BEIJING (AP) -Sa Jae-hyouk of South Korea stopped China's gold rush in weightlifting by edging out home crowd favorite Li Hongli to win the men's 77-kilogram division on Wednesday.

Sa and Li both lifted a total of 366 kg (806.9 pounds), but Sa got the win because of a lower body weight. Armenia's Gevorg Davtyan took the bronze, totaling 360 kg (793.7 pounds) in the two events.

China had previously won all six of the weight categories in which it had participated.

Sa was 5 kg (11 pounds) behind Li after lifting 163 kg (359.4 pounds) in the snatch, but stunned the Chinese crowd by heaving 203 kg (447.5 pounds) in his second clean and jerk.

It was South Korea's first gold in the weightlifting competition.

Sa added 8 kg (17.64 pounds) to the bar in an attempt to break the world record in his final clean and jerk, but gave up halfway through the lift.

Asked what it felt like being the first to beat a Chinese lifter in the competition, he said, "I'm not here to lose.

"We had a very successful training session in Korea and I knew I would win this medal.''

Li cruised through the snatch but struggled in the second event. Nervous murmurs filled the weightlifting arena when he missed a clean and jerk of 198 kg (436.5 pounds).

He almost botched his final attempt, too, but the loud roar from the crowd seemed to help him gather extra strength to firm up his wobbly legs.

Asked whether he was disappointed at getting the silver, Li put on a brave face.

"The gold medal is not on me but I feel I tried my best,'' he said. "My mission was to become one of the medalists and I did.''

Defending Olympic champion Taner Sagir of Turkey was eliminated after failing his three snatch attempts at 165 kg (363.8 pounds).

In weightlifting competitions, lifters select their own entry weights for each event. The selection is crucial because if they fail a lift, they must use their remaining attempts on the same weight or higher.

"In the first snatch attempt I lost the bar behind me and injured my (right) arm,'' Sagir said. "The second attempt was affected by my injury, and my third was awful.''

Missing from the competition was world champion Ivan Stoitsov, one of 11 Bulgarian lifters who tested positive for steroids earlier this year.

Earlier Wednesday, Liu Chunhong broke three world records in the women's 69-kilogram division, defending her Olympic title to win China's sixth gold medal in the weightlifting competition.