China's Lin Qingfeng hoisted a total of 344kg in men's 69 weightlifting and bagged first gold for Chinese male lifters at London Olympics on Tuesday.

Lin, 23, managed to lift all three attempts in snatch at 152kg, 155kg and 157kg, and succeeded in clean-and-jerk at 182kg and 187kg, but narrowly failed on his last attempt to set Olympic and world records in the clean-and-jerk with 198kg.

"The medal feels really heavy, but it feels good. It is worth all the hard work and training I did. Winning an Olympic gold is my dream, and I will take chances and do whatever I can to fullfill my dream," Lin said.

Lin's victory ended the gold medal hunger for Chinese male lifters, who were upset in the lighter 59kg and 66kg categories.

"It was about revenge for the two golds we missed out on in the lower divisions," Lin said. "But even if I hadn't won, there are more athletes in the Chinese team who would have won."

"Pressure is building when two of our wolrd champions failed to claim a gold," Chen Wenbin, coach of China's male weightlifters said. "I told Lin to relax and not to worry about the outcome. This is Lin's debut at an international event joined by renowned athletes. I'm very satisfied with his performance today."

The silver medal went to Indonesia's Triyatno in dramatic circumstances. The Indonesian snatched 145kg and took the necessary 188kg on his final jerk attempt and after a struggle, dropped the barbell and fell to the platform. But his despair turned to joy when he realised that the lift had earned the judges' approval.

The bronze went to Romanian Razvan Constantin Martin, whose total of 332kg fell just 1kg short of the Indonesian.

Earlier at the Excel arena, Kazakhstan's Maiya Maneza won the gold medal and set an Olymipic record of 245kg in total in the women's 63kg category. Russian lifter Svetlana Tsarukaeva bagged the silver medal and Canada's Christine Girard took the bronze.

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