Never over till this fat lady lifts

Wrobel totalled 295kg (132.5kg-162.5kg) in coming second with American Cheryl Haworth, a chat show celebrity in the US with a penchant for lifting cars about parking lots, taking the bronze medal on 270kg (125kg-145kg).

Ding completed a full house of gold medals for China in the four categories in which they had lifters. Rules, aimed at keeping down the numbers, limited each country to four lifters over the seven events in the Olympic debut of women’s weightlifting.

Yang Xia, Chen Xiaomin and Lin Weining took the other three golds for China in the 53kg, 63kg and 69kg caategories respectively. Chen praised the talented lifters who were left at home describing them as the "unsung heroines" of the country.

Wrobel, whose stunning displays in the Junior World Championships earlier this year propelled her into the spotlight, weighed in at amazing 119.42 kg (about 246lbs), 16kgs heavier than her nearest rival Ding. But it was Ding who proved superior by winning an incredible battle in the clean and jerk which saw the female heavies exchange world records. Ding gave Wrobel a target to shoot at with a new world record lift of 165kg but the Pole, who had created a new mark minutes earlier, failed in the gold medal attempt on 170kg.