Indonesia’s weightlifting team plans to arrive in London at least three weeks before the 2012 Olympic Games, slated for July 27 to Aug. 12.

“Locog [London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games] has offered to let us use pre-Games training facilities there,” Hadi Wihardja of the Indonesian Golden Program (Prima) ­— the government body overseeing the athletes’ training — said on Monday.

“We accepted the offer and our lifters will go to London in early July.

“Arriving early will also help the athletes adapt to the surroundings, including the London weather and the Games’ equipment.”

Hadi acknowledged that sending the athletes to London early would cost more. Prima, he said, has already set aside Rp 400 million ($44,000) to pay their way, depending on how many athletes qualify for the Games.

Five men’s lifters — Jadi Setiadi (56-kilogram division), Eko Yuli Irawan (62kg), Triyatno (69kg), Sumaryanto (56kg) and M. Hasbi (62kg) — qualified for the London Games during the 2011 World Championships, which were held in Paris last November.

But the Indonesian Weightilifting, Bodybuilding and Powerlifting Association (Pabbsi) hopes to send more athletes to London, especially the women.

The last chance to qualify for London will be at the Asian Championships in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, from April 22-30.

Indonesian weightlifters have won a medal at every Olympics since the 2000 Games in Sydney, when Raema Lisa Rumbewas took the silver in the women’s 48-kilogram division. Sri Indriyani (48kg) and Winarni (53kg) earned bronze.

Lisa won another silver in Athens in 2004, while Eko and Triyatno brought home bronze medals from Beijing in 2008.

“Because of its history, weightlifting has been on top of Prima’s priority list,” Hadi said.

To help the lifters, the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) and the sports science division of the Youth and Sports Affairs Ministry have donated video equipment to three weightlifting training centers.

The cameras can replay high-quality slow-motion images, which coaches can analyze.