North Korea weightlifter sets three world records for Asian Games gold

NAGOYA: Weightlifter Ri Song Gum gave North Korea their first gold of the Asian Games on Wednesday (Sep 23) in style, setting three world records in the women's 49kg class and shedding tears of joy.

North Korea's women dominated the opening day of the strength event in Nagoya as Kang Hyon Gyong made it a golden double by winning the 53kg class.

Ri, a pocket powerhouse who stands a mere 140cm tall, became the first woman to win three Asian Games weightlifting golds.

The 28-year-old was emotional as her country's anthem was played at the medal ceremony and the North Korean flag raised.

Alongside her was the silver medallist from India, Mirabai Chanu, and bronze medallist from Indonesia, Diana Tri Wijayana.

Ri was cheered to the rafters in a lively atmosphere, made all the more raucous by a large number of Japanese North Korean fans waving flags.

She added to her Asian Games golds in Jakarta in 2018 in the 48kg class and Hangzhou in 2023 at 49kg.

Ri hauled 94kg above her head in the opening snatch discipline, one kilogramme more than the previous world standard of 93kg.

She then smashed the clean and jerk world mark of 115kg with 121kg and her total of 215kg also obliterated the world mark by 7kg.

"The reason I got this gold is for the feelings of my home country, the people had huge expectations for me," Ri told reporters.

"I wanted to lift my country up on these two small shoulders."

From Aug 1 governing body the IWF introduced new weight classes leading up to the next Olympics and reset all its world records.

If an athlete beats the newly introduced world standard mark they are deemed to have set a new world record.

CHANU ON PODIUM AT LAST

Ri has never competed at the Olympics. North Korea were absent from Tokyo in 2021 because of COVID-19 and the country did not qualify in weightlifting for Paris in 2024.

There will be no 49kg class at the next Olympics in Los Angeles because the competition has been slimmed down to six men's and six women's divisions.

But when Ri was asked if she would consider moving up to 53kg, the lowest women's category, she replied "Yes".

She will face some competition for a ticket to Los Angeles as compatriot Kang was equally dominant in the 53kg class.

Kang easily took North Korea's second gold, setting three Asian Games records with lifts of 99kg and 124kg for a winning total of 223kg.

She too sobbed as she saluted the North Korea flag on the podium after she received her second Asian Games gold. Kang won at 55kg in Hangzhou in 2023.

In the 49kg event India's Chanu, the silver medallist at the Tokyo Olympics, finally won an Asian Games medal at the third time of asking with a total of 198kg while Indonesia's Wijayana totalled 191kg for bronze.

The 32-year-old Chanu won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July and said she had fulfilled a dream by standing on an Asian Games podium for the first time.

"I feel very good, very happy," Chanu told AFP. "This is my dream to win an Asian Games medal. I had the belief in me that I would be able to win."