Om Yun-chol

Om Yun-chol (born November 18, 1991 , Hamgyŏng-pukto Province ) is a North Korean weightlifter . He became Olympic champion in 2012 and bantamweight world champion in 2013, 2014 and 2015 .

Career

The 1.52 meter tall athlete starts in the bantam weight class, which has its weight limit of 56 kg. He first appeared at an international championship in June 2011, when he took part in the Junior World Championship in Penang. In the bantamweight he came in a duel on 271 kg (115–156) and thus took 4th place. Outstanding was his performance in pushing, where he won the junior world championship with the 156 kg he managed. In November 2011 he also took part in the World Seniors Championships in Paris. But he wasn't in good shape there. He managed there in a duel with only one valid attempt in snatching and pushing 267 kg (115–152) and ended up in 6th place. He was still lucky that after two invalid attempts with 152 kg he was just able to manage this load in the third attempt.

Om Yun-Chol appeared very well prepared at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. He achieved there in a duel 293 kg (125-168) and was thus Olympic champion before the Chinese Wu Jingbiao , who reached 289 kg (133-156) and the Azerbaijani Valentin Xristov , who reached 286 kg (127-159). The decisive factor for his Olympic victory was his outstanding performance in the push, where he set Halil Mutlu's world record with 168 kg .

In June 2013, Om Yun-Chol won the Asian Championships in Astana. He reached in the bantam weight 286 kg (126-160). He referred the two Vietnamese Thạch Kim Tuấn , 281 kg (125–156) and Trần Lê Quốc Toàn , 275 kg (120–155) to their places. A month before the world championship he achieved in September 2013 at the Asia Cup (Interclub Weightliftign Championships) in Pyoengyang in his victory in a duel 289 kg (120-169) and improved it in pushing the world record of Halil Mutlu by 1 kg. At the 2013 World Championships in Wrocław, he managed 289 kg (127-162) in a duel and was world champion in front of Long Qingquan , China, 287 kg (130-157) and Thach Kim Tuan, 283 kg (126-157). After his first attempt in pushing with 162 kg, he tried in his second attempt to improve his own world record to 170 kg. However, he injured himself while being ejected and was unable to make a third attempt.

In September 2014, Om Yun-Chol won the Asian Games in Incheon. He achieved 298 kg (128-170) in a duel. He set a new Asian record in a duel and achieved a new world record in pushing with 170 kg. At the 2014 World Championships in Almaty, Om Yun-chol again succeeded in becoming world champion in duels and jerks. He achieved 296 kg (128-168) in a duel and had to fight hard to beat the ever increasing junior world champion of 2014 Thạch Kim Tuấn from Vietnam, who also weighed 296 kg (135-161) in a duel. In the end he only won because he was 40 grams lighter than the Vietnamese. What was admirable, however, was how she was able to improve Om Yun-chol after unsuccessful attempts in the decisive third attempts in tearing and pushing.

In 2015 he was again world champion in a duel in Houston. He reached 302 kg (131–171). However, his Chinese competitor Wu Jingbiao demanded everything from him. Wu Jingbiao set a new world record in snatch with 139 kg. Om Yun-chol weighed 131 kg in this discipline and was 8 kg behind. In the push he managed to catch up again by pushing 171 kg and in a duel with Wu, who scored 163 kg in the push. Since Om was a little easier than Wu, he was once again the duel world champion.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
2011	4th	Junior World Championships (U 20) in Penang	Bantam	at 271 kg (115-156); Winner: Li Fabin, China, 275 kg (124–151)
2011	6th	World Cup in Paris	Bantam	at 267 kg (115-152); Winner: Wu Jingbiao, China, 292 kg (133–159) ahead of Zhao Chaojun, China, 284 kg (128–156)
2012	gold	OS in London	Bantam	with 293 kg (125–168), ahead of Wu Jingbiao, 289 kg (133–156) and Valentin Xristov, Azerbaijan, 286 kg (127–159)
2013	1.	Asian Championship in Astana	Bantam	with 286 kg (126–160), ahead of Thach Kim Tuan, Vietnam, 281 kg (125–156) and Tran Le Quoc Toan, Vietnam, 275 kg (120–155)
2013	1.	Asia Cup (Interclub Weightlifting Championships) in Pyoengyang	Bantam	with 289 kg (120–169), before Go Suk-kyo, South Korea, 252 kg (110–142) ​​and Dong Ya Wei, China, 250 kg (109–141)
2013	1.	World Cup in Wrocław	Bantam	with 289 kg (127–162), before Long Qingquan, China, 287 kg (130–157) and Thach Kim Tuan, 283 kg (126–157)
2014	1.	Asian Games in Incheon	Bantam	with 298 kg (128–170), ahead of Thach Kim Tuan, 294 kg (134–160) and Wu Jingbiao, 288 kg (133–155)
2014	1.	World Cup in Almaty	Bantam	with 296 kg (128–168), ahead of Thach Kim Tuan, 296 kg (135–161) and Long Qingquan, 293 kg (133–160)
2015	1.	World Cup in Houston	Bantam	with 302 kg (131–171), before Wu Jingbiao, 302 kg (139–163) and Thach Kim Tuan, 287 kg (130–157)

World Cup individual medals

• World Cup gold medals: 2013 / Push - 2014 / Push - 2015 / Push
• World Cup silver medals: 2013 / tear
• World Cup bronze medals: 2015 / tear

Explanations

• all competitions in single combat, consisting of snatching and pushing
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship
• Bantam weight, weight class up to 56 kg body weight

literature

• Athletics magazine

Web links

• Portrait on www.london2012.com
• Om Yun-chol at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Om Yun-chol in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Website www.polska-sztanga.pl

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Om is the family name here, Yun-chol is the first name.