Park Hye-jung (21-Goyang City Hall) dedicated her silver medal to her mother, who passed away this year. It was the first medal for South Korea in weightlifting in eight years, after the country’s last medal in Tokyo three years ago.
Park Hye-jung competed in the women’s 81kg and over weightlifting event at Arena 6 in South Paris, France, on the 11th day of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, lifting 131kg in the lift, 168kg in the snatch and a Korean record total of 299kg to finish second. Gold went to Li Wenyuan (CHN) with a total of 309 kilograms and bronze to Emily Campbell (GBR) with 288 kilograms.
Park’s first lift of the day was a monster, as she lifted the barbell overhead in one motion to set a new personal best and Korean record. After effortlessly lifting 123 kilograms in the first repetition and 127 kilograms in the second, she attempted a third repetition of 131 kilograms, one kilogram heavier than the Korean record. Although he couldn’t lift the weight as quickly as his previous attempts, he managed to stand up with the weight above his head.
The dragon lift, in which the barbell is placed on the chest and then lifted overhead, is something Park is better at than impressions. She also holds the Korean record in this weight class (170 kilograms). She came close to a medal in the first round with 163 kilograms, but then lifted up to 168 kilograms in the second round. Lee Won-won succeeded with 173 kilograms in the second period, widening the gap to 10 kilograms. Park acknowledged the gap and attempted a personal best of 173kg in the final period, but dropped the barbell for the first time on the day.
Already dubbed the “second coming of the rose” in her third year of middle school, Park has quickly become a medal-winning force on the world stage. In the absence of the top weightlifter in her weight class, Lee Won-won, Park has risen to the top of the world’s ranks, winning the Asian Games and World Championships in Hangzhou last year.
Park Hye-jung is following in the footsteps of Korean weightlifting legend Jang Jang-ran. Jang won silver at Athens 2004, gold at Beijing 2008 and 메이저사이트 bronze at London 2012 during her career as Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Park is the first Olympic medalist in the women’s weightlifting category in 12 years, and like Jang, she won a silver medal in her first Olympics.
Park Hye-jung is not setting herself any unreasonable goals at the event, which will be defended by the world record holder in the women’s middleweight category, Lee Won-won. In Paris, she wanted to be on the podium, and four years later in LA, she wanted to be on the top step of the podium. Everything is according to plan.
For Park, the Games were dedicated to his mother, who passed away in April after a battle with cancer. Shortly after her funeral, she flew to Thailand to compete in a competition that qualified her for the Olympics. He overcame his ordeal to qualify for Paris, where he won a silver medal on the biggest stage of the Games.
“I was told that I was the last Korean athlete to win a medal, so I was honestly a little nervous, but I’m so happy and excited to win a medal,” Park said in the press area after the ceremony.
She was cheerful throughout the competition, but on the podium, she shed a tear for her mother. “Honestly, I tried not to think about my mom, but I couldn’t stop thinking about her from the warm-up. I cried when I put the silver medal around my neck,” she said. “Even now, when I think about my mom, I get teary-eyed, but I can’t keep crying. I can’t wait to go to Korea and show my mom the medal,” he said.
Park Hye-jung narrowed the gap between herself and Won-won Lee, the absolute favorite in the middleweight division, at the Paris Olympics. “I think Won-won Lee’s body has fallen off,” Park said, “and I feel confident that I will be able to compete in four years. In LA, I will aim for Guo Yu Shenyang,” he said. For now, she plans to enjoy the next day with her father and sister. “We promised to go eat snails,” Park smiles, grateful to her family for filling her mother’s void.
