China's Zhang Guozheng cheers after he won gold in the men's 69 kg (group A) weighlifting competition at the Nikaia Olympic Weighlifting Hall in Athens. (Agencies)

Zhang Guozheng went through the pain barrier to grab a third Olympic weightlifting gold for China.

The World and Asian champion left the stage in agony after injuring his back on his way to victory in the men's 69kg division.

He hobbled back to collect his gold medal which he won with a total of 347.5kg. South Korea's Lee Bae-Young, who has competed in Zhang's shadow for several years, had to settle for silver with 342.5kg with popular Croatian Nikolay Pechalov, a gold medallist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, in third spot with 337.5kg.

Lee presented Korea with their first Olympic weightlifting medal since the 1992 Barcelona Games while Pechalov, who switched allegiance to Croatia from Bulgaria for a football-style transfer fee reputed to be 100,000 US dollars, picked up his fourth in four Games.

"I did feel some pain in my back during the competition but I could not give up," said Zhang, who grimaced throughout the press conference.

"To reach the summit (of sport) an athlete must experience some injury or pain. Others have suffered more than me.

"I won because of determination and endurance. Athletes can endure bitterness and pain five times more than others."

Zhang's win took China's gold medal tally to three after wins from Shi Zhiyong in the men's 62kg division and Chen Yanqing in the women's 58kg class.

The Chinese took one men's and four women's weightlifting golds in Sydney four years ago to underline their tremendous strength in depth.

Zhang stamped his authority on the contest with a sinew-straining lift of 160kg in the snatch.

Although shy of the world record, it was 7.5kg more than he lifted on the way to winning last year's world championship and Zhang celebrated by blowing kisses to the crowd.

Lee, who finished behind Zhang at the 2003 World Championships, found himself trailing by 7.5kg with Pechalov, one of the most decorated weightlifters in history, a further 2.5kg behind.

The Chinese put the gold beyond doubt with a clean and jerk of 187.5kg before surprisingly twice failing at 192.5kg, 5kg below his world record set last year.

"I thought it was going to be easy in the clean and jerk, but it was not," said Zhang. "I experienced some pain in my back."

The competition was thrown wide open by the absence of Bulgarian drug cheats Galabin Boevski and Georgi Markov.

The duo took gold and silver in the 69kg category at the 2000 Sydney Games but were banned from competing in Athens for breaching doping rules ahead of last year's World Championship.
 

(Agencies)

agony: the suffering of intense physical or mental pain（極大的痛苦）

hobble: to walk or move along haltingly or with difficulty; limp（蹣跚）

allegiance: loyalty or the obligation of loyalty, as to a nation, sovereign, or cause（效忠）

grimace: a sharp contortion of the face expressive of pain（痛苦表情地）

sinew-straining: （文中指肌肉力量充分發揮的）