weightlfiting is a wonderful sport. It's like pretty much every sport, in the sense that it requires a lot of dedication. If you have a good teacher and you're willing to put in the time you'll reap some great rewards.
Even with a national level coach, it realisticly could take you a few years for you to become good at it. Chances are if you come into the sport and you're already strong then you could find that an advantage as well as disadvantage. Silver medalist Robert Kabbas told me that.
You'll find it an advantage in the sense that you could easily fit into the E or D grade fairly quickly, once you pick up your technique. (look
here to see what I mean).
Reading the chart is simple. If yr lifting in the 69kg class and able to do a 65kg snatch & an 85kg clean & jerk for 1 rep, you'd fit in to the D grade. That's a total of 150kg @ the 69kg class. The higher you get, the more technique (as well as strength plays a role).
One thing that Gino Fratangelo told me, was that in your second year, you can realisticly clean & jerk what you snatched last year. That's positive thinking. It still takes massive amounts of focus on technique as well as strength building.
Get in there. Have a go. Be prepared for a pretty long road. It's a rewarding journey.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmaHqrD2t1Q]YouTube - Gino Fratangelo jerks 203kg[/ame]