Chen Xiexia

Hot favorite strongwoman Chen Xiexia shrugged off the pressure of competing in front of the home fans after her first training at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) in Beijing on Wednesday.

"I feel settled down here, which is much better than competing abroad," said the 25-year-old Chinese world champion in the women's 48kg category.

In her first training at BUAA, Chen only took some basic lifts to get adapted to the upcoming competition, which will started here on Saturday, one day after the official opening of the Beijing Olympics.

"Current training intensity only accounts for 50 percent of what we usually did," Chen said.

Ma Wenhui, coach of the Chinese women's weightlifting team, said he would make the athletes calm down and get them well-prepared. "I asked them not to think about the gold medal but to make their best performance," Ma said.

In July, Chen pulled the muscle of her left leg in training, which nearly cost her Olympic berth and triggered concerns about her form at the Beijing Games.

"I felt depressed over the injury, but I never give up," she said.

Chinese weightlifting team leader Ma Wenguang told Xinhua that Chen has well recovered from her injury. "We had an objective evaluation and concluded that she can participate in the Olympics," he said.

In naming four main rivals from Turkey and Thailand for Chen, Ma still pins hope on Chen to claim the first weightlifting gold, which may also be China's first at the Olympics.

"I hope her to overcome all the difficulties to claim the gold for our country," he said.

However, Chen, gold medalist of the 2007 World Championships, declined to talk about her opponents.

Turkish rookie Sibel Ozkan revealed her best training results at 100kg in snatch and 122 kg in clean and jerk, while Chen's entry total for the Olympics is 215 kg, seven kilograms lighter.

"Everybody hopes to get a gold medal. I hope to win the gold too. I'm ready to win," Ozkan said.

On August 2, Thai weightlifting team leader Boossaba Yodbangtoey also reminded the Chinese to pay attention to Ozkan in an interview with Xinhua.

Another Turkish strongwoman, defending champion Nurcan Taylan, and two Thai lifters will also pose big threats to Chen in her way to claim the title in Beijing.

On Wednesday, the Chinese weightlifting team, including all 10 lifters for the Olympics, showed up in the training hall for the first time. All of them only had basic training and were busy having sauna and jogging to control body weight.

(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2008)