Weightlifter Chen Xiexia is ready to write her name into history when she steps onto the platform at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Gymnasium.
The pint-sized powerhouse has been lifting 20 kg more than her rivals and is strongly tipped to snatch the gold today.
Weightlifter Chen Xiexia practices at a training hall in the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Gymnasium on Thursday. She shoulders the hope of grabbing the first gold medal for China. [Agencies] |
In fact, officials are so sure of winning that they have made the 48kg event one of the earliest medal matches of the Beijing Olympics, in order to get the host nation off to a bright start in its quest to top the medal table.
Her coaches believed that the 25-year-old has a clear edge over her rivals. The only suspense is how long it will take her to win.
As the women's 10m air rifle competition, which starts at 10:30am, features two possible Chinese winners, Chen can become the first Chinese gold medalist of the Games - if she is quick enough.
The Guangdong girl shrugged off the pressure of competing in front of the home fans. Speaking after her first training at the venue on Wednesday, she told Xinhua: "I feel settled down here, which is much better than competing abroad."
Chen only took some basic lifts during Wednesday's training. Along with other Chinese weightlifters, she had already taken part in several national training camps since spring.
"The current training intensity accounts for only 50 percent of what we usually did," she said.
Ma Wenhui, coach of the Chinese women's weightlifting team, said he would calm the athletes down and get them focused. "I told them not to think about the gold medal, but to give their best performance," he said.
Chen almost could not compete, when she pulled a leg muscle in July and missed some important training time. "I felt depressed, but I never gave up," she said.
Chinese weightlifting team chief Ma Wenguang told Xinhua that Chen has recovered well from her injury.
However, Chen declined to talk about those rivals, which includes defending champion Nurcan Taylan and Sibel Ozkan, as well as two Thai lifters. Turkish rookie Ozkan is in good form, revealing her best training results at 100kg in snatch and 122 kg in clean and jerk, while Chen entered only a total of 215 kg for the Games, 7kg lighter than her opponent.