Young Girl Breaks Korean Weightlifting Record

With only one more athlete to go during the women’s 53-kilogram weight-lifting “clean and jerk” event at the 85th Korean National Sports Festival`s held on October 8 at the Cheongju Shinheung High School gymnasium, Lim Jung-hwa (18, Daegu Seobu Technical High School) finally appeared before the stands.

Lim Jung-hwa confidently added 10 more kilograms than first place contender Kim Eun-kyung`s best record, and attempted to lift a total of 100 kilograms for her first trial.

Her relatively short stature (150 centimeters) easily lifted the barbell after she took a deep breath to withstand the immense weight, with the aid of her muscular thighs.

The “Maiden Hercules,” who had to give up her hopes of an Athens gold medal due to an injury, ascended to the throne for the third consecutive time in this event, washing away her memories of the past.

Lim Jung-hwa lifted 89 kilograms for the “snatch” event, breaking the Korean record easily and enabling her to take first place. Her accumulative total reached 187.5 kilograms, surpassing second place Kim So-jung`s (Gangwon Wonju High School) record by 27.5 kilograms.

After Lim Jung-hwa was selected as the youngest athlete of the women`s national weightlifting team in February 2002 (at 14 years and two months old). She has broken 19 Korean records and has been nicknamed “Maiden Heracles” ever since.

During last year`s national sports festival, Lim broke the Korean record by lifting 95 kilograms in the “snatch” event and 118 kilograms in “clean and jerk” for an accumulative total of 212.5 kilograms to become champion of the women’s 58-kilogram class.

However, she injured her shoulder during selections for the national team and eventually was not able to make the team in time for the Olympics.

After her injury, some even mentioned to her that her injuries would prevent her from lifting again. However, Lim persevered, trained hard, and eventually broke the Korean record for the 20th time only after two months of rehabilitation.

Lim Jung-hwa commented later, "I was very disappointed that I wasn`t able to go to Athens this year. I will most certainly take the gold at the Beijing Olympics in four years."

The sports festival`s opening ceremony that held the theme of “the essence of life,” and took place in Cheongju`s main stadium, where Olympic men`s team archery gold medalist Lim Dong-hyun (18, Choongbuk Physical High School), the last torch-bearer, took the torch and lighted a 63-meter tower to officially announce the commencement of the games.

The torch was mounted on a tower crane that is 24 meters higher than the 2002 Salt Lake City torch (39 meters), making it the world`s tallest torch.

Sung-Kyu Kim kimsk@donga.com