BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Although finishing sixth in the women's 53kg weightlifting at Beijing Olympics, U.S. strongwoman Melanie Roach was quite satisfied with her performance of 193kg in total, 28kg less than the achievement of gold medalist Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarak.

    She was the only woman to succeeded in all the six attempts on Sunday's event and the she managed to break the American record.

    "I wanted to come in and do the best possible lifts I could do, and that was six from six and breaking the American record, so I'm very happy," she said.

    It took her eight years to come back to compete at the Olympics after she missed the trial for 2000 Sydney Games due to a back problem.

    It's not an easy coming back.

    A herniated disk ruined her dream at making the 2000 Olympic team. She decided to unofficially retire from weightlifting and focus on her family and business, operating the gym run by her and her husband, state representative Dan Roach.

    She took five years off, and gave birth to three children.

    One morning in 2005, she woke her husband and told him that she wanted to return to weightlifting and try to make the Olympic Games.

    "There is a little part of me that wants to compete at the Olympics," she told Xinhua Sunday.

    In order to get rid of the back pain, she had a surgery in late 2006 and within seven months won a gold at the 2007 U.S. national championships, getting qualified for the Beijing Olympics.

    "I've been waiting for eight years and it worths the wait," she said.

    She jumped and waved to the responsive spectators after every successful lift.

    "I'm definitely having a good time out there. I'm just trying to leave it all on the table and give it all I've got, so if the crowd responds to that, that's great," she said.

    Her husband and their older son have come to watch her competition Sunday.

    Roach said she will retire after the Olympics and help her husband for a re-election in November.