SYDNEY, Australia -- Making China's team is the tough part in women's weightlifting. Winning a gold medal is easy.

Chen Xiaomin, setting two world records, and 21-year-old rising star Lin Weining won gold medals Tuesday to continue China's domination of a sport in which it owns nearly every world record.

Almost every one. Erzsebet Markus of Hungary set a world record in the snatch at 152 pounds, but couldn't hold off Lin in a weight so dominated by China that it has three of the top four in the world rankings.

"We start early, and so we get a lot of experience," said Lin, who faced more ranked lifters in her own training camp than she did in Sydney.

Still, her medal didn't come as easily as many of China's titles do in weightlifting, a sport in which China has either the Olympic champion or the top-rated lifter in all but one class.

Markus, grunting and shouting with every lift, put up 247 3/4 pounds to break the snatch record of 245 1/2 pounds set by 16-year-old Lui Dongping of China on July 6 in Prague.

Despite setting the record, Markus led Lin by only 5 1/2 pounds going into the clean and jerk, a deficit Lin made up by lifting 292 pounds to Markus' 286 1/2. The two tied with total lifts of 534 1/2 pounds, but Lin got the gold because she was about 4 pounds lighter.

After being assured of the gold, Lin tried a 319 1/2-pound lift that would have broken the clean and jerk world record of 315 pounds, but couldn't control the weight after getting it to chest level.

Karnam Malleswari of India got the bronze, finishing only 5 1/2 pounds behind Lin and Markus. Afterward, she was irritated at newspaper criticism suggesting she wasn't in shape to lift.

"I was very tense and unhappy," she said. "They said I was drinking beer and eating cheese and I was overweight. I don't understand where they got that from. I wished they would have talked to me or my coach."

Marcus did plenty of talking of her own -- and that was on the platform, where most lifters don't talk so as not to disrupt their concentration.

Wearing a red and turquoise singlet so bright the judges sitting nearby almost needed sunglasses, she accented each thrust with grunts and shouts of "Sha!" "Sha!" -- sort of a Monica Seles of the barbell set.

Lin was more workmanlike and stoic, taking little preparation time before striding silently to the bar to lift it quickly and, at least on her first several lifts, almost effortlessly.

Earlier Tuesday, Chen lifted a world record of 248 pounds in the snatch, plus another for overall lift at 534 1/2 pounds to win at 138 3/4 pounds.

Valentina Popova of Russia tried to keep up with clean and jerk lifts of 297 1/2 pounds that would have set a world mark and moved her past Chen, who lifted 286 1/2 pounds in the clean and jerk.

But Popova missed on both, barely getting the bar off the platform on the third lift, and the gold belonged to Chen, who made a succession of smooth, powerful lifts while missing only once in five lifts.

"I felt that if she did it, I would have to do it myself or regret it for the rest of my life," Chen said.

After being assured of the gold, Chen also tried to raise a world record 297 1/2 pounds in the clean and jerk, but missed on the second of what would have been three lifts. With the gold a certainty, she then passed on the third lift.

Ioanna Chatziioannou of Greece claimed the bronze when Saipin Detsaeng of Thailand missed her final two lifts, either of which would have given her the bronze. Both lifters raised 490 1/2 pounds, but Chatziioannou weighed slightly less than Detsaeng.

Chen, the favorite in her class, took the lead by lifting a world-record 248 pounds in the snatch, which requires the bar to be raised over the head in a continuous motion.

Chen tied the record of 242 1/2 pounds by Lei Li of China in May 1999 with the second of her three lifts. She then broke the record with her third lift.

She broke the overall record of 529 pounds set by Chen Yui-Lien of Taiwan, also last year.

Weightlifting may be a niche sport in the United States, where it is practiced mostly by athletes trying to build their bodies for other sports, notably football. But lifting is one of China's hottest sports, with 300 weightlifting schools -- more than all the Division I football schools in the United States -- and 1,000 trained coaches.

China probably could have gotten seven golds but, due to athlete restrictions imposed by the IOC, no more than four lifters can enter from any country.

"There is a lot of pressure to be selected in China," Chen said. "There are a lot of competitors and they want to select the best. I was nervous going into our competition. To be able to be selected, I feel was very nerve-racking and very tough."

The restrictions forced China to shift around some of its top lifters, including Yang Xia, who dropped a class to win Monday at 116 1/2 pounds, thus denying a possible gold to Li Feng-Ying of Taiwan.

Li moved from China to Taiwan after marrying the Taiwanese national coach, and some in the Taiwan camp believe China intentionally entered in her weight group to deny her the gold.