China Starts its Gold Rush

As a symbol of its powerful reemergence, China's first Olympic gold medal couldn't have been any more fitting. On Saturday, just 12 hours after the blaze of fireworks that opened the Beijing Games, Chen Xiexia, a Chinese female weightlifter in the 48 kg class, captured the host nation's first gold by heaving a combined total of 212 kg, an Olympic record. A 25-year-old who has dedicated 13 years of her life to this grueling sport, Chen thoroughly dominated the event, lifting 13 kg more than Turkish silver medalist Sibel Ozkan. A capacity crowd watched the Chinese champion's Herculean display — weightlifting may be a sporting sideshow in other countries, but in China it is prime-time viewing.

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That's largely because China's weightlifting squad is a key component of the country's strategy to top the gold-medals table in Beijing. During the 1980s, China's sports czars unveiled a so-called "gold-medal strategy" that would bring Olympic glory to the nation, and weightlifting was one of its first targets because it offers a plethora of medals in its different weight classes. China's team leaders have confidently predicted nine medals in the sport, one for each of the weight categories in which the nation's athletes are competing. It is an audacious prophecy, but not at all unrealistic. At the 2007 World Championships, where Chen claimed the top spot in her flyweight division, the Chinese team won seven golds, five more than their closest competitors, Russia and Belarus.

The victory was sweetened by the fact that last month, a leg injury had put Chen's Olympic appearance in doubt. But she recovered quickly to compete with brisk determination, capping each successful lift with a brief bow of the head. The businesslike approach contrasted with other competitors, whose faces often ran the gamut of emotion, as they willed every muscle fiber to defy gravity's pull on the weights they were hoisting. But none was any match for Chen. A pair of Thais who had been considered possible threats to the Chinese woman wilted under the pressure. So did a Turkish gold medalist in Athens, who failed to make a single successful lift.

In fact, Chen's real rival for the limelight came from a completely different sport. Just before Chen began chalking her callused hands, Du Li, an Athens gold medalist in the 10-meter air rifle, took her own shot at making history as China's inaugural gold medalist in Beijing. But it was no contest. Although Du had been favored to win her event, she managed only fifth place, and afterwards dissolved into tears in front of a sympathetic group of Chinese media. Competing on home turf can frazzle the nerves just as easily as it can inspire record-breaking performances.

By the end of Day 1 of full competition, China had collected another gold, courtesy of Pang Wei, a male marksman in the 10-meter air pistol competition. With its pair of golds, the host country was already atop the gold-medals table, a possible harbinger of glories to come. In the next few days, China should continue dominating in the weightlifting competition, and diving is expected to bring another golden harvest. Then will likely come stellar performances in badminton and table tennis. Watch out for Team China.