The 94kg Queensland lifter revealed her date at the altar is fast approaching and she wants to be able to squeeze into her wedding gown.

The 25-year-old had been the second lightest competitor in Saturday's +75kg division, in which the 11 contestants tipped the scales at a mighty 1.268 combined tonnes during weigh-in.

But after finishing in eighth place, Lovely said she has two incentives to drop down to the 75kg class.

One is to avoid the menace of having to once again face South Korean world champion Jang Miran, who was 22.56kg heavier than the Australian and who lifted a new world record total of 326kg.

And the other? 'I'm definitely going to drop down for the wedding,' Lovely added.

The Japanese-speaking law student, was a former athletics star who was called up into the Australian women's rugby training squad in 2006, but was unable to take part after breaking her ankle.

The injury-prone lifter, who competed in the Athens Olympics four years ago and ended up in 13th place despite having required saline injections to treat tendonitis in her knee, had suffered a shoulder injury twice in the run-up to Beijing.

'I haven't been doing a lot of overhead lifting,' she said, failing in her final effort to heave 40kg in the clean and jerk.

'I am just glad to be a part of it. I'm pretty stoked being the first Australian woman lifter to compete at two Olympics.'

Brisbane-born Lovely took up weightlifting to improve her strength in her previous chosen disciplines, in discus, hammer and shot put.

She won a bronze medal in the discus at the 1999 world youth athletics championship, and competed in both the discus and the hammer the following year at the junior world championship.

Along the way, she also tore elbow ligaments during a snatch attempt at the Australian national championships in 2002, and required surgery in her left hip socket after the 2003 world junior weightlifting championships.

Apparently she weathers the adversities through her sporting motto: 'Go hard, take every opportunity.' -- AFP