One Chinese female lifter and one Turkish strongman will step into intense competition on Wednesday to defend their Olympic champion titles.
In weightlifting events at the Beijing Olympics, there are four defending champions: Nurcan Taylan of Turkey, China's Chen Yanqing and Liu Chunhong, and another Turk Taner Sagir. China's Shi Zhiyong who has been upgraded to 62kg category from 58kg class after the Athens Games,
Liu Chunhong, 23, will face great challenge from Russian lifter Oxana Slivenko, 21, two-time gold medalist in 2006 and 2007 world championships.
The Russian strongwoman has two world records, snatch and total, in hand. She set both records by breaking Liu's previous scores. However, it seemed the rookie tried to keep a low key before the game as she was only ranked third on the list with an entry total of 250kg, 26kg less than her own world record. The entry total of Liu, who got injured in 2006 and came back last year, is 265kg, ranking first.
However, Liu's compatriot Chen Yanqing, who became the first female lifter to successfully defend the Olympic champion title after winning women's 58kg class on Monday, had a full confidence in Liu.
"It's just because I competed earlier than Liu, or I wouldn't be the first (to defend Olympic title)," Chen said Monday.
Turkish strongman Sagir, 23, will try to defend his honor later on Wednesday in the men's 77kg event beginning 7 p.m.
His female counterpart Taylan, 25, dropped off competition after failing three attempts in snatch in the first day event of women's 48kg category.
The road for Sagir, also a gold medalist in 2006 world championships, to defend the title, will be more tougher than Liu as more top lifters have been prepared to grab the gold, including two Armenians, Ara Khachatryan, runner-up in 2006 world championships, and Gevorg Davtyan, 2007 world championships silver medalist Oleg Perepechenov of Russian, bronze medalist in Athens, and China's veteran Li Hongli, 2005 world champion.
However, he at least has a little luck as another potential gold contender, Bulgarian rising star Ivan Stoitsov, 2007 world champion, didn't come to Beijing due to a doping scandal, which kept the whole Bulgarian weightlifting team out of door at Beijing Games.
China's Li Hongli, 28, will seize the chance, which is probably his last try at Olympics, to fight for the gold.
"I will make all-out efforts," he said during pre-Games training sessions.
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2008)