Chen wins women's 48kg to give China first gold

Beijing: Chen Xiexia gave China its first gold of the 2008 Olympics when she won the women's 48kg weightlifting title on Saturday.

Yelling "jia you!" (come on!) to pump her up in front of a roaring gallery, the 25 year-old world champion succeeded on all six attempts as she set two new Olympic records with a lift total of 212kg and a final clean and jerk heave of 117kg on the way to victory.

Chen equalled the four year-old clean and jerk Olympic record of 115kg on her second heave.

She wrapped herself up in China's red flag as she waved to the crowd from the victory podium.

World junior champion Sibel Ozkan of Turkey took silver with Wei-Ling Chen of Taiwan winning bronze.

The old total Olympic lift record for the weight class was 210kg set by Nurcan Taylan of Turkey, the gold medallist in Athens. But she was eliminated early Saturday by failing to heave three attempts at a modest 84kg in the snatch.