In 1992, when Chen was a third-grade student in primary school, Li Bingming, a weightlifting coach at a local sports school, picked her despite her diminutive figure of less than 1.2 meters. The girl struck Li as having a perfect body structure for weightlifting, with strong arm muscles and outstanding performance in long jumping and running tests. When Li called on Chen's father to ask for permission to train her as a weightlifter, he got the answer, "You should. She could help me to pull the flatbed tricycle at the age of six."

School tuition fees for Chen and her older brother once placed an enormous financial burden on their parents. They used to work 18-hour days in the fields cultivating rice, sugar cane and fruits and vegetables, which they sold at markets. They even borrowed a large sum of money to support their daughter's weightlifting schooling.

In 1999, Chen was selected for a weightlifting team, where she was given a monthly living subsidy of 175 yuan ($25).

In her first 14 years' training, she considered terminating her sporting career several times and was not decorated with any major title until winning the gold medal at the national weightlifting games in 2006. Last year, Chen broke the world record in her event.

Supporting Chen through the bad times over many years, Chen's father has taught himself all the rules and world records of weightlifting.

Chen remained modest even after becoming world champion. She regularly called her former coach Zhong Chengchan in Guangdong when she was training with the national team in Beijing and mailed him postcards for every festival. When Chen thought about quitting after failing to enter China's weightlifting draft for the Athens Olympics, Zhong persuaded her to continue.

Chen's father is proud of his daughter's achievements and keeps a box of her medals that he shows to journalists. "She is such a good daughter. Even when she came home during training breaks when she was in Guangdong, she helped us in the fields," he said.