MELBOURNE, Australia (CP) Moira Lassen clutched a tear-stained, crumpled tissue in the palm of her left hand, her chin trembling as she sang along to O Canada.

She'd waited a long time to see her daughter atop the podium and just couldn't contain her emotions.

Yukon weightlifter Jeane Lassen captured a gold medal in the 69-kilogram class today at the Commonwealth Games, with a total of 229 kilograms. Lassen had a lift of 97 kilograms in the snatch and a Games-record 132 kilograms in the clean and jerk.

'It was very surreal,'' Moira said of the medal ceremony. 'You visualize it in your head so much because that's what you're supposed to do. Then when it's finally happening, it's the same vision you've been seeing so it's surreal and you kind want to go, This is the real stuff, this is the real stuff.' But it's very emotional to see your flag raised and your child standing there.

'Then I started singing, which probably wasn't good for all my neighbours standing around me,'' she added with a laugh, as she clutched the bouquet of yellow and orange flowers her daughter received with her medal.

As soon as Jeane won the competition, her mom called home to family members back in Canada to give them the good news.

'I'm really lucky to have had my mom involved pretty much since I started,'' said Lassen. 'She was at one of my first big competitions at the Canada Games in 1995. I don't think at that point she was actually able to watch me lift. She probably had to cover her eyes because she was afraid I was going to drop the bar on my head. But now she knows a lot more about the sport.''

That's an understatement.

Since her 25-year-old daughter began competing in 1993, Moira has immersed herself in weightlifting. She has been an official at the national and international level and is a referee at these Games.

'I'm very lucky to have someone who understands what I do so well,'' said Jeane. ``I don't know the last time she wasn't at one of my competitions, actually. I don't know what I'd do in that case.''

While she says there's no rules that would prevent her from officiating during her daughter's competition, she was glad to be in the stands with the rest of the cheering fans at the intimate auditorium in the Melbourne Exhibition Centre on today.

'It wouldn't be fair to me or the athlete,'' she said. 'People tend to be a bit more critical of their children.'

After breaking the Games record, Lassen attempted to surpass the Commonwealth mark for the clean and jerk and the total by lifting 138 kilograms on her third attempt. She was successful with the clean but just couldn't quite get the bar over her head.

Lassen had hoped to compete in Sydney but suffered a back injury in 1999. After that she took some time off and it was only after the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester that she decided to return to the sport, so she could compete in Melbourne. Born in Victoria, she moved to the Yukon when she was nine but now lives and trains in Montreal.

During the competition, the announcer described the five-foot-six Lassen as an 'accomplished moose hunter and dog musher,'' as well as a hockey player. After the event, Lassen confessed those details may have been embellished a little.

'We wanted to spice things up a bit and play on the Yukon stereotypes,'' said Lassen. 'So we said I went moose-hunting once but I still did it. It's not a lie. Dog mushing is pretty big in the Yukon, maybe one day I'll do it.''

Lassen's victory capped a wildly successful competition for the six-member Canadian women's weightlifting team, who won a total of six medals� two gold, three silver and one bronze.

One of the silver medals came from Yukon weightlifter Emily Quarton, was was competing in the 58-kg class on Saturday. Quarton snatched 77 kg and lifted 101 in the clean and jerk for a total of 178 kg.

It was Quarton's first trip to the Commonwealth Games, although she has competed at junior world championships in the past. Before heading to Australia, Quarton said she didn't have any specific goals in mind, she just wanted to enjoy the experience and set personal bests.

Canadian women's coach Pierre Bergeron says the team performed to its maximum potential.

'We know that based on the pre-Commonwealth rankings, that's what we can call a perfect score,'' he said. 'Just coming here and having six girls win six medals, we can't do anything better.''

It could be a sign of things to come for Canada. After Turcotte was the only Canadian woman to compete in women's weightlifting at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, Bergeron hopes to see two or three in 2008 in Beijing. He says after Turcotte finished fourth at the Sydney Games, the number of Canadian female weightlifters has tripled to about 400.

'She was a good ambassador for the sport,'' said Bergeron, who is Turcotte's boyfriend. 'This is where we see the results now, six years after. All the girls lifting heavy weights and having fun and knowing that you can be a girl lifting weight and still be feminine and good looking.''