Om Yun Chol (pictured) set a new world record for the fifth time and became the five-time world champion by jerking 166kg and snatching 128kg, 294kg in total, in the men’s 55kg event in the 2019 IWF World Weightlifting Championships held in Thailand in September.

He surprised hundreds of weightlifters and experts participating in the championships as the weight he jerked more than trebled his weight.

“I think the new record set by Om Yun Chol this time will never be broken by any others in the future,” said Mohammed Hasan Jalood, secretary general of the International Weightlifting Federation.

Hailing from Sunam District of Chongjin City, North Hamgyong Province, Om loved sports very much from his childhood and soon showed a gift for weightlifting.

In a year and half after beginning weightlifting he participated in the national juvenile sports school weightlifting contest for the first time and took the first place in the boy’s 33kg division.

But his success as a professional and a world champion was still a long way away.

“Mom, I want to learn weightlifting in Pyongyang. I will win a gold medal in the international competition in the future,” he said.

It was 15 years ago when he was insistent on his demand and left home. He came to Pyongyang to see Ro Hyon Chol, weightlifting coach of the Amnokgang Sports Club.

At the time Om eagerly asked the coach to admit him to the club.

Ro was so impressed by the laudable intention of a boy that he brought him to experts on the selection of young players, but the result was hopeless. All of them said no to him.

“I could not ignore him, who saw me with tears in his eyes as if asking for help. It was surprising that he had come a long way to Pyongyang alone. But more surprising was his determination to become a world champion and unusual fondness for the sport. It probably impressed me most, I think. Anyway, I wanted to cultivate his dream and made a decision to train him to become an excellent player. So I admitted him as a weightlifter,” recalled Ro.

Yun Chol trained hard to improve his physical fitness and perseverance lifting hundreds of tons of heavy weight every day and did not leave the training ground without carrying out his daily training plan.

“The training was so hard that I sometimes wavered. But every time I thought of the coach who sincerely supported my decision and helped me from the first step, and it greatly encouraged me,” Yun Chol said.

Sin Chol Bom, who has played in the same club as a weightlifter for a long time with him, said Yun Chol carries out his assignments for training, however tough, unconditionally and achieves the goals once he set without fail. “I think his unusual liking for the sport and great enthusiasm led him to success,” he added.

His sincere and untiring efforts bore fruit: five years later, he became a defending champion in his weight category on the home front and won international events in succession.

He won the men’s 55-56kg titles in the 30th Olympic Games in 2012, world weightlifting championships in 2013, 2014 and 2015, 2018 IWF world weightlifting championships and many other international events, bagging 24 gold medals and setting new world records five times.