There was a certain electricity in the air as hometown weightlifting favourites Jeane Lassen and Emily Quarton made their way out onto the platform Wednesday at Whitehorse's Gold Rush Inn.

The Northwestel Beijing Test Event was officially underway to the delight of the crowd, which cheered enthusiastically for the participating athletes.

Accompanying Lassen and Quarton was the Canadian men's Olympic team of Francis Luna-Grenier of Montreal, Quebec and Jasvir Singh of Burnaby, B.C. Both Luna-Grenier and Singh also participated in the test event.

One of the purposes of the event was to provide the participating athletes with additional experience lifting in a competitive setting before Beijing Olympic Games in August.

The audience was encouraged by the events organizers to be as loud as possible in order for the participants to get an accurate feel for all of the emotions and stress that occurs at a competition.

"It's fantastic," said Moira Lassen, one of the organizers of the event. "I am just really pleased with how the athletes responded to the crowd and I am really pleased that the crowd responded to the athletes."

A video presentation was shown on a screen behind the athletes from the 2007 World Games, which were hosted in Thailand. The video clips captured all of the preparation, dedication and training in weightlifting.

The images also demonstrated the tremendous difficulty, but also how rewarding the sport of weightlifting can be.

The Canadian weightlifting team was announced after the national championships, which were held at the end of May. Canada will send a record number of five athletes altogether.

Besides Lassen, Singh and Luna-Grenier, Canada will send Christine Girard of Rouyn-Noranda Quebec and Marilou Dozois-Prevost of Montreal. However, there is also a chance that Quarton will go as she is the first-alternate for the Canadian women's team.

Quarton competes in the 58-kg, while Jeane is in the 75-kg category, Singh is 62-kg division and Francis is in the 69-kg.

Yukon athletes have had a great deal of success in weightlifting and some of the highlights include former weightlifter Scott McCarthy winning two bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2002, Jeane claiming gold in 2006 Commonwealth Games as well as a record in the clean and jerk at the Games. Quarton also had a stellar showing at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, finishing with a silver medal.

Both Jeane's and Quarton's performances helped the Canadian women's team win the event.

The format at the test event mimicked a competition, which included athletes having three lifts in the snatch and the clean and jerk.

If an athlete is successful at making a lift, more weight is added to bar. All unsuccessful attempts must be redone in a competition.

The clean and jerk category is a little more technical. The lift involves two movements, which includes a competitor pulling the bar to their shoulders and then lifting from there.

If an athlete was following themselves at the event he or she was given a two-minute break, starting as soon as more weight had been added to the bar and everyone was off the platform.

Besides strength, some important qualities for weightlifers include speed and flexibility.

The first category at the test event was the snatch. There were no shortage of cheers from the audience for Quarton, who opened up the competition with a 70-kg lift. Quarton made the lift with ease and received a thunderous ovation for it.

Quarton had an amazing performance at the test event, going six for six. Quarton's best lift in the snatch was 80-kg, while the most weight she lifted in the clean and jerk was 102-kg. She was the only competitor to go six for six at the event.

Jeane followed Quarton and also received a great ovation. Her first lift was 105-kg, which she nailed.

For Jeane's second lift, she attempted to break the Canadian record for a female weightlifter by lifting 111-kg. "Let's go Jeane!" was heard from a supportive audience member. With a look of determination on her face, Jeane tried for the lift, but just missed it on her first attempt.

After regrouping, Jeane attempted the lift again, but once again just fell short of getting it up. With a smile on her face, she signalled how close it was to the crowd, who applauded her effort.

In the clean and jerk, Jeane made her first two attempts, which included lifting 125-kg and 132-kg.

For her final lift in the clean and jerk, Jeane attempted to break a Canadian record by lifting 139-kg. In a tremendous show of strength she brought the bar up to her shoulder, but wasn't able to compete the jerk part of the motion.

Still smiling, Jeane waved to the cheering crowd as she walked off the stage.

If Jeane would have made the lift, the record wouldn't have been official because the event wasn't a sanctioned weightlifting competition.

Singh went two for two in the snatch, forfeiting his third lift because of a shoulder injury, which he had taped up for the test event.

In the clean and jerk, Singh made his first two lifts before missing the third attempt, which totalled 156-kg.

To the delight of the crowd, he came back to try it again for a second time, but once again was unable to complete the lift for the second time.

Luna-Grenier also had an outstanding showing in the snatch category. He went three for three in the snatch, with his best lift at 130-kg.

In the clean and jerk, he made the first two lifts, which included 150-kg and 158-kg, but missed his third lift. Luna-Grenier's final lift was set at 165-kg.

Luna-Grenier, 21, said it was a good experience taking part in the testing event, which was sponsored by Northwestel.

"It was fun," he said. "I wanted more to get into the mood of competition. There is not that many competitions in Canada actually, so it's important to get into the mood prior to the Games."

He said he was happy about his performance at the test event. When asked if he had any goals for the Olympics, Luna-Grenier replied "Six for six." He said he thinks medalling will be tough at the Beijing Games.

"I am fairly young," Luna-Grenier said. "I aim for my best and to beat some strong guys, but I will make a good impression for Canada. That's what counts."

Jeane said despite missing a couple lifts she was happy with how she did at the event.

"I really tried risky weights," she said. "That's the unfortunate part about weightlifting, it's you do it or you don't, there is no in between. So even when it's close, it's not enough."

She said it was nice having the test event in Whitehorse.

"It's great to have the community support," Jeane said. "Even when I missed, people still encouraged me."