U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : Three More for the Books : Weightlifting: Diane Fuhrman adds to her national record collection with a trio of victories.

An American Gladiator she is not. A record-setting weightlifter she is.

Several times over.

Diana Fuhrman, already owner of two national records in the 67.5-kilogram (148 3/4-pound) classification, made it a clean sweep in Olympic Festival competition Saturday night.

A trio of gold medals, a trio of records for the 27-year-old former beauty queen from Simi Valley. Fuhrman set national marks for the snatch, the clean and jerk and total weight.

So does she really expect television producers to call? If they were hesitant before, they certainly should be now.

In the spring, shortly before leaving to compete at the Women’s World Weightlifting Championships in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, Fuhrman auditioned to be a contestant on the television show “American Gladiators.”

The show pits contestants against resident competitors in various combative contests.

Sometimes it’s a duel of padded clubs, sometimes it’s tackle football.

Sometimes it’s best not to mention that you’re a world-class weightlifter during an interview with the show’s producers.

Fuhrman did. And she’s still waiting for a call.

“I gave them all my lifting credentials,” she said. “That probably tossed me right there. The gladiators probably wouldn’t have been too thrilled with that.”

Her resume--the weightlifting one--grew all the more impressive after her Festival showing at O’Shaughnessy Auditorium on Saturday.

Fuhrman won the snatch with an effort of 87.5 kilograms (192 3/4 pounds) and took the clean and jerk with a best of 110-kilograms (242 1/2 pounds). Her total of 197.5 kilograms (435 1/4 pounds) made her the all-around champion.

Fuhrman successfully snatch-lifted 88.5 kilograms (195 pounds) in an extra attempt allowed for record-breaking purposes. In a similar extra try in the clean and jerk, Fuhrman just missed hoisting 112.5 kilograms.

Her mistake: She breathed during the lift.

“It causes you to relax your whole torso,” she explained.

Fuhrman’s opponents must have been breathless just watching. Her total for the record book was 198.5 kilograms (437 1/2 pounds).

Silver medalist Stephanie Zurek finished with a total of 152.5 kilograms--more than 100 pounds below Fuhrman’s record total.

Suspense was an early casualty during the competition as Fuhrman’s first attempt at the snatch clinched the gold medal in that event.

Zurek, of Emeryville, Calif., had been the event’s leader, successfully completing a 70-kilogram (154 1/4-pound) lift on her third attempt.

The opening weight for Fuhrman: 82.5 kilograms (181 3/4 pounds), equaling the Festival record she set last year in Oklahoma City.

Fuhrman failed on her first try at 88 kilograms, or 194 pounds.

“I just lost my concentration,” she said. “Sometimes when (the bar) feels so light I’m afraid of overpulling and it falling behind me.”

Before trying again, Fuhrman made one slight adjustment: She clipped up her hair, which she had left down for her first two lifts.

“I always wear it up when I’m working out in the Valley because it’s always so hot,” Fuhrman said. “I just said, ‘Let’s have everything the way it normally is in training.’ So I pulled it back off my face.”

With her hair firmly tucked up, Fuhrman brought Arlys Kovach’s two-year national record down.

And then she went for more.

After gaining approval from the panel of judges, Fuhrman chose to extend the record with a lift that wouldn’t count in the actual competition.

The weight was changed to 88 1/2 kilograms--or roughly a pound more than her last lift.

Why so much trouble over a pound?

“That was my choice,” said Bob Takano, Fuhrman’s coach of 10 years. “Sometimes as a coach, you also plan on goals you want to reach in the future.”

He got no argument from Fuhrman. “It was a another record,” she said. “That’s the important part.”

But then she added: “He could have put 2 1/2 more kilos on and I would have made it the same way.”

Qiuxiang Guo of China holds all three world records in Fuhrman’s weight class, having established them last November at the world championships in Manchester, England.

Guo’s marks are 97.5 kilograms (214 3/4) in the snatch and 122.5 kilograms (270 pounds) in the clean and jerk for a total of 220 kilograms (485 pounds).

After placing fifth behind Guo at June’s meet in Sarajevo, Fuhrman kept right on training.

“I wanted to make the lifts I didn’t make at the Worlds,” she said. “I had something to look forward to.”

Much of the past five weeks, she said, was spent working on technique. She also lifted a few dining utensils and gained four pounds, something that was of benefit Saturday.

“When (the weights) hit my shoulders I didn’t feel like I was buckling at all,” she said.

Takano said he knew Fuhrman was ready for a big performance after a somewhat disappointing showing in the world championships.

Fuhrman’s previous national best in the clean and jerk, 107.5 kilograms, was accomplished two years ago in Houston. She equaled that on the second of the three attempts she was allowed on Saturday.

On Fuhrman’s third lift, she easily handled 110 kilograms, perhaps because she thought it was less.

“I thought it was 108 1/2,” Fuhrman said “I didn’t know it was 110. He tricked me.”

She was referring to Takano, of course, who has done that before.

The two met when Fuhrman was a student in Takano’s biology class at Van Nuys High. Fuhrman was a tennis player and homecoming princess.

Takano was a coach in search of prospective weightlifters. Female lifters, to be precise.

“There had been a little groundswell of interest at that point, but nobody had really tried anything too serious with the women,” Takano said. “I was looking for people who were willing, more than talented.”

Fuhrman fit the bill.

“She was always been kind of off the wall,” Takano said, “so she decided to go along with this crazy scheme. It was all very experimental.”

Said Fuhrman: “I was his little lab rat.”

They have come a long way since. Takano, as coach of the West women’s team at the Festival, was on hand to watch his star student.

Fuhrman said his being there helped.

“He always knows exactly what to say to me,” she said.

On Saturday, as Fuhrman was preparing for her record attempt in the clean and jerk, Takano was at it again.

Backstage in the warmup area, he stepped up to her and said, “Just go out and do it.”

Said Fuhrman: “That was all I needed to hear.”