Kim_Kuk-hyang_(weightlifter)
Kim Kuk-hyang (weightlifter)
North Korean weightlifter (born 1993)
Kim Kuk-hyang (Korean pronunciation: [kim.ɡu.kʰjaŋ] or [kim] [ku.kʰjaŋ]; born 20 April 1993) is a North Korean weightlifter who won the silver medal in the women's +75 kg weight class at the 2015 Asian Weightlifting Championships.[1]
She won the silver medal at the women's +75 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics.[2]
Kuk-hyang was born in Changyon County, South Hwanghae Province, North Korea. She was raised by her mother and was later orphaned, to be raised by the state. She was noticed by weightlifting coach Kim Myong Ho at a hospital in Pyongyang when helping her mother get medical treatment; she was helping her mother up the stairs when the coach asked if she wanted to become a weightlifter. As her mother's health was failing, the coach would often visit her in hospital and promised to raise her daughter. Myong Ho was a demanding coach who also acted as her father. At age 16, she was injured as the first world junior weight lifting championship neared. After recuperating, she was looked after by national-level coaches and a medical group, who oversaw her nutrition using a scientific approach. She was chosen one of the top ten athletes of 2016 and was awarded the title of "Merited Athlete" in her home country.[3]
