Olympic weightlifting champions Ding Meiyuan and Liu Chunhong were declared to be amongst the best lifters of the past 100 years by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) on Thursday.

Ding, 27, won the gold medal in the women's over 75kg category at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Liu, 22, claimed the women's 69kg title and set a new world record in the sport at the Athens Olympics last year.

Other events being held to mark the centenary of the IWF in Istanbul, Turkey include voting for the 10 best lifters from around the globe in 2004.

The president of the Chinese Weightlifting Association, Ma Wenguang, will stand for the post of IWF vice president at a plenary meeting tomorrow.

The session will also decide the host city of this year's World Weightlifting Championships from bidders including China and Greece.

(CRI.com, China.org.cn March 4, 2005)