Topic: News: 2008 Olympics News

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Chinese weightlifter Chen Xiexia faces heavy pressure

BEIJING: When Chinese weightlifter Chen Xiexia grips the barbell Saturday, the weights won't be her only burden. As the favorite in the women's 48 kilogram (106 pound) category, the 25-year-old world champion is under pressure to give the host nation a perfect start to the Olympics.

The competition is scheduled to end at about the same time as the women's 10-meter air rifle the first two events of the games so if Chen wins she could receive the first gold medal. If she fails, her disappointment will be shared by millions of Chinese who count on weightlifting a sport China normally dominates to boost the country's overall medal tally.

The ponytailed native of Guangdong province showed no nerves on Thursday, barely glancing at the pack of reporters watching her practice. Afterward she declined to talk even to Chinese journalists, while team officials sought to downplay the expectations.

"In terms of weightlifting, whether it would be the first gold medal in the games or not doesn't make any difference," Chinese weightlifting boss Ma Wenguang said. "I never put unnecessary pressure on my lifters.

"Women's team coach Ma Wenhui said the pressure would only help the Chinese athletes, "because we can turn it into power." China has the strongest team, he said, although the rest of the world has "one or two lifters who can compete with us in every category.

"China won five weightlifting gold medals in the last Olympics and hopes to do even better in Beijing, where it's represented by six men and four women the maximum allowed. While Chinese women are big favorites in the 58 kg (128 pound), 69 kg (152 pound) and 75 kg (165 pound) categories, Chen is coming into the lightest division with only a slight edge on her closest opponents.

They are both from Turkey defending Olympic titleholder Nurcan Taylan and 20-year-old Sibel Ozkan, who made the Chinese camp nervous after reportedly saying that she was lifting world-record weights in practice. Taiwan and South Korea also have strong challengers, while Thailand has two lifters aiming for medals in the category.

"In the women's 48 kg, we have 14 lifters competing against each other and everyone wants to get a medal," Thailand coach Zhang Baoshun said. "We are aiming to learn from China because they are very powerful in this sport.

"That's certainly true for Chen's division, where she was competing with world-record holder Yang Lian and former world champion Wang Mingjuan for a spot on the Chinese team. The coaches picked Chen, who won last year's world championship and this year's Chinese title, at the last minute after determining she had recovered from an injury she suffered in July.

To win as many golds as possible, China's 10 lifters are spread out across nine of the 15 weight categories. The Chinese have only doubled up in one weight class, with Liao Hui and Shi Zhiyong both competing for the men's 69 kg (152 pound) title.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Chen battles the Turks as Olympic weightlifting starts

BEIJING, Aug 7, 2008 -

Chen Xiexia faces a twin Turkish obstacle when she gets China's drive to the Olympics weightlifting summit underway on Saturday.

China is a strong contender for eight gold medals in the sport at its home Olympics.

“China have dominated weightlifting for a number of years so we know it's going to be tough when you have to compete with Chinese weightlifters,” Canada weightlifting coach Guy Grevette said.

The first Olympic gold medal on offer is in Chen's 48kg category, one of four women's classes where the hosts are favoured to win.

Fellow world champion Cao Lei (75kg), along with Chen Yanqing (58kg) and Liu Chunhong (69kg) are also ranked top of their respective weight classes in the women's division.

Although none of China's male lifters are rated top of their class they remain leading contenders to win four of the eight categories, as the home team attempts to surpass their five-gold haul at the Athens Olympics four years ago.

However, coach Zhang Baoshun is not making any firm predictions.

“Every athlete in our team has a 50 percent chance of winning,” he said.

The initial focus will be on Chen when the competition begins, with the tiny lifter overcoming injury in a pre-Olympic competition to win selection over her world record-holder compatriot Yang Lian.

Barring her way are two formidable Turks -- defending Games champion Nurcan Taylan and junior world champion Sibel Ozkan, with their coach Talat Unlu tipping the fast-developing Ozkan to upstage the more senior Chen and Nurcan.

However, with countries restricted to a maximum four women competitors, Thailand, North and South Korea and Belarus stand out in the 53kg, 63kg, and over 75kg divisions where China is not represented.

Nastassia Novikava, the Belarussian who on paper is the strongest 53kg lifter, said: “There are no Chinese athletes, so the main competition will be against Thailand.”The Thai entry in her class is Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon who broke two world records last year when she changed her name from Chanpim Kantatian for added luck.

The Chinese men's squad, headed by defending lightweight champion Shi Zhiyong, faces tougher competition than their women, according to Romanian coach Marin Zaldou.

“China, Russia, Belarus are all very good but the competition is open. It's possible something unexpected will happen,” he told AFP.

Perennial powerhouse Russia, with the formidable Oleg Perepechenov in their ranks, will look to dominate the heavier weight classes, while the Belarussians rule the 85kg and 105kg divisions with Andrei Rybakou and Andrei Aramnau.

Vietnam, North Korea, and South Korea each have lifters favoured to win the lower weight classes, while Iran is tipped to take the 94kg class.

After Iran's world record holder and Sydney and Athens Olympics champion Hossein Rezazadeh chose to sit out the Beijing Games on doctor's orders to cure a leg injury however, the title of the world's strongest man is wide open.

This is expected to be closely contested by Russian world number two Evgeny Chigishev and current European champion, Vienna-born Matthias Steiner who won German citizenship a year after placing seventh in Athens.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Taylan confident of retaining title as weightlifting action kicks off

Weightlifting competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing kick off today and will continue until Aug. 19, and Turkish lifter Nurcan Taylan is determined to successfully defend her 48 kilogram crown. The 48 kilogram competition this morning is one of the first events in the Beijing Olympic Games.

"Gold, silver, bronze medals, they are all possible as Thailand, China and Turkey are all very strong in the women's 48 kilogram event," said Taylan's coach Osman Nuri Vural. “But gold is what I want. We sent two [women] lifters, Thailand sent two and China one. It will be a thrilling competition,” he added.

The 25-year-old Taylan, Turkey’s first-ever woman Olympic medalist, beat Li Zhuo of China to take the women's 48 kilogram gold at the Athens Games. Taylan's compatriot Sibel Özkan will also be competing in this division. Both of them lifted a total of 196 kilograms at the European Weightlifting Championships last April, but Taylan grabbed the gold because of a lighter body weight.

However, Vural and Taylan have both refused to comment on the Chinese opponent, Chen Xiexia. Chinese weightlifters have the traditional advantage in this division; however, at the 2004 Athens Olympics, Chinese strongwoman Li slipped and was beaten by Taylan.

"I want to make history again. I believe God will give me what I deserve, because I try so hard," Taylan stated.

The heaviest category for women weighing over 75 kilograms also promises to be a colorful contest. Korean Jang Mi-Ran is a likely candidate for gold, but fans should keep an eye on tattooed Samoan lifter Ele Opeloge, who, along with other athletes from a smattering of tiny Pacific islands, has risen to the top league.

Men’s competition

In men’s competition young Turkish lifter Taner Sağır, who won the gold medal in the 77- kilogram category in Athens, will also be vying for gold again.

Sağır set new Olympic records in the 77-kilogram snatch, clean and jerk and combined events to become the youngest Olympic champ in the weightlifting history at the age of 19. The Turkish nation wants him to repeat that feat in Beijing. Bunyamin Sudaş is another Turkish medal hope. The others are Sedat Artıc and İzzet İnce.

A showdown between German super-heavyweight lifter Matthias Steiner and Latvian parliamentarian Viktors Scerbatihs is likely to provide one of the most thrilling spectacles in Beijing.

The men's super-heavyweight event on Aug. 19 could be set for some surprises after Hossein Rezazadeh, known as the “Iranian Hercules,” pulled out of the Olympics due to a knee injury. What looked like a sure win for Rezazadeh, the strongest man in the world, has turned into a platform for Steiner and Scerbatihs.

In the lighter categories, lifters such as Manuel Minginfel from the island of Yap, a mere speck on the world map, and Papua New Guinean Dika Toua, are just about the only medal hopes for their tiny nations.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Chinese weightlifter wins gold, breaks Olympic record
By Lindsey Craig

China's Chen Xiexia broke an Olympic record and became the first gold medallist in weightlifting on Day 1 of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

Xiexia, 25, lifted 117kg in the clean and jerk, which, combined with her 95kg lift in the snatch, made her the Olympic record holder in the women's 48kg class, with 212kg in total. She's also the 2007 world champion and holds the world record in the clean and jerk.

Taking silver was Turkey's Ozkan Sibel, who lifted 199kg total (88kg in the snatch and 111kg in the clean and jerk). Sibel, 20, is still of junior age.

In third place was Chinese Taipei's Chen Wei-Ling, 26, who lifted 196kg total (84kg in the snatch and 112 in the clean and jerk).

Canada's Marilou Dozois-Prévost placed 10th, lifting 166kg in total (76kg in the snatch and 90kg in the clean and jerk).

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Chen wins China's first gold of Beijing Olympics

BEIJING (AP) — Chen Xiexia has won China's first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics by lifting a total of 212 kilograms in the women's 48-kg weightlifting category.

Turkey's Sibel Ozkan won the silver medal Saturday while Chen Wei-Ling of Taiwan finished third. Chen Xiexia dominated the competition from start to finish, lifting 95 kilogram in the snatch and 117 kilogram in the clean and jerk, an Olympic record.

Ozkan was a distant second with a total of 199 kilograms, 3 kilograms ahead of Chen Wei-Ling. The 2004 Olympic champion, Nurcan Taylan of Turkey, was eliminated after three failed attempts in the snatch.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Chen wins women's 48kg to give China first gold

BEIJING -- Chen Xiexia gave China its first gold of the 2008 Olympics when she won the women's 48kg weightlifting title on Saturday.

Yelling "jia you!" (come on!) to pump her up in front of a roaring gallery, the 25 year-old world champion succeeded on all six attempts as she set two new Olympic records with a lift total of 212kg and a final clean and jerk heave of 117kg on the way to victory.

Chen equaled the four year-old clean and jerk Olympic record of 115kg on her second heave.

She wrapped herself up in China's red flag as she waved to the crowd from the victory podium.

World junior champion Sibel Ozkan of Turkey took silver with Wei-Ling Chen of Taiwan winning bronze.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Chen wins Olympic weightlifting gold

BEIJING (AP) -Chen Xiexia won China's first gold medal of the Beijing Games on Saturday, setting two Olympic records in the women's 48-kilogram category.

Sibel Ozkan of Turkey won the silver medal, while Chen Wei-ling of Taiwan finished third.

"I have been thinking of winning a medal but never thought it would turn out to be the first gold medal for China,'' Chen said. "I'm very happy and I think I did a very good job.''

Buoyed by a roaring home crowd, the 25-year-old world champion dominated both events, lifting 95 kgs in the snatch and 117 kgs in the clean and jerk, an Olympic record.

Her total score of 212 kgs was also an Olympic high score, beating the previous record by 2 kgs.

Ozkan was a distant second with a total of 199 kgs, 3 kgs ahead of Chen Wei-ling. The Taiwanese had a shot at the silver medal, but failed in her final attempt at 115 kgs, collapsing to the floor as the bar dropped.

The 2004 Olympic champion, Nurcan Taylan of Turkey, was eliminated after three failed attempts in the snatch. Afterward, Taylan said she was not well prepared for the competition.

"I only had 20 to 30 training days and I had injuries, so I could be better,'' she said.

It was clear already after the snatch, in which the bar is raised above the head in one continuous motion, that Chen was in a class of her own. She was already 7 kgs ahead of Ozkan at that stage.

"Chen is very good,'' the 20-year-old Ozkan said, adding she was satisfied with the silver.

Chen continued to dominate in the clean and jerk, a two-step lift in which the bar is first held at shoulder level, and then pushed overhead.

She was the only one to successfully complete all of her six lifts in the competition, struggling only slightly on her final clean and jerk.

"I had the special support from the Chinese audience, and therefore I don't think I was under great pressure,'' Chen said.

Wrapped in a Chinese flag, she received the gold medal and sang along with the crowd to the Chinese national anthem. It will likely be sung many more times at the gym of the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics as China is expected to win at least five gold medals in weightlifting, a sport it has dominated in recent years.

Seventeen-year-old Long Quing is next up for the Olympic host in the men's 56kg category on Sunday. He faces strong challengers, however, in world champion Cha Kum Kol of North Korea and 2008 Asian champion Anh Tuan Hoang of Vietnam.

China doesn't have any entries in Sunday's other competition, the women's 53 kg division, where the top spot looks set to be a three-way battle among Thailand, South Korea and Belarus.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Lifting China
By Rebecca Blumstein, Ellen Zhu contributed

TANGLI VILLAGE, China -- As a child, Chen Yanqing was the fastest girl in this farming village. She often outran the boys. One day at a sporting match, a coach noticed her throwing skills and took out a tape measure. She was 11 years old, and the muscles in her arms and legs were extraordinary.


Many of China's athletes come from the countryside. WSJ's Rebecca Blumenstein looks at the
upside and downside of a girl's decision to leave her family and become an Olympic weightlifter.

So was the proposition her parents received: Release their daughter to the state, and she could go away to sports school and improve her future, with possible financial benefits for the entire family.

"It was rock hearted of us, but we had no choice," says her father, a farmer named Chen Zufu. "If we didn't send her away to sports school, she would have ended up a farmer." In rural China, that likely means an annual income of less than $2,000.

Chen Yanqing, now 29, went on to reach the heights of global competitive weightlifting. Her rise helps to explain why many think China may win the medal count in the Beijing Games -- unseating the U.S. from its spot as Summer Olympics medal king.

China is in a position to compete for the top spot because of its unique mix of central planning and poverty that drives an intense desire to get ahead. Almost all the 52 Chinese athletes who won gold medals in Athens in 2004, including Chen Yanqing, came from the nation's system of elite athletic boarding schools. The primary recruiting grounds for those schools is the poor countryside, where some 700 million of China's 1.3 billion citizens dream of joining the nation's economic renaissance.

As the world record holder in the snatch lift, Chen Yanqing is key to China's hopes when she competes on Monday. "A rich person would never let his child do this," says Mr. Chen, Yanqing's father.

These athletes lifted their nation to the No. 3 medal spot in Sydney in 2000, and to the No. 2 spot in Athens in 2004. This month, their undisguised intention is to finish on top.

Out of Poverty

Mr. Chen's decision to hand over Yanqing has borne fruit -- a gold medal in Athens, a 2006 world record that she still holds and the opportunity to win gold again as part of the first Chinese Olympic team to compete at home. Her success helped lift her entire family out of poverty, according to interviews with her parents, sister and coach. In her small village, on a remote island off of Suzhou, two hours west of Shanghai, she is a hero.

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Chen Yanqing's parents

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"Children in the village all worship her," says Zou Haoming, who runs a family hotel near Chen Yanqing's home.

But Yanqing's success has come at a price, only part of which her parents foresaw: the heartache of saying goodbye to her village, her friends and her family, the loneliness of long separation. "When kids in other families were sitting on the knees of grandpas, my daughter was suffering at the sport school. We were heartless parents," says her father.

Among the unexpected turns her story took, Yanqing left home because she was fast of foot -- yet wound up a weightlifter. That was the result of a strategic decision China made as female weightlifting prepared for its debut at the 2000 Sydney Games. Recognizing a big medal opportunity, China searched its vast pool of athletically elite females for promising weightlifters. At the 2004 Athens Games, the result was dramatic: Ms. Chen's gold medal was one of three that China won in female weightlifting, more than any other country. In two winning lifts, the clean and jerk (hoisting the weights in stages above one's head) and the snatch (lifting from the ground in a continuous motion), she hefted a combined 523.5 pounds. That's more than four times her body weight of about 130 pounds.

Weightlifting horrifies her mother, who refuses to attend her daughter's competitions. The elder Ms. Chen says female weightlifters suffer from callused hands and a stigma that helps explain why her daughter remains unmarried. "She is almost 30. That is very old, especially in the countryside," says her mother, Lu Liuyun, whose two older daughters are married. "My biggest wish is that she can marry. Her friend's kids are already grown up and she hasn't even started."

How Chen Yanqing feels about her father's decision to send her away at age 11 isn't clear: Like nearly all Chinese Olympians, she has been strictly sequestered from the media. Yanqing has a reputation for never complaining, and has seemingly accepted her life. In one of the smallest weight classes, she is amazingly lean for her strength. She sends her family pictures of herself in front of places they will never see, and calls when she can, reassuring them she is fine. Though she has been pressured to stick with her sport, she is clearly determined to win again. "Just watch me at the Games," she told China's President Hu Jintao when he visited China's weightlifters at practice last month, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Parental Misgivings

Her parents, however, have misgivings. They stand behind the rationale that drove their decision: Had they turned down the opportunity, their daughter may well have joined the next generation working the family rice paddy. But they wish they had understood -- or been fully informed about -- the implications of their decision. They thought the school would turn Yanqing into a teacher, as it does many of its students. Only the elite, after all, make it to the Olympics.

The Chens hadn't recognized how exceptional their daughter was. "We are farmers for generations. I hoped she could do something different," says her father. He cites a Chinese saying that the life of one teacher is better than that of 10 farmers. Still, he beams with pride as he talks about his daughter's accomplishments.

Her sister, Yanfen, doesn't plan to watch Yanqing compete. "The pressure is too much," says Yanfen. "Twenty years of her life were put into this sport."

Yanqing's athletic prowess was discovered 18 years ago amid hard times on the farm. Her father was trying to pay school fees for his three daughters, but money was scarce and he often had to borrow from friends and family. Most of the time, there was no meat to eat, so the family subsisted on vegetables and rice.

One day, Yanqing attended a sports match in Suzhou, four hours away by boat, where she caught the attention of Cao Xinmin. A former weightlifter who has coached some of China's best in that sport, Mr. Cao searched for rural kids in particular because they can "certainly endure more hardship" than urban kids. "Frankly speaking, no girl would enjoy weightlifting," he said. "Only after some achievements can you persist."

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Lu Liuyun, left, and Chen Zufu, right, hold a family photograph
of their daughter, Olympic weightlifter Chen Yanqing,
and her older sister Chen Yanhua.

Yanqing's ability to run and throw a softball impressed Mr. Cao. At home, she told her parents that a coach had measured her entire body at the competition. Shortly thereafter came a letter from a sports school inquiring about Yanqing. In the letter was an attractive offer: athletes who excelled would receive free tuition and government subsidies for life.

Mr. Chen agreed to it without too much thinking. If she became a teacher, she could come back to help on the family farm during the summer, he remembers discussing with his wife. "Our life was very difficult at that time," he recalls. "Yanqing could help to relieve the family pressures."

Her mother remembers feeling torn. Her daughter was not only a great athlete but also a good student, particularly in math. "I didn't know what to do. Suzhou is so far away. We had to take a boat to see her, and sports school is so difficult."

In 1989, as the summer holiday was about to finish, Mr. Chen started to pack luggage for his youngest daughter and made a special shopping trip to buy her new T-shirts. Knowing she was leaving soon, Yanqing cried. Then the family hired a boat that took her on the hours-long journey to the school.

Chen Yanfen, Yanqing's older sister, said she hated to see her sister leave. "She was so little," says Yanfen, who now lives with her husband and daughter in a village near her parents. Still, she said that the family hoped Yanqing would "jump over the dragon gate," a Chinese expression for achieving greatness.

Almost immediately, Yanqing became a weightlifter. On her parents' first visit to the Suzhou Juvenile Spare-time Sports School, her mother was shocked to find her daughter's hands so chafed that the skin was peeling off.

'No Pain, No Gain'

But her father advised Yanqing's coach to be strict with her. "No pain, no gain. Kids from poor families can stand the hardship. Yanqing is always a strong girl," Mr. Chen recalls telling her coach. "I hoped she could do well as quickly as possible so that our [financial] burdens could be relieved."

When her parents' visits ended, Yanqing cried.

As an athlete, she thrived. In 1995, Yanqing won her first gold medal at the Junior Asian Women Weightlifting Championship. The family didn't have TV at that time. So they didn't know until they got a letter from their daughter a few weeks later. Other gold medals followed, including at a 1997 world championship.

She did so well that at age 15 -- younger than most elite athletes -- she began receiving 617 yuan (about $88) a month for her food and school fees, enabling her father to concentrate on putting his other two daughters through high school and a technical training school. Over time, Yanqing's success helped raise the standard of living for her parents and sisters.

Her mother turned down invitations from Yanqing's coaches to watch her daughter compete. Seeing her lift so much weight, "I feel pain in my heart," she says. She also worried about her daughter's education. She says the athletes would have a little schooling in the early morning, and again in the evening after a long day of grueling workouts. "By the time she did her homework, she was too tired."

In 2000, the first year women's weightlifting became an Olympic event, Yanqing was the best lifter in her weight class on the Chinese team. But just before the list of athletes was set to be announced, Chinese sport officials heard a rumor that a secret North Korean competitor had lifted the same amount as Chen Yanqing, according to the state media reports confirmed by Yanqing's family. This competitor had never been seen at international games, but China's sport officials didn't want to blow a chance for a medal. Since each team can only enter competitors in four of seven categories, they scratched Yanqing from the Olympics lineup. The rumor turned out to be false -- and the weightlifter who took Yanqing's place in another weight class lost anyway.

Yanqing was devastated. Her performance suffered in other games after the Olympics. In 2001, she decided to retire and enrolled to study at Suzhou University.

Her parents supported her decision. "Yanqing told us women weightlifters have difficulties finding a date or a good job. People all thought they were fat and bad-looking. Yanqing is still slim and looks nice, but we wanted her to start up a normal life," her father says.

On May 4, 2004, while attending her sister's wedding, Yanqing got an urgent call from sports authorities. They wanted her to compete in the Athens Olympics, only three months off. She dropped everything, immersed herself in training and flew off to Athens.

Back home, her family -- along with the entire village -- watched her compete. When she won a gold medal, they celebrated with fireworks and candy.

Returning to retirement, Chen Yanqing entered business school at Suzhou University. But last year, Coach Cao and some local sports officials began urging her to compete in the Beijing Games, and lobbying her parents as well. Her father says that if she said no, it would have affected what job she would get in the future.

"Her future would be uncertain. As we have walked 80 kilometers, we should finish the remaining 20 kilometers," said Mr. Chen.

Struggling Afterward

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Chen Yanquing wearing medalist's laurels in Athens in 2004.

There is reason for concern. Many of China's athletes struggle after they leave the system. One of China's former weightlifting champions, Zou Chunlan, could only find work in a public bathroom until donors helped her buy a laundry, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Explaining why he encouraged her to compete again, Mr. Cao says, "It's very difficult to find another person with the strong mind, the experience, the control of skills and the stability in performance like her."

Her father wasn't sure. He was concerned about a steroid scandal that had hit some Chinese weightlifters, including a former teammate of Yanqing's who was found doping and was punished. But after warning her to watch everything she eats and drinks, he supported her decision to re-enter competition.

Even as his excitement builds about his daughter's performance in her homeland, Mr. Chen remains haunted by his decision to send her off as a little girl.

"I love her very much. I always tell people I do. But she herself rarely heard it. We could only ask her to take care of herself every time she called. Our care could only be extended to her over telephones," said Mr. Chen.

He hasn't seen her since January, when she was allowed to come home for a three-hour lunch. The last time Yanqing called was July 27, when she told her father she was doing fine and wouldn't be able to call again until after the Games.

Whatever happens during the Beijing Games, Mr. Chen hopes that afterward his daughter will land a vice director's position at the Suzhou sports bureau, along with a husband. "We hope Yanqing can find a man who will love her and take care of her," says Mr. Chen.