Lightweight (≤58 kilograms), Women

China’s Chen Yanqing was the defending champion and the world record holder and came in as the clear favorite. She had little difficulty winning her second gold medal, recording the best lift in both the snatch and the clean & jerk, and winning by 17.0 kg. Russia’s Marina Shainova, silver medalist at the 2007 World Championships and bronze medalist in 2005, placed second in 2008, 1 kg ahead of North Korean O Jong-Ae. O tied on total with Thailand’s Wandee Kameaim, but won the bronze medal based on lower bodyweight.

That was how the event and the results seemed to have ended. In 2015, however, the IOC began re-testing samples from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, using newer, more advanced testing techniques, in an effort to find those who had used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), but in whom it could not be detected at the time of those Olympics. This was one of the many events affected. Of note, every women’s weightlifting event from the 2008 Beijing Olympics was affected by positive re-tests for PEDs.

In August 2016 Russian Marina Shainova tested positive for turinabol (dehydrochloromethyltestosterone) and stanozolol. She was disqualified and her silver medal removed. It was re-assigned to North Korean lifter O Jong-Ae, with Thailand’s Wandee Kameaim moving up to the bronze medal position.