DPRK Ends up Sydney Olympics with 1 Silver

DPRK Ends up Sydney Olympics with 1 Silver, 3 Bronze Medals

Kim Un Chol competes with Lithuania's fighter in the boxing flyweight 48kg quarterfinals.

The DPRK athletes wrapped up the Sydney Olympics by achieving a silver medal and three bronze medals while showing the country’s advanced skills and techniques and potential ability for the next international event.

The country’s boxer Kim Un Chol, 22, won a bronze medal in the 48-kilogram division on Sept. 28. He fought against Lozano Munoz Rafael, Spain’s fighter, as his semi-final match opponent. Being on a bad wicket in the 3rd and 4th rounds, Kim gave a slashing attack to the opponent to pull to only three points behind him.　But he was defeated 10 -15 and ended up third place in the event.

Kang Yong Gyun, who participated in the 54-kilogram division of the Greco-Roman style wrestling, won a bronze medal on Sept. 26. Moving to a semi-final game scoring 2 wins and 1 loss, he faced south Korean representative Shim Kwon Ho, gold medallist in the Atlanta Olympics. It had gathered attention as the second north-south match in the Sydney Olympics since archery event, but the north Korean athlete was defeated in the game and entitled to play the final match to decide third place in the class.

His opponent in the final match was the Ukraine’s wrestler who won a bronze medal in the preceding Olympics. This time, he got a point at the beginning of the game with his active attack and he blanked him 7-0.

While the south Korean wrestler won a gold medal in the final match against the Cuban representative player, north and south Korean athletes mounted the winners’ podium together for the first time in the Sydney Olympics.

Ham Bong Shil, a north Korean women’s marathon runner, who got a berth for the Olympics by setting a record of 2 hours, 29-minutes and 08 of a second in the London marathon held in April this year, improved her best record 2-minutes and 07 of a second, placing 8thin spite of a hard condition going through a marathon course of the Sydney Olympics.

She was injured in her arm and leg when she fell as she was knocked over by a runner who followed her, when her group covered a distance of 9 kilometer.

“I regret getting injured in my arm and leg and not being able to take water supply during the race,” Ham said after the event.

Meanwhile, Pae Gil Su ranked 5th in the individual event of the pommel horse competition, Kim Yong Ok, women’s 63kg weightlifter of the DPRK, finished 5th by lifting a total of 205.0 kg and in the man’s 81 kg class Judo event, Kwak Ok Chol placed 7th.

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