Champion Lifter Jang Raises Mood at Media Event

Olympic gold medalist Jang Mi-ran is the world’s strongest woman, but a closer look shows her gentle and sensitive nature.

The national weightlifting team gave a Lunar New Year’s interview yesterday at the National Training Centre in Taeneung. Along with Jang, Sa Jae-hyeok (Gangwon Province), Yoon Jin-hee (Korea National Sport University), Yim Jung-hwa (Ulsan City Hall) and Ji Hoon-min (Goyang City Hall) attended.

Jang led the interview and helped other athletes to talk to the media. When Ji hesitated in giving answers because of apparent nervousness, Jang came to his rescue, saying, “The question is too difficult.”

With this, Ji recovered his composure and proceeded with the interview.

When Sa was interviewed, Jang added humor to the scene by saying, “When Jae-hyeok speaks his mind, his manner of talking abruptly changes.”

Throughout the one-hour interview, Jang helped her teammates release tension and created a gentle atmosphere. Of 30 team members, Jang is the oldest woman and Jeon Sang-gyun is the oldest man at 28.

Jang is nine years older than the youngest female member Cho Yu-mi, 17, a student at Taekwang High School in Gyeonggi Province.

Jang said she wants to break this year her world record of 140 kilograms in the snatch and 186 kilograms in the clean and jerk.

“Defending a title is more difficult than winning it for the first time. I will try to live up to expectations by winning the world championships in November in Goyang,” she said.

creating@donga.com