Weightlifting: Baker on steep learning curve in tough class

Olivia Baker quickly summed up the odds she faced in her Olympic debut, after coming eighth in the 75kg-plus class.

"Some of them can snatch more than I can lift in the clean and jerk," said Baker, a 21-year-old teachers' aide from Porirua.

Then she added: "I'll get their autographs afterwards."

The problem for the 95kg Baker wasn't so much size, although she was a mere pea in a sack of potatoes compared to some of her competitors at the Sydney Convention Centre yesterday.

Also in the competition was American Cheryl Haworth, just 17, who weighed in at a touch over 139kg. She'll be a big girl when she grows up.

The gold medallist, Meiyuan Ding from China, who weighed in at 103kg, turns 21 in December.

So the woman who can call herself the world's strongest is not much bigger than Baker, and younger. But when it comes to training schedules, they are worlds apart.

Baker fits in training before and after work, most but not every day of the week.

"I know one of the women here trains three times a day. They are full-time. I just couldn't afford to do that financially," says Baker.

Her family were in the audience at the Sydney Convention centre.

They saw Baker break New Zealand and Oceania records in recording a total of 235kg.

That was 10kg more than her previous best.

"I wanted more," said Baker, who is of Samoan descent with some German and Tokelau blood.

Her totals were a long way short of the leaders. Ming and Pole Agata Wrobel went on a world record breaking spree with Ding prevailing with a 300kg total, five kilograms ahead of Wrobel, who has just turned 19.

Ding won last year's world championships in Greece and has lifted enormous weights at a young age.

Wrobel comes from a mountain region in southern Poland and began training after watching the men at Atlanta and learning that women's weightlifting was on the schedule for Sydney.

But Haworth, who finished third and 30kg behind Ming, drew more media attention in Sydney undoubtedly because of her age and size. A touch of the freak show here.

She was a sickly kid who had her tonsils and adenoids removed at six, and then began to grow at a great rate.

Her mum still feeds her whenever she is hungry, which is often, but gives her daughter good food such as fruit.

"I don't want her hating me or for this to be a battleground," says Mrs H.

Haworth has become a "superstar" in the United States appearing on programmes such as the Tonight Show.

She often visits schools where kids not much younger than her ask constantly how much she weighs. "I'm motivated by wanting to be the strongest," she says.