“Just a Matter of First or Second Place”

“Just watch.”

Korea has not won a single medal in the Olympics during the last 12 years, other than the gold medal won by Chun Byung-gwan (56kg class) at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Jang Mee-ran, competing in the women’s unlimited class (75kg or more) weight lifting competition, has high hopes of winning the gold this year at the Athens Olympics.

On April 12, during the Athens Olympic team selections, Jang Mee-ran scored an impressive 170kg (previously 168.5kg) lift on her clean and jerk totaling 300kg, which was unofficially remembered as a tie with the then-current world record.

Jang’s rival during the games will be China’s Tang Gong-hong (25). Last April, Tang Gong-hong scored 175 on her clean and jerk and totaled 302.5kg, breaking the world record during the Kazakhstan 2004 Asian Championships. Other than Tang Gong-hong, the second and third place records are no match for Jang Mee-ran’s unofficial record.

Second place went to Robel Agatha (23, Poland), who scored a total of 287.5kg during the April European Championships. Third place went to Delgado Karmenza (32, Columbia), who totaled 280kg at the May Pan-Ameircan Championships.

Considering the records of the second and third place runner-ups, Jang seems to have a clear path to winning a medal at the Athens Olympics. The only problem is whether she will be able to get first place.

Both Tang and Jang have competed against each other at the 2002 Pusan Asian Games

At the time, Tang Gong-hong scored a total of 287.5kg (snatch 120kg, clean and jerk 167.5kg), winning the gold, while Jang Mee-ran scored a total of 272.5kg (Snatch 120kg, Clean and Jerk 155kg), winning the silver medal.

After two years, Tang Gong-hong shows a total of 15kg improvement, while Jang Mee-ran improved a total of 27.5kg. Jang Mee-ran’s rate of improvement is much quicker.

With the help of the Korean Sports and Science Research Center’s posture correction program, Jang Mee-ran has shown much improvement and is most likely to continue to improve in the future.

Won-Hong Lee bluesky@donga.com