At the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, North Korean weightlifters had won four gold and two silver medals in six events and set seven world records as of the evening of September 25. As Channel NewsAsia reports, the country’s athletes may return to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles for the first time in 12 years.
Seven world records
Ri Song Gum won gold in the under-49kg category and set three world records. The 28-year-old athlete said she was ready to move up to the under-53kg category, the lowest women’s weight category at the next Olympics.
Her compatriot Kang Hyon Gyong won in the under-53kg category. O Kwang Ok took gold in the under-57kg division, also setting three world records. She told AFP that her goal was the 2028 Olympics and a gold medal in Los Angeles.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Results after returning
North Korea did not send athletes to the postponed Olympic Games in Tokyo because of border closures during the pandemic. After the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September 2023, it was already too late for the country to qualify in weightlifting for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
At the Asian Games in Hangzhou, North Korean weightlifters set six world records and won six gold medals. At the 2024 World Championships in Manama, the team won 45 medals, 26 of them gold; China was next in the medal standings with 14 awards. A year earlier, at competitions in Norway, North Korea again topped the standings, winning 17 gold medals.
North Korea’s national weightlifting team manager Chang Song Nam linked the team’s success to the athletes’ hard work during four years of COVID-19 isolation.
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