Winning an Olympic medal is the easy part for China's female weightlifters.
Making the team is the tough task.
China holds most of the records in women's weightlifting, and competition is fierce. Being on the plane to Athens almost certainly means a podium finish.
In Sydney four years ago, China won four of the seven gold medals up for grabs in the women's event; and with the country taking home 19 golds at the Weightlifting World Championships last November, no one is betting against a clean sweep in Greece.
But becoming one of the famed "Bar Belles" isn't easy. Restrictions imposed by the International Olympic Committee limit the number of lifters from any country to a mere four.
China delayed the announcement of its squad for a week because competition has been so intense, with a busload of talented young stars vying for a seat.
In the end, Li Zhuo (48 kg), Chen Yanqing (58 kg), Liu Chunhong (69 kg) and Tang Gonghong (over-75 kg) made the grade.
Wang Mingjuan (48 kg), a superstar in China, was not on the official team list.
"We've improved in recent years. I'd attribute that to the hard and scientific training," said China Weightlifting Association President Ma Wenguang.
Spearheading the team is 19-year-old Liu Chunhong, who showed her class by lifting three 69-kilogram gold medals and beating five records at the world championships in Vancouver last year.
Since bursting onto the scene just a couple of years ago, the powerful Liu has smashed more than a dozen world marks in both the snatch and clean and jerk. And she's still a teenager.
"We told them not to worry about the Games or their rivals. They ought to attempt to lift a bar beyond their own limit," said head coach Li Shunzhu.
While China's men's team has not had the same success, Zhan Xugang will be chasing his third consecutive Olympic gold in the 77-kg class.
"Hopefully we can be lucky enough to get four (golds). The men are determined to secure at least one gold and strive for two," said Ma.
But the team will be under a drug cloud in Athens after Shang Shichun, a 75-kg gold medalist at last year's world championships, was booted off the roster for failing a dope test in Vancouver.
Shang, who set three world records at the championships, was banned for two years by the Chinese Weightlifting Association, which vocally lambasted her for bringing the team into disrepute. Shang's coach, Jiang Xuehui, was banned from the sport for a year.
"China's weightlifters should show their real best at the Athens Olympics and be completely clean when they participate," warned Ma.
While weightlifting may be a marginal sport in many countries, it is a hot ticket in China, with hundreds of weightlifting schools and around 1,000 trained coaches.
(China Daily August 6, 2004)
