.

Lack of basic equipment and clothing in Zambia is a big problem and two of the team had never worn weightlifting shoes before last week.

"We borrowed some from other teams, and our athletes had problems with their balance because it was a completely new feeling," said Zambia Weightlifting Federation (ZWF) President Gilbert Moono.

Zambia provides hope for countries in southern Africa, having made strides in recent years.

"Nine nations are neighbours to Zambia but only two are active in weightlifting now, Botswana and DR Congo," said Moono.

It is not much better within Zambia, where there are 10 provinces but only two active in weightlifting.

"There is so much potential," said Moono, a businessman, bodybuilder and former gym owner who was a weightlifter in the 1990s. "Weightlifting is loved, but there is no infrastructure for the sport here."

The sport has grown in those two provinces, Lusaka and Copper Belt, where half of the 80 athletes are youths.

It would grow much more - "we would soon have 500 weightlifters here if we had more equipment" - if the ZWF could solve the mystery of the "missing" barbells.

Twelve sets of barbells and racks were sent to Zambia by Chinese manufacturer ZKC in 2010 as part of a development plan and used at the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC).

That equipment, said Moono, is now being used by a commercial gym under OYDC management, and ZWF’s use is restricted to an hour a day from 8am to 9am. Moono believes the equipment brings in $2,000 (£1,600/€1,800) a month in fees charged to other groups who use it.

"We believe those barbells are ours, and if we could prove it, we could make so much progress," he said. "All we need to do is prove we have ownership rights."

The IWF is trying to help by looking for documentation for the equipment, but as it was sent 13 years ago it is not straightforward.

"We could set up clubs in all provinces if we had more equipment," said Moono. "All we have now is two sets of barbells, and the OYDC said they were given to us only on loan."

If ZWF wants to send athletes to train with “their” ZKC equipment at the OYDC, it must pay for accommodation and food.

This year was first time ever that everyone in the team was funded, thanks to the IWF, Weightlifting Federation of Africa (WFA) and support for travel from the Zambian Government.

"We have no sponsor, no support other than travel for one competition a year, no training centre, no headquarters, no paid secretariat, very few shoes, and none of our athletes has a job – so no money for transport, food, training, coaching, clothing," said Moono.

"The sport went down in the 1990s, more or less died when the big mining companies were bought out by foreign companies.

"Before, the mining industry sponsored sport, paid for facilities, training, teams. After the new owners came in that all stopped."

Despite all the challenges, Moono has plans for growth. They include partnering with the armed forces to bring in more athletes and improve the weightlifting network in Zambia, applying for solidarity funding for coaching, and hosting the African Youth and Junior Championships, possibly next year.

The WFA usually supports hosts of that event - due to be held in Uganda this year - with $10,000 (£8,000/€9,200) -$15,000 (£12,000/€14,000) of funding and provides the competition system which moves around the continent.

Leaders of the sport’s global and continental governing bodies spoke in Tunis about how they might help to start and support development programmes in the parts of Africa in most need.

Mohamed Jalood and Khaled Mehalhel, presidents of the IWF and WFA, are planning to visit Zambia to see the situation themselves.

"We want to meet the Minister of Sport and maybe the Prime Minister to talk about Zambia hosting the [Youth and Junior] Championships," said Mehalhel.

That would help to promote weightlifting and can also leave a legacy in terms of equipment, Mehalhel said.

"I have talked with Jalood about development. He supports all athletes, everywhere," he added.

Mehalhel has visited Nigeria to try to get developmental support from the continent’s Association of National Olympic Committees.

He said he did not view Africa as effectively two groups - the Arab nations and the rest - but as “one big family”.

All the teams in Tunis were well dressed in tailor-made uniforms that feature the colours of their flag - paid for by development funding from the WFA, which has also provided shoes and equipment to National Federations.

Mehalhel, from Libya, chairs the IWF Development Commission but he has to make sure the money - cut from $850,000 (£680,000/€785,000) to about $600,000 (£480,000/€550,000) this year "because of the IWF’s financial situation" - is spread worldwide, not just in Africa.

The free flights and the fact that the African Championships was an Olympic qualifier led to a big increase in athletes this year, more than 120 compared with about 60 in the past two years.

Jalood and Mehalhel visited Tunisia’s national training centre with Mohamed Alharbi, an IWF Board member and general secretary of the Asian Weightlifting Federation.

"We have discussed idea of an academy, or a training institute, and we talked about how Tunisia might collaborate with the IWF to help other nations benefit from these facilities," said Mehalhel.

"We have asked the Tunisia Federation to make a proposal."

Mohamed Ban Amor from the Tunisian Federation claimed the the training centre could be used as a development centre "for weightlifting in Africa and other continents", and also as a centre for coaching and refereeing seminars.

If they had formal support from the IWF and WFA, the Tunisian Sports Ministry and National Olympic Committee would put in more money to build a restaurant and an accommodation block.

Ogolla said he would rather see funding spent on coaching, and that if a development centre was established in Tunisia, it would “widen the gap when we want to bridge it”.

Paid travel to and from the training centre would be essential, he said. Ogolla also said that while one athlete would benefit from attending a training centre, money spent on coaches benefits more people because knowledge is passed on to athletes and the impact on development is higher.

He said, "My vision is that one day in Africa we will have a formal education system for coaches.

"No coaching structure is in place in Kenya or anywhere else in sub-Saharan Africa."

Ogolla claimed athletes leave the sport early because they have to find a job, and coaches "have no structure for them to benefit from a coaching qualification".

A partnership with a university, and a formalised coaching set-up would enable qualified coaches to make a living "not just in Kenya but anywhere in the world".

He said he raised the subject at the WFA Congress in Tunis but received no clear answer.

"We are waiting for direction from the IWF," Ogolla said.

"The IWF coaches licence scheme is up and running in Europe, but nothing like that is happening in Africa.

"We have nothing to be proud of in that respect.

"There are three zones in Africa [nNorth; East West and Central; Southern]. 

"Why not ask all of us to come up with a proposal?"