Four lifts and two world records - that's all it took 34-year-old "Battle Woman" Bian Jianxin to reconsider retirement September 14, 2008.

Bian Jianxin competes in the powerlifting competitions at the Beijing Paralympic Games, September 14, 2008. [Xinhua]

"So far, I am still a member of the powerful powerlifting team of China," said the three-time Paralympic champion, who picked the English name Hilda, because it means "battle woman".

The women's 60kg final before a cheering crowd at the Beijing Aeronautics and Astronautic University Gymnasium Saturday afternoon was thought to be the last hurrah of Bian's 15-year career.

But even her rivals think she should prolong it.

"I think she will be there in London in 2012," bronze medalist Patience Aghimile Ibgiti from Nigeria said.

"I will also be there in London, so I look forward to competing with her again."

China's powerlifting star was supremely confident before the competition, waving to home fans and making the "V" for victory with her fingers during the pre-match introduction.

For her first attempt, Bian asked for a weight of 134kg, 1.5kg heavier than the world record set by her teammate Fu Taoying in Athens four years ago.

The weight was also 21.5kg heavier than the best haul of her closest rival, Egypt's Amal Mahmoud Osman.

But to everyone's disappointment, Bian's right arm was too shaky and she registered a no lift.

"She was very excited today and forgot how to focus on her routines," said Li Weipu, Bian's coach, who said her personal best is 140kg.

"We told her that she should try all she could to get her concentration back."

Before her next attempt, Bian shook her robust arms as if trying to ward off bad luck.

Along with 3,400 nervous fans at the venue and the entire Chinese powerlifting team watching from the stand, Li squatted in nervous anticipation before her second attempt.

But Bian lifted it cleanly to set a new world record of 134kg and win her third Paralympic gold medal.

Just minutes later, she successfully lifted 135kg to break her own benchmark.

When Bian later lifted 136kg only to be fouled by the judges, she seemed upset.

"Sorry everybody. I did not do well today," she apologized, shaking her head when speaking to journalists.

"But I want to thank all the people who love me and the ones I love. Without them, I could not have done what I did today."

While working at a machinery factory in Inner Mongolia in 1992, Bian, then 18, was recruited by Li, a local coach, to start training.

She has never been beaten during their 16-year master-student relationship.

In 1994, Bian, who once lifted 400 bags of rice in training, stunned herself and the world after she broke every world record in her category of the women's 40kg division at the World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.

On her Paralympic debut in Sydney 2000, the then 26-year-old dominated her category with a world record lift of 102.5kg and became China's first Paralympic powerlifting gold medalist. She also won gold in Athens.

She then moved up to the 48kg category and set a new world record of 117.5kg.

Now married with a three-year-old son, Bian was one of the eight flagbearers who escorted the Paralympic flag into the National Stadium during the Opening Ceremony.

In other competition yesterday, Iran's Ali Hosseini set a world record only for it to be broken a few moments later by Egyptian Metwaly Ibrahim Mathna in the men's 67.5 kg category final.

Mathna, 33, took the third gold medal of his career with a lift of 217.5kg.

In the final competition of the day, China's Fu Taoying won gold in the women's 67.5 kg category with a new world record of 145.5kg.

Earlier, Syrian Rashan Alshikh won her country's first Paralympic medal, a bronze.