North Korean weightlifters win gold, break records at 19th Asian Games
By Bryan Ke
October 3, 2023
North Korean athlete Kim Il Gyong took home the gold medal in the weightlifting event at the 19th Asian Games on Monday, beating previous title holder Kuo Hsing-chun of Taiwan and smashing her record along the way.
Key details: Kim, 20, broke the 29-year-old Taiwanese athlete’s 111-kilogram (244.7-pound) world record snatch during Monday’s weightlifting event in the women’s 59-kilogram (130-pound) category in Hangzhou, China.
Afterward, on her third clean and jerk lift, she successfully lifted 135kg (297.6-pound), 5kg shy of Kuo’s world record set in 2019.
Kuo, who took home the bronze medal on Monday, set the world record and Asian record for snatch during the Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in April 2021.
Other records: Kim’s North Korean teammates also broke records and won gold in other categories on Saturday. Notably, Ri Song Gum broke the clean and jerk record by lifting 124kg (273.3 pounds) and the total of 216kg (476.19 pounds) in the 49-kilogram (108-pound) category.
Kang Hyong Yong also broke the snatch and clean and jerk record by lifting 103 kilograms (227 pounds) and 130 kilograms (286.6 pounds), respectively, and the total record of 233 kilograms (513.67 pounds) in the 55-kilogram (121.5-pound) category.
Her reaction: Kim praised their facility and her teammates while speaking to reporters after the medal ceremony, saying, “We have very good training facilities, and we put in a lot of hard work.”
It was expected: Kuo admitted that Kim, Ri and Kang’s performance at the 19th Asian Games was not at all surprising, praising them by telling reporters, “They (North Korea) have been strong in the past for many years.”
How she lost: Kuo, known as the “Goddess of Weightlifting,” tearfully told reporters afterward that she “did something” to her right leg during warm-up, adding that “even in training before the competition, it didn’t feel that great.”
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