The file photo taken on April 21, 2008 shows Liao Hui of the People's Liberation Army team salute after winning the gold medal in the men's 69kg class at the men's National Weightlifting Championships held in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong Province. He also set the national record in the competition. [Xinhua]

Liao Hui from central China's Hubei Province entered the national weightlifting team in early 2007. After breaking two junior world records in 2007, he turned into a candidate of the national team from a backup of the 2012 Olympics.

His outstanding performance even made veteran Olympic gold medalist Zhang Guozheng impossible to attend the Beijing Olympics.

China named 639 athletes to contest 38 disciplines of all 28 sports for the Beijing Olympics in a low-profile ceremony last Friday.

Those uprising stars among the Chinese delegation attracted much attention as they are also medalist hopefuls in this Olympics.