September Athlete of the Month: Deng Wei of China
Deng Wei is a small and compact lady, weighing 57 kg , but a fearsome one, as the picture above shows.
She won gold in the 58kg category at the 2010 World Weightlifting Championships in Antalya (Turkey), by combining third place in the “snatch” event (lifting 102kg) and first place in the “clean and jerk” (135kg), lifting over twice her body weight!
She wasn’t the only Chinese lady to shine in the Championships: how about Chen Xiaoting for example, who won both the “snatch” and the “clean and jerk” events in the 53kg category?
What makes Deng Wei extra special in GSN’s opinion is that she’s only 17 years old (born on February 14th, 1993), and this year she also won gold in the same category at the Singapore Youth Olympics.
It may be early days to declare Wei the heir to the great Liu Chunhong (2 Olympic and 2 World Championships golds to her credit), but time is on her side.
