Puzzled coaches consider China's Olympic weightlifting team

(BEIJING, June 26) -- Weightlifting powerhouse China is trying to solve a riddle: who will be on the official roster for the Beijing Olympic Games? With too many top candidates in many classes, coaches are scratching their heads, troubled about the decision as to who will represent China in August.

The Chinese can only send a maximum of 6 male weightlifters and 4 female weightlifters to Beijing. In addition, regulations limit the number of national representatives per class; 2 Chinese male weightlifters may compete in each class, but only 1 female is allowed in each weigh category.

The Chinese men want to grab at least two gold medals among the five competitive classes in which they have qualified weightlifters: 56kg, 62kg, 69kg, 77kg and 85kg. Most likely, six weightlifters will be sent to compete in these five classes, with the 62kg and 69kg classes considered the most important. Athens 69kg champion Zhang Guozheng, Athens 62kg champion Shi Zhiyong, 2007 World Weightlifting Championships 62kg gold medalist Fan Yang and rising star Liao Hui who beat Zhang and Shi in the 2008 National Championships will likely be chosen for these two classes. However, since China has so many top ranking weightlifters in other classes, such as 2007 World Weightlifting Championships 77kg bronze medalist Li Hongli, 2005 World Weightlifting Championships 85kg silver medalist Lu Yong and 2007 World Weightlifting Championships 56kg silver medalist Li Zheng, they cannot use the same tactic in both 62kg and 69kg classes to guarantee gold medals. The question before coaches now is to win four at most with two in the pocket, or to win as many as five with the risk of ending with just one.

The situation is even more complicated for women's competitions. The Chinese have gold medal contenders in 48kg, 58kg, 63kg, 69kg and 75kg classes, although they can only send four elites to the Games. 48kg and 58kg classes are regarded as must-wins. They have to choose one weightlifter between 48kg world record holder Yang Lian, 2007 World Weightlifting Championships 48kg winner Chen Xiexia and 2005 World Weightlifting Championships 48kg winner Wang Mingjuan to win the gold in the 48kg class. For the 58kg class, Athens gold medalist Chen Yanqing will probably represent China again. For the 63kg class, world record holder Liu Haixia and 2006 World Weightlifting Championships title holder Ouyang Xiaofang have to compete for one spot. 69kg Athens gold medalist Liu Chunhong just recovered from a series of injuries. She has been facing strong challenges from Russian weightlifters in the past three years, though she is still favored to win this class. 2006 and 2007 World Weightlifting Championships 75kg gold medalist Cao Lei is China's only hope in this class. To choose four out of five classes and to pick one out of two or three equally-qualified weightlifters will be a struggle for coaches.

No matter who goes to Beijing, the representatives have the responsibility of retaining China's weightlifting powerhouse status, starting with winning the first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics.