Cao Lei

Who is Cao Lei?

Cao Lei is a female Chinese weightlifter. She was born in north China's Hebei Province and was raised in northeastern Heilongjiang Province.

Cao Lei started weightlifting training at the age of 11 and attended Daging City sports school in 1997 when she was selected to Heilongjian province weightlifting team coached by Qixi Fu.

Lei made her debut to international field in 2001 after winning the national championships in Asian Championships 63 kilo kategory by winning gold with a result of 107,5 kg in snatch, and 127,5 kg in clean and jerk adding to a 235 kg total. The next year she started training with national team under the supervision of Ma Wenhui and she moved 69 kilo weight class in which she won the junior world championships 2003 with 105+140 kg performance.

In 2005 Cao placed fourth in the National games and later the year won gold in the East Asian Games. The next year she moved one weight class up and participated in the women's -75 kg at the 2006 World Weightlifting Championships and won the gold medal, snatching 118 kg and clean and jerking an additional 150 kg for a total of 268 kg. Later the same year, she also took gold in Asian Games besting her year ranking mark to 120 kg in the snatch and 152 kg in the clean and jerk.