Li Wenwen won China’s seventh gold medal in weightlifting and crushed three Olympic records during her set on Aug. 2.
Crushing Olympic records: Li, 21, competed in the +87 kilograms (192 pounds) weightlifting event and her win marked China’s seventh gold in weightlifting, which equals the record number set by the Soviet Union in 1976, reported the Olympics website.
- She took the gold with 140 kilograms (309 pounds) in the snatch, 180 kilograms (397 pounds) in the clean and jerk and totaled 320 kilograms (706 pounds).
- Li is the current world record holder at 335 kilograms (739 pounds).
- She injured her waist area one week before the Olympic Games Test Event in 2019, but was still able to compete, according to her Olympics profile.
- The weightlifting champion also revealed that she slept on the floor in the athletes’ village and during all her competitions because the beds are “too soft.”
Weightlifting history: Li first began weightlifting when she was 10 and started training at the age of 12.
- She was 18 when she started competing in national competitions.
- She was not given the opportunity to begin weightlifting at first. Coaches from Anshan Sport School in the People’s Republic of China scouted her school for athletes but did not select her.
- Li contacted the coaches from the school and they eventually gave her the chance to train.
- When she was 19, she dominated against Russia’s Tatiana Kashirina at the World Championships.
