If her left arm had been just a bit steadier that one time during the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, South Korean weightlifter Kim Su-hyeon would have a medal to her name in the women's 76-kilogram class. With two of the three judges showing Kim the dreaded red light, what could have been a lift of 140kg in her second clean and jerk attempt was ruled a "no lift." Kim gave 140kg another go but dropped her barbell in her third and final chance. Kim had 106kg from the snatch, and the 246kg total would have given Kim a bronze medal. Instead, Kim was reduced to tears as she finished the competition with no official record. Three years have passed, and the 29-year-old Kim can hardly wait to take another crack at an Olympic medal in Paris this summer. "I feel absolutely incredible right now," the effervescent Kim said in a media scrum during the opening training session at the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, some 85 kilometers southeast of Seoul. "My left arm was an issue in Tokyo and I knew I had to fi x that. I've been training really hard. And what happened in Tokyo makes me that much more excited about the Paris Olympics. I feel like I can do really well this time." Kim has collected a few international prizes since that Tokyo letdown. She won the bronze medal at the 2023 world championships and also at the 2023 Asian Games. She won consecutive Asian championships gold medals in 2023 and 2024, with this year's title coming in the new weight class, 81kg. Kim vowed she will be a different athlete than in 2021. "I've worked so hard over the past three years, and I guarantee you that I won't make the same mistake," Kim said with a smile. South Korea did not win a weightlifting medal in Tokyo, the first time the country was shut out of medals in the sport since 2000. Source: Yonhap News Agency
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