Lightweight (≤58 kilograms), Women

China had their choice of lifters in this class, as they had the world record holder, Wang Li; the 2003 World Champion, Sun Caiyan; the 2002 World Champion, Song Zhijuan; the 2002 World runner-up, Liu Bing; and the 2003 Asian Games Champion, Zhou Yan. Instead they chose Chen Yanqing, the 1999 World Champion, who retired in late 2000 after not making the Chinese Olympic team that year. Chen won the gold medal in Athinai with a 5.0 kg margin over North Korean Ri Song-Hui, the 2000 Olympic silver medalist and 2002 World Champion as a featherweight.