North Korean weightlifters clean up in Hangzhou but won't be at Olympics

HANGZHOU: The superheavyweight giants wrap up the Asian Games weightlifting on Saturday (Oct 7) but it was the North Koreans' stunning return after four years that raised eyebrows in Hangzhou.

The country that prides itself on shows of strength emerged from a self-imposed COVID-19 exile to capture six gold medals, five silvers and two bronze in weightlifting.

They also smashed six world records.

Two weeks before the opening ceremony it was unclear if North Korea would show up, having failed to do so at the Tokyo Olympics and last month's weightlifting World Championships in Riyadh.

But they came and they conquered hosts China, who were second in the weightlifting standings with five golds, three silvers and one bronze.

North Korea proclaimed themselves "world leaders" at the sport, after not being seen in competition since December 2019.

"Now North Korea is ahead of us and we need to catch up. We cannot remain in the comfort zone," said China's head coach Wang Guoxin.

The gold rush raised questions about what the North Korean weightlifters had done while the country's borders were sealed to the outside world because of the pandemic.

Jang Song Nam, manager of the North Korean weightlifting team, said the success was "payback" for their sacrifices over years of COVID-19 isolation.

"Our athletes for these Asian Games have put in so much hard work," said Jang.

"Every gold medal is payback for our hardship over four years. We are world leaders now. We wanted to show our strength, and we did it."

China's world champion Jiang Huihua, who saw her 49kg women's world record smashed by Ri Song Gum on the first day of competition, said she was "surprised" by the result.

And Chinese triple world champion Li Fabin, who just held off two North