The Chinese lifters, who raked in five golds at the Sydney Olympics, press hard upon an even stronger showing at the Athens Olympics to defense the glory of the weightlifting powerhouse.

According to Ma Wenguang, president of the Chinese Weightlifting Association, China has pinned its gold hope largely on women lifters with an expectation of three to four golds at the Athens Games.

Few would bet against the Chinese strongwomen, who swept all golds in the four disciplines they took part in at the Sydney Games, continuing the run. Another clean sweep by the women squad, including Li Zhuo in the 48-kilo category, Chen Yanqing in 58, Liu Chunhong in 69 and Tang Gonghong in over-75, is still a prospect.

China's less dominant strongmen, meanwhile, should win one or two gold medals at the Games, with Wu Meijin in the 56-kilo division, Le Maosheng in 62, and Zhang Guozheng in 69 the prominent gold hope. China grabbed one gold out of the eight men's divisions at the Sydney Games.

High expectations

Although weightlifting rarely makes headlines in newspapers, Chinese lifters' saga on international arenas thrusts the sport into the public eye and makes it one of the country's most successful Olympic sports. China won 19 gold medals at the Weightlifting World Championships last November with both the men's and women's team finishing first in the final ranking. Their strong showings bred high expectations among the public and the stakes will be high in Athens. But they believe the pressure on their shoulders will only sharpen their aim and ultimately serve them well.

Ma Wenguang, who has a number of hopefuls to be picked to mount the Athens platform, believed his bright prospects were even more competitive than those in Sydney.

"We've witnessed improvements these years. I'd attribute them to the hard and science-oriented training," Ma said of his lifters who have long had Athens in sights.

However, Ma warned an improved team and better records at major international competitions implied nothing of breezy days in Athens as their rivals are doing well.

Asian, European lifters prevail

At the Weightlifting World Championships last November, Turkish superstar and double Olympic champion Halil Mutlu changed from 56-kilo class to 62-kilo and scored a nonetheless overwhelming victory.

Olympic super-heavy weight champion Hossein Rezazadeh of Iran also added a World Championships gold to his rich collection.

At the Sydney Games, Asian and European weightlifters garnered 12 out of the 15 gold medals while the United States, Mexico, and Colombia clinched one each. According to the statistics from World Championships last year and the International Weightlifting Federation's 2004 world rankings, lifters from Asia and Europe will continue to prevail in Athens.

China, Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Thailand, Ukraine, Kazakstan, Romania, and Games host Greece set to expand their winning turf on the Olympic arena.

Beyond limit

Faced with heated rivalries in Athens, Li Shunzhu, headcoach of the Chinese women's weightlifting squad, said the strongwomen's training and sets of selection and mock trials aim to push liftersto challenge themselves.

"The principle of the training and trial is to challenge their own limit," said Li. "We told them not to worry about the Games or their rivals. They ought to attempt to lift a bar beyond their own limit."

In a drive to build up experience as well as confidence for the Olympics, the weightlifting center made arrangements of mock competitions, insisting on the beyond-limit guidelines.

On the men's side, the competition is much tougher and more suspense hinges on the final successful snatches and jerks.

Fifteen titles on offer

The Athens Olympics, running from August 13 to 29, has a total of 15 golds on offer in this power sport.

Weightlifting was on the program of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 and women's weightlifting was introduced into the Olympic program at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

During the Athens Olympics, weightlifting is held in the Nikaia Olympic Weightlifting Hall. The competition schedule runs through ten competition days, from August 14 to 25, with rest days on August 17 and 22.

The Olympic men's weightlifting competitions are categorized in eight bodyweight divisions including 56, 62, 69, 77, 85, 94, 105 and over-105-kilo, and seven bodyweight categories for women, 48, 53, 58, 63, 69, 75 and over-75-kilo.

The total number of participants in the Athens Olympic weightlifting competitions is 260, of which 170 are men and 90 women.

Following is the Chinese weightlifting team:

Women: Li Zhuo, Chen Yanqing, Liu Chunhong, Tang Gonghong

Men: Wu Meijin, Shi Zhiyong, Le Maosheng, Zhang Guozheng, Zhan Xugang, Yuan Aijun

Source: Xinhua