Om Yun-chol or Um Yoon-chul ( ko, 엄윤철; or ; born 18 November 1991) is a North Korean

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 lift ...

, Olympic Champion, and five time World Champion competing in the 56 kg category until 2018 and 55 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. He is and weighs . Om represents the Amnokgang Sports Team. He is also the fourth man to lift over 3 times bodyweight in the clean & jerk multiple times after succeeding in breaking the world record clean and jerk of 169 kg in the −56 kg weight class during the Asian Interclub Championships, and has accomplished this feat 3 more times since the Asian Interclub Championships, 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 ...

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 ...

, and 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 ...

. He was also the sixth man to lift at least triple his bodyweight in the clean & jerk in international competition, having done so seven times; the others are

Naim Süleymanoğlu Naim Süleymanoğlu ( bg, Наим Сюлейманоглу; 23 January 1967 – 18 November 2017) was a Bulgarian-born Turkish Olympic weightlifter. He was a seven-time World Weightlifting champion and a three-time Olympic gold medalist ...

, Stefan Topurov, Long Qingquan,

Halil Mutlu Halil Mutlu (born Halil Aliev () on 14 July 1973 in Postnik, Bulgaria) is a former professional Turkish weightlifter with several World and Olympic championship titles. Mutlu is one of the five weightlifters who has achieved three consecutive ...

, and Neno Terziyski. He has set six senior world records throughout his career, five in the clean & jerk and one in the total.

Career

Olympics

He won the gold medal 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 ...

at the men's 56 kg event, setting an

Olympic Record Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games, including: * Archery (list) * Alpine skiing (records recognized only by FIS) * Athletics (list) ...

in the clean and jerk with 168 kg, all while competing in the B session. He became only the fifth man to ever clean and jerk three times his own body weight. At the men's 56 kg weightlifting event at the

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Om was a favorite to renew his gold from London. After breaking his own Olympic record with a lift of 169 kg, Om was surpassed by Long Qingquan and had to settle for the silver medal.

World Championships

He won his first World Championships in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, one year removed from becoming Olympic Champion, by beating Long Qingquan by 2 kg. In 2014 he defended his title as World Champion by lifting 296 kg at the

2014 World Weightlifting Championships The 2014 World Weightlifting Championships were held in Baluan Sholak Sports Palace, Almaty, Kazakhstan. The event took place from November 8 to 16, 2014. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Ranking by Big (Total result) medals Ranking ...

. His total was tied with second place Thạch Kim Tuấn but he won by virtue of a lighter body weight (55.71 vs. 55.75). Following his World Championship win in 2014 he was the heavy favorite to win his third World championship in a row. He ended up winning the gold medal at the

in spectacular fashion, after trailing

Wu Jingbiao Wu Jingbiao (; born January 10, 1989, Changle) is a Chinese weightlifter. He won the silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics in the category of weightlifting. After winning the silver medal, he apologized for "shaming the motherland" by not winni ...

by 8 kg in the snatch (during which he set a new world record snatch of 168 kg) Om Yun-chol outlifted

by 8 kg in the clean and jerk setting a new

world record 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 ...

clean and jerk of 171 kg. Their totals of 302 kg were tied, but yet again Om Yun-chol won by virtue of a lighter body weight. He did not compete in 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 ...

due to the North Korean team issuing a boycott of the Championships. In 2018 the

reorganized the categories and he competed in the newly created 55 kg, he won his fourth

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

by a margin of 24 kg over the second-place finisher, while winning gold medals in all lifts. During the clean and jerk portion of the competition he set a new

of 162 kg.

Asian Games

At the

he won the gold medal in the 56 kg, in the clean and jerk portion he set a new

lift of 170 kg. His total of 298 kg was an Asian Record at the time of competition. At the next Asian Games in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

he was the favorite to win another gold medal at the Games. After finishing in second place after the snatch portion of the competition, 1 kg behind Thạch Kim Tuấn, he outlifted him by 8 kg in the clean and jerk portion of the competition securing his second Asian Games gold medal.

Major results

*CWR: Current world record *WR: World record *UR: Universiade record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Om, Yun-chol 1991 births Living people North Korean male weightlifters Olympic weightlifters of North Korea Weightlifters at the 2012 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for North Korea Olympic silver medalists for North Korea Olympic medalists in weightlifting People from North Hamgyong World record holders in Olympic weightlifting Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 2014 Asian Games Weightlifters at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in weightlifting World Weightlifting Championships medalists Asian Games gold medalists for North Korea Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Universiade medalists in weightlifting Universiade gold medalists for North Korea 21st-century North Korean people