To understand the sport of weighlifting is to understand that speed and agility play huge roles

Grace and speed may not be the first things that come to mind when you think of weightlifting. Outside the sport, few people realize how much swiftness and agility matter, even for the plus-sized super heavyweights as they perform the two Olympic lifts - the snatch and the clean and jerk.

"If the snatch takes more than a second or two, something's gone wrong," said Holley Mangold, a 350-pound American strongwoman who will compete in the women's super heavyweight category.

Mangold, whose older brother Nick plays for the NFL's New York Jets, added: "It's a very athletic movement that I explain as a controlled explosion."

Weightlifting is a real crowd pleaser, despite being one of the lesser known sports on the Olympic program.

It's much more than raw muscle power and athletic ability. There is drama, tension and a lot more strategy than you might expect.

Just check out the curious ways in which lifters get themselves pumped up. Some close their eyes in quiet meditation. Others cry out for help from God.

Mangold, who used to play high school football in Ohio with the boys, has her own ritual: doing a cartwheel before each competition.

"It's a superstition kind of thing," she said. "It's part of my routine."

Weightlifters get three attempts in each of the two types of lift. In the snatch, the bar is lifted overhead in one continuous motion. The clean and jerk is performed in two moves: the lifter first pulls the bar to shoulder height while in a squat, then rises and pushes it overhead.

The elbows need to lock for a successful lift. The total score combines the weights lifted in the best snatch and the best clean and jerk.

You only get six lifts, so the weights you pick are crucial. Start too low and the medals could be out of reach. Start too high and you may crash out without a result.

Imagine one of your competitors is coming in at 150 kilograms so you decide to start at 151. But wait, the other guy just changed to 152. Do you go up to 153, your personal record? Or play it safe and stick to 151, hoping he'll bomb out at 152? Often, your coach will decide for you.

Svetlana Tsarukaeva of Russia lost this game of chicken in a big way four years ago. Among the medal favorites in the Beijing Olympics, the former arm wrestler put too much weight on the bar for her first lift. After failing all attempts, she was so devastated she missed the exit when she left the platform and walked straight into a wall.

"It was very hard. But what doesn't kill us strengthens us," she told World Weightlifting, the official quarterly magazine of the International Weightlifting Federation.

Tsarukaeva bounced back and heads to the London Olympics as the 63kg favorite after becoming world champion last year.

Russia has an impressive lineup and should challenge the Chinese in the heavy divisions. China, which won one silver and eight gold medals in Beijing, still dominates the lower weight categories. Kazakhstan has a few gold medal contenders like Ilya Ilin, defending Olympic champion in the men's 94kg category, and double world champion Zulfiya Chinshanlo in the women's 53kg class.

There are eight weight categories for men and seven for women. Interest is the highest in the superheavyweight division, where you will find the thick-necked hulks people typically associate with weightlifting.

Competitors in the lower weight categories have a completely different build. Slim, even petite, they look like gymnasts, but with bigger thighs.

If Mangold or fellow American Sarah Robles betters her personal record in London, she could come within reach of the bronze medal. But the quest for gold and the unofficial title of world's strongest woman likely will be a showdown between Zhou Lulu of China and Tatiana Kashirina of Russia.

Zhou established a world-record total of 328kg when she became world champion last year. Kashirina equaled that total this year at the European Championships.

Robles - the top-ranked US lifter - set a personal best of 258kg in the Olympic trials.

Among the men's super heavyweights, no one is expected to threaten Iranian giant Behdad Salimikordasiabi, world champion the past two years and the snatch world record holder.

Returning from injury, defending Olympic champion Matthias Steiner of Germany will be hard-pressed to get the bronze this time.

As always, weightlifting is struggling to contain its dark side - doping. Some would-be medal candidates have been barred from competing in London after failing drug tests, including former Olympic, world and European champion Taylan Nurcan of Turkey, Ukrainian superheavyweight Olha Korobka and China's Olympic champion Liao Hui.

"The IWF is doing its utmost to make sure that weightlifters in London lift clean," federation president Tamas Ajan told the AP in an e-mail. "The rest is up to the athletes themselves."

Associated Press