by John Crean
ATHENS, Aug 19 (AFP) - Teen power ruled in Olympic weightlifting on Thursday with Taner Sagir of Turkey joining fellow 19-year-old Liu Chunhong of China in the gold medal club.
The pair's victories helped lift some of the gloom which had descended over the sport when it was confirmed that seven weightlifters had tested positive for drugs.
Sagir gave Turkey their third weightlifting gold of the Games with a total of 375kg to add to the wins achieved by Halil Mutlu, one of the sport's greatest exponents, and female lifter Nurcan Taylan.
Liu, the World Lifter of the Year, set three world records on her way to winning a fourth gold for the Chinese squad earlier in the day.
Sagir, the 2004 European champion, belied his tender years and lack of big time experience to edge two veteran performers.
Sergey Filimonov of Kazakhstan, who was fourth at the Sydney Olympics and is the reigning Asian champion, took silver with 372.5kg and Russia's Oleg Perepetchenov, the world record holder in the clean and jerk, won bronze on 365.kg.
The Chinese steamroller came to a stuttering halt when two-time Olympic champion Zhan Xugang crashed out of the competition after failing to snatch 157.5kg on three occasions.
His exit came just hours after teen titan Liu had crushed her opponents in the women's 69kg category to give the powerful Chinese a fourth gold.
"There was a bit of pressure but I have learned from previous lessons to be as relaxed as possible," said Liu, who has a big following in China.
"Weightlifting if very popular in China and a lot of people are competing."
She set new world records in the snatch, clean and jerk and overall total to scoop gold in the 69kg category with 275kg.
Eszter Krutzler of Hungary and Russia's Zarema Kasaeva tied on 262.5kg in their own personal battle for second spot with Krutzler taking the silver on lower body weight.
The gold medal performances came on the day when the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) named Viktor Chislean of Moldova, Zoltan Kecskes of Hungary, Sule Sahbaz of Turkey, Morocco's Wafa Ammouri and Myanmar's Nan Aye Khine, as takers of anabolic steroids.
Four of the weightlifters failed to show for their events while 2003 World Championship bronze medallist Sahbaz will miss the 75kg division on Friday.
Later Thursday, India's Sanamacha Chanu of India, who finished fourth in the women's 53 kilograms category, was named as having tested positive for a banned diuretic used to lose body weight.
She is the second weightlifter from India to have failed a drugs test in the lead-up to the Games after Pratima Kumari Na tested positive for steroids.