The wiry powerlifter had come through his least favoured disciplines - the squat and bench press - sitting comfortably in second overall, but knew he had the advantage over his main rival Canadian Rejean Talon in the dead lift.

“He (Talon) had a far better table than me coming into it, but I went in there very relaxed. I was there purely to enjoy myself,” Myers said.

“Going into the dead lift I was 12.5kg behind the Canadian, 15kg in reality because he was lighter than me, but I was confident of beating him.

“I started with a 235kg dead lift, 25kg more than the Canadian and from there he was chasing my total.

“When he missed his last lift at 230kg, I knew I’d won it.”

Myers still had his final lift to complete and shouldered a mammoth 250kg to claim the overall gold by a margin of 15kg.

It was his first world title from three attempts, having finished third overall in India in 2004 and second in the Czech Republic last year.

Competing in the over 50s, 67.5kg division, Myers was confident the 2008 World’s in Palm Springs, USA, would be his chance to shine.

Knowing Talon would be his main rival for the title Myers felt if he was within 20kg of the Canadian going into the dead lift he was a real chance of overall gold. He opened his account with a superb lift in the squat, bettering his PB by 5kg in lifting 220kg to sit just 7.5kg behind Talon.

Another strong performance in the bench press kept him within touching distance of the Canadian and a superb effort in the dead lift was enough to claim the title.

“Before I went over I thought I’d need around 265kg to win it, but I felt like I had at least 250kg in me and in the end that’s all it took,” he said.

In all he took home two silver and two gold - including the overall title - with Talon victorious in the bench press and squat and Myers winning the dead lift.

Japan’s Yoshinori Hara took the bronze with an overall total of 502.5kg, 92.5kg lower than Myers’ effort.