She won the gold medal in the 58 kg class in both competitions,[2][3] making her the first woman to win gold medals in weightlifting in two consecutive Olympics.

[3] Chen was born to a poor rural family who live in a small farming village called Xishan (西山) on an island near Suzhou, two hours west of Shanghai.

[4] In 1989 her parents sent her to a state athletic school after coach and former weightlifter Cao Xinmin discovered her at a sports match in Suzhou.

Her parents have mixed emotions about her career in weightlifting,[3][5] but her earnings have helped raise her family's standard of living.

[3] After she was scratched from the 2000 Summer Olympics, she retired in 2001 to study business at Soochow University in Suzhou.