Name: Chen Xiexia Date of Birth: August 1, 1983, in Taian, Shandong province Olympic entry: weightlifting, women's 48kg Career highlights: won gold in the snatch, and clean and jerk, 2007 World Championships World record holder Chen Xiexia has won a huge battle even before stepping on to the Olympic weightlifting stage, beating teammate and key rival Yang Lian for the Games berth. It was such a tight decision that the weightlifting team was announced last among the 28 sports in China. 'This is the hardest decision I've made in my life,' said Chinese weightlifting chief Ma Wenguang. 'Both of them are the best lifters in the world, but Chen performed a little better than Yang this year ... that's how we made the decision. 'I think this is the charm of sports, nobody is a sure bet. Even though Yang won a couple of titles at the world championships, she could be beaten by a stronger athlete like Chen.' Chen's best performance came in 2007 when she won the 48kg snatch, the clean and jerk, and also recorded the highest total score at the worlds, while Yang dominated the three categories in 2006. Sohu.com reported that Chen lifted 2kg more during the in-team qualification process, but other media speculated that Yang's drug-tainted career was the reason for her missing out on the Olympics. Yang, 30, was banned for two years after testing positive at the 2001 National Games, an incident that upset officials who were determined to send 'clean and fair' athletes to the Games. Ma has made no comment on the speculation, but insisted that a clean event would always be at the top of his agenda. 'Weightlifting has been associated with drugs for years,' he said. 'A lot of European athletes were banned from the Games and I understand the drug thing can kill the sport. 'So, before I really count how many gold medals we may be able to win, I have to make sure all of my athletes are clean. That's the most important part of my job.'
