SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Halil Mutlu and Naim Suleymanoglu are so small, American teen weightlifter Cheryl Haworth probably could put one in each palm and hoist them as easily she does a 300-pound barbell.

 What might surprise those who know nothing about weightlifting -- and that includes most of the U.S. populace -- is that while neither Turkish lifter stands 5 feet tall, each lifts more than Haworth can. Much more.

 This much more -- Haworth qualified for the Olympics by lifting 5671/2 pounds (2571/2 kg); Suleymanoglu lifted 683 1/4 pounds (310 kg), while Mutlu lifted 666 3/4 pounds (3021/2 kg).

 The two hope to get Turkey off to a gold medal start this weekend in Sydney by repeating as champions, Mutlu for a second time, Suleymanoglu for a record fourth time.

 While Suleymanoglu, known as the Pocket Hercules, probably is his sport's best-known figure and can become the first lifter to win four golds, he might not be the best weightlifter on Turkey's team.

 Mutlu has won nine world, European and Olympic championships since 1994 and was voted as weightlifting's man of the year in 1999. Following the sport's latest realignment, he will try to win Saturday at 123 pounds (56 kg) after winning at 119 pounds (54 kg) at Atlanta in 1996.

 Suleymanoglu goes Sunday for his fourth gold, this time at 137 pounds (62 kg) after ending a three-year retirement last year. Remarkably, he might be trying for a fifth gold if Bulgaria, his homeland, had not boycotted the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. He was only 16 at the time, but already was a world record holder.

 "If I win, I will consider it my fifth," said Suleymanoglu, who, despite finishing third in the European championships last spring, already has promised the Turkish people he will win again.

 Mutlu, who models himself after Suleymanoglu right down to the pack of cigarettes he smokes a day, also left Bulgaria to relocate to Turkey.

 This time, however, Mutlu is a bigger favorite than Suleymanoglu, whose qualifying standard was only the sixth best at 137 pounds (62 kg).

 "Most people believe that he (Suleymanoglu) will win the gold," Turkish team manager Savas Azaoglu said. "The others think he is very old and it will be very hard."

 At least, he is very rich. Despite the economic and visibility vacuum in which it exists in America, weightlifting is a big-dollar sport -- and a big deal -- in countries such as Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece and Qatar.

 Yes, Qatar.

 The oil-rich but athlete-poor Persian Gulf nation, barely bigger than a heavyweight's appetite, last year paid the Bulgarian weightlifting federation $1 million for eight weightlifters, none of them to be named later. In fact, they were renamed immediately, given new passports and new Arabic names.

 No matter, Bulgaria has plenty of lifters who could bring back gold, including qualifying leaders Sevdalin Minchev at 137 pounds, world record holder Galabin Boevski at 152 pounds and Plamen Zhelyazkov at 170 pounds.

 However, Zlatan Vanev, the world record holder in the clean and jerk at 170 pounds pulled out with an elbow injury. Also withdrawing at the last minute was China's Zhiyong Shi, the No. 2 lifter at 137 pounds.

 Romanian weightlifter Traian Ciharean also was cut Friday following reports he failed a drug test.

 Because the addition of women's weightlifting has dropped the number of men's classes from 10 to eight, Suleymanoglu will not face his top rival from Atlanta, Valerios Leonidis of Greece, who has jumped to the new 152-pound group.

 Women's weightlifting becomes an Olympic sport for the first time Sunday, when Americans Tara Nott and Robin Goad try to medal at 105 pounds. They caught a break when China didn't enter one of its four qualifiers at their weight.

 China wins an average of nine of every 10 medals at the world level and probably could sweep all seven classes. However, no country could enter more than four lifters in Sydney.