RIO DE JANEIRO • China's Deng Wei won the women's 63kg gold medal on her Olympic debut and broke the world record previously held by Chinese Taipei's Lin Tzu-chi, who was withdrawn just hours before the event started.

The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee confirmed yesterday that Lin had been suspended after failing a drug test.

It added in a statement that a routine drug test of Lin "detected abnormal reaction".

Lin was then temporarily suspended from competing "to ensure a spirit of fair competition of the sport" according to World Anti-Doping Agency rules.

The 28-year-old was one of the favourites for gold after raising the world record to 261kg in winning the 2014 Asian Games gold in Incheon, South Korea. She lost her record when Deng managed 262kg yesterday.

Deng appeared to be in charge throughout the event, finishing with a lift to spare. She beat her own clean and jerk world record by 1kg with 147kg on her second attempt to reach the 262kg total.

Deng finished 14kg clear of Choe Hyo Sim, the North Korean who has stood below her on the podium at the past two International Weightlifting Federation world championships. It was the widest winning margin of the first seven women's weightlifting events.

Deng, 23, who missed out on competing at the London Games in 2012, said she has plenty more championships ahead of her.

"My performances were good enough to be in the team at London four years ago but another team-mate was chosen ahead of me," she said.

"This was my first Olympic Games but I said to my coach that I could break the world record so it was within my expectation. I will continue to work hard to win more gold medals."

Thailand's Siripuch Gulnoi, who had been expected to challenge for a medal, failed at all three of her clean and jerk attempts.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE