Weightlifter Bak Joo-hyo competes at Paris Olympics overcoming critical injury

South Korean weightlifter Bak Joo-hyo raised his hands after lifting 196 kilograms to his chest during his third attempt at clean and jerk. Aiming for an Olympic medal, he added one kilogram to his record of 195 kilograms. The barbell fell behind his head after holding the weight up with shaky arms. He knelt down on the floor after throwing up his fists in disappointment. Despite the audience’s applause, he sobbed and couldn’t get up for a while. That was the end of his first Olympics after overcoming an injury equivalent to Level 5 disability.

Park, the first South Korean weightlifter to appear at the Paris Olympics, competed in the men’s 73-kilogram event held in South Paris Arena 6 on Friday, ranking himself seventh out of 12 athletes by lifting a total of 334 kilograms – 147 kilograms for snatch and 187 kilograms for clean and jerk. The gold medalist, Rizki Juniansyah of Indonesia, lifted 354 kilograms in total, which is 20 kilograms more than Park’s record. The South Korean weightlifter successfully cleared 187 kilograms on his second clean and jerk attempt and failed to lift 196 kilograms on his third attempt.

Park, who played baseball until middle school, switched to weightlifting and showed much potential. He joined the South Korean national weightlifting team in his senior year in high school. He was ranked third in the 2017 IWF Junior World Championships and seventh in the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships, garnering attention. However, he experienced an unfortunate spine injury while serving in the military before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. It is a critical injury to a weightlifter who needs to hold the weight up. He later experienced paralysis below his waist and was declared to have Level 5 disability after enduring surgery that inserted four metal pins. The injury left him with trauma, in which he feels the need to get an MRI scan whenever he experiences the slightest pain in his back.

However, Park did not give up. Despite the doctors’ prediction of three years of rehabilitation, he recovered from the injury after one year and started lifting again. He competed in the World Weightlifting Championships (ranked ninth) and Hangzhou Asian Games (ranked sixth) last year. By placing himself in fifth position at the IWF World Cup in April this year with his personal best of 345 kilograms, he earned a ticket to the Paris Olympics.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com