No ordinary Choe: N. Korean makes epic lift to win gold
JAKARTA: Choe Jon Wi pulled out the greatest lift of his life to edge a titanic battle of the Koreas and secure the fourth weightlifting gold for the North in an epic 77kg men’s final Thursday.
Later Taiwan’s world champion Kuo Hsing- chun dismantled the Thai Olympic champion Srisurat Sukanya to win her country’s first gold in the women’s 58kg.
South Korea’s Kim Woo- jae had looked as if he had turned the tables on Choe, his rival from across the heavily armed Korean border, when he succeeded with 187kg to give him a massive 347kg total.
Choe was f loundering on 340kg, but the 25-year- old student smashed his lifetime best, set in coming eighth at the 2016 Rio Olympics, by 3kg as he somehow hauled 193kg above his head for victory.
“It was the biggest weight I have ever lifted, I never even did that in training,” a delighted Choe told AFP.
It sparked frenzied celebrations as he set off punching the air wildly before leaping from the
It was the biggest weight I have ever lifted, I never even did that in training. Choe Jon Wi, North Korean weightlifter
stage into the arms of his coach, as Woo watched in stunned silence from the warm-up area.
In the women’s 58kg, Taiwanese national icon Kuo only needed her opening lift of 125kg in the clean and jerk to blow away Srisurat and clinch gold.
She returned but failed by a whisker with a 143kg attempt that would have extended her own clean and jerk world record.
Kuo became a national hero in Taiwan after she set the world record at 142kg on home soil at the 2017 Universiade in Taipei, after winning a bronze behind Srisurat at the 2016 Olympics.
Kuo, who added Asian Games gold to her 2017 world title, won with a total of 235kg, 11kg ahead of Srisurat, and now only needs the Olympic title to complete a grand slam of major wins. — AFP