Kuo Hsing-chun ( zh, t=郭婞淳, p=Guō Xìngchún;
Amis name: Tana; born 26 November 1993) is a Taiwanese
Amis weightlifter
Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...
, Olympic gold medalist, five time world champion, two time Universiade champion, Asian Games champion, and five time Asian champion, competing in the 58 kg division until 2018 and 59 kg starting in 2018 after the
International Weightlifting Federation
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), headquartered in Lausanne, is the international governing body for the sport of Olympic weightlifting. The IWF was founded in 1905, and has 192 Member Federations. The IWF President is Mohammed H ...
reorganized the categories. She has set 11 senior
world records
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...
in her career.
Early life
Kuo Hsing-chun was born in Yilan in 1993. She never knew her biological father, and was raised primarily by her grandmother, as her mother was frequently working. Kuo's given name, Hsing-chun, alludes to the difficult circumstances of her birth, as it sounds similar to hsing tsun (倖存), which means to have survived by luck or accident in Mandarin. When Kuo was born, her umbilical cord wound itself around her neck. In addition, her mother was in labor for over ten hours. The family moved repeatedly, living with several different relatives. Kuo began lifting weights in junior high school, and played a number of sports, including basketball, track and field, and soccer. She chose to specialize in weightlifting in high school.
Career
Olympics
In 2012, she competed at the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
in the
women's 58 kg category and placed sixth overall.
At the
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...
, she competed in the 58 kg category. In the snatch portion of the competition, she completed her first lift of 102 kg, but was unable to complete her last two lifts of 105 kg. Going into the clean and jerk portion of the competition, she was in third place, as she was 8 kg behind
Sukanya Srisurat and tied in weight with
Pimsiri Sirikaew
Pimsiri Sirikaew ( th, พิมศิริ ศิริแก้ว; ; born April 25, 1990) is a Thai weightlifter
Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in ...
(
Pimsiri Sirikaew
Pimsiri Sirikaew ( th, พิมศิริ ศิริแก้ว; ; born April 25, 1990) is a Thai weightlifter
Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in ...
weighed .46 kg less). In the clean and jerk portion, she completed a 129 kg lift which secured her at least a bronze medal finish. For her final lift, she attempted an Olympic record lift of 139 kg, which would put her in first place, but was unable to lift it. She won a bronze medal with a total of 231 kg.
In 2021, she won a gold medal and broke three Olympic records in the women's 59kg weightlifting competition at the
2020 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
in Tokyo.
World Championships
In 2013, she competed at the
2013 World Weightlifting Championships in the 58 kg category. After the snatch portion of the competition she was in second place behind
Deng Wei, they both had lifted 108 kg, but
Deng Wei was 0.46 kg lighter. In the clean and jerk portion of the competition, she lifted 133 kg in her first attempt, after
Deng Wei was unable to complete any of her clean and jerks, she had the gold medal secured. Her total of 241 kg was a full 13 kg over the silver medalist
Alexandra Escobar.
The
2015 World Weightlifting Championships
The 2015 World Weightlifting Championships were held in Houston, United States. The event took place from November 19 to 28, 2015. This event was, together with the 2014 World Weightlifting Championships, the first stage of the Qualification Pro ...
was her first competition back from a disappointing year (due to injury), and she competed in the 58 kg category. After the snatch portion of the competition, she was in fourth place with 103 kg, the leader
Boyanka Kostova set a world record in the snatch with 112 kg. In the clean and jerk portion, she lifted 133 kg with her final lift securing a bronze medal in the clean and jerk and in the total.
![Kuo Hsing-Chun accpeted souvenirs from President Tsai Ing-wen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Kuo_Hsing-Chun_accpeted_souvenirs_from_President_Tsai_Ing-wen.jpg)
Coming into the
2017 World Weightlifting Championships
The 2017 World Weightlifting Championships were held in Anaheim, California, United States from 28 November to 5 December 2017.
Doping bans
Nine countries were banned from competing at the World Championships due to their history of doping at pre ...
, she was expected to put up a solid performance after her record-setting performance at the
2017 Summer Universiade. She competed in the 58 kg category, against the reigning Olympic Champion
Sukanya Srisurat and it was expected to be a close competition. After the snatch portion,
Sukanya Srisurat was in the gold medal position with 105 kg, Kuo also lifted the same, but
Srisurat had lifted the weight first. In the clean and jerk portion,
Sukanya Srisurat had completed all of her attempts before Kuo had attempted any of her lifts. She made her first lift of 126 kg, securing the gold medal. She added onto that total, lifting 135 kg in the clean and jerk, finishing with 240 kg, a full 15 kg more than reigning Olympic Champion, and silver medalist
Srisurat.
In 2018, the
International Weightlifting Federation
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), headquartered in Lausanne, is the international governing body for the sport of Olympic weightlifting. The IWF was founded in 1905, and has 192 Member Federations. The IWF President is Mohammed H ...
reorganized the categories, and Kuo competed at the
2018 World Weightlifting Championships in the new 59 kg category. In the snatch portion, she lifted a new world record of 105 kg, and led going into the clean and jerk portion by 2 kg over the silver medalist
Hoàng Thị Duyên and bronze medallist
Rebeka Koha
Rebeka Salsabil Ibrahim (born Rebeka Koha; 19 May 1998) is a Latvian-born Qatari Olympic weightlifting, weightlifter, two time Junior World Champion and two time European Champion competing in the 58 kg division until 2018 and 59 kg star ...
. During the clean and jerk portion, she successfully lifted 128 kg in her first attempt, setting a new world record in the total. With her last successful lift of 132 kg she set a new world record in the clean and jerk and total.
Chen Guiming
Chen Guiming (born 3 January 1994) is a Chinese weightlifter.
She participated at the 2018 World Weightlifting Championships
The 2018 World Weightlifting Championships were held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from 1 to 10 November 2018. The logo of I ...
, the eventual silver medalist attempted a world record lift of 140 kg, which would have given her the lead, but she was unable to lift it. As a result, Kuo won the gold medal in the total. She set four
senior world records in the competition and won her third World Championships.
Kuo competed in the
2019 World Weightlifting Championships, where she broke two of her own world records in the women's 59 kg category, with 140 kg in the clean and jerk, and 246 kg in the combined lift.
In 2021, she won the gold medal in the
women's 59 kg event at the
2021 World Weightlifting Championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
She won the silver medal in the
women's 59kg event at the
2022 World Weightlifting Championships held in Bogotá, Colombia.
Asian Games
Before the
2014 Asian Games
The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...
, she suffered an injury to her leg, which left her confined to a wheelchair for a month, as a result of the injury she donated an ambulance to Taitung hospital. Injury notwithstanding, she went on to place fourth at the
2014 Asian Games
The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...
in the 58 kg category.
She was the flag bearer for
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
at the
2018 Asian Games
The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 A ...
where she competed in the 58 kg category. After the snatch portion of the competition she led
Sukanya Srisurat by 2 kg with 105 kg. In the clean and jerk portion of the competition she secured the gold medal with her first lift of 125 kg, her next attempt was called at 133 kg, but there was an error loading the bar and only 130.5 kg was put on, she made the lift with a lopsided bar (one side weighed 2.5 kg more than the other) and received credit for 130 kg. Her last attempt in the clean and jerk was for a world record weight of 143 kg but she was unable to make the lift.
Universiade
Kuo won gold at the
2017 Summer Universiade and set a world record of 142 kg for the
clean and jerk
The clean and jerk is a composite of two weightlifting movements, most often performed with a barbell: the clean and the jerk. During the ''clean'', the lifter moves the barbell from the floor to a racked position across the deltoids, without res ...
in her final lift. Following her performance at the Universiade, Kuo was awarded the
Order of Brilliant Star
Order of Brilliant Star () is a civilian order of the Republic of China (Taiwan) recognizing outstanding contributions to the development of the nation. The order is instituted in 1941 and can be awarded to both domestic and foreign nationals.
...
, and chose to donate her winnings, totaling NT$1.9 million ($), back to her community.
Asian Weightlifting Championships
Kuo competed at the
2019 Asian Weightlifting Championships
The 2019 Asian Weightlifting Championships were held in Ningbo, China from 20 to 28 April 2019. It was the 48th men's and 29th women's championship.
Medal summary
Men
Women
Medal table
Ranking by Big (Total result) medals
Ranking by al ...
in the 59 kg category. After her second successful lift of 103 kg, she had secured a gold medal in the snatch, and attempted a world record lift of 106 kg which she successfully completed. In the clean and jerk portion, she had a gold medal in the total virtually guaranteed with her second lift of 134 kg, this gave her a new world record total of 240 kg. Her last attempt of 137 kg broke the clean and jerk world record, and the total world record she had just set.
Chen Guiming
Chen Guiming (born 3 January 1994) is a Chinese weightlifter.
She participated at the 2018 World Weightlifting Championships
The 2018 World Weightlifting Championships were held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from 1 to 10 November 2018. The logo of I ...
attempted a 138 kg clean and jerk, but was unable to complete the lift which gave Chen a silver medal in the total, a full 10 kg behind gold medalist Kuo.
Major results
*CWR: Current world record
*WR: World record
See also
*
Sport in Taiwan
In Taiwan (Republic of China), some of the most prominent sports include badminton, baseball, basketball, football, softball, table tennis, tennis, and volleyball. Martial arts such as t'ai chi ch'uan and taekwondo are also practiced by many peop ...
*
List of flag bearers for Chinese Taipei at the Olympics
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuo, Hsing-chun
Taiwanese female weightlifters
Living people
Olympic weightlifters of Taiwan
Weightlifters at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Weightlifters at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Weightlifters at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics
Weightlifters at the 2014 Asian Games
World Weightlifting Championships medalists
1993 births
Amis people
People from Yilan County, Taiwan
Olympic bronze medalists for Taiwan
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic medalists in weightlifting
Universiade medalists in weightlifting
Recipients of the Order of Brilliant Star
Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games
Asian Games medalists in weightlifting
Asian Games gold medalists for Chinese Taipei
Weightlifters at the 2018 Asian Games
Universiade gold medalists for Chinese Taipei
Fu Jen Catholic University alumni
Competitors at the 2017 Summer Universiade
Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade
Weightlifters at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for Taiwan
21st-century Taiwanese women