In the eyes of the Chinese people, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has a small land area and a small population, and belongs to one of the countries with relatively backward economy in the world today, but in terms of sports and competition level, it is not inferior to some European and American countries, and its competitiveness in the Asian sports arena is second only to China, Japan, and South Korea, and it has created many sports miracles that make the world stunned: 10 Olympic Games, 16 gold medals, 56 medals, the number of medals per capita far exceeds that of China, and it is on a par with Japan and South Korea in Asia It is also the first team in Asia to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup; the first country in Asia to win a medal at the Winter Olympics; the first country in East Asia to win a gold medal in boxing at the Olympic Games; the first country in the world to win the U17 and U20 Women's World Cups twice in a year and a half (2016, 2017); Pyongyang May Day Stadium is known as the indoor stadium with the largest number of spectators in the world... All this incredible first in Asia and the first in the world fully demonstrates the great achievements of the Dprk people in the cause of sports. In order to let the old irons have a deeper understanding of the past and present of North Korean sports, the author has selected 12 more representative figures in the North Korean sports world, which basically reflects the development of competitive sports in North Korea for more than 60 years, now let us walk into this strange country and appreciate the style of these world famous players!
<h1>One: Park Doo-il (soccer</h1>).
At the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England, a North Korean team from a mysterious division from the East shocked the world! The shortest team in the World Cup defeated the Italian team composed of world superstars such as Rivera, Mazzola and Facchetti 1-0 in a group match in Middlesbrough, and entered the top eight of the World Cup with its head held high, breaking out the biggest upset in the history of World Cup football! Kicking into the door of the world championship was an ordinary soldier from the Korean People's Army, Park Doo-il, whose name became popular all over the world overnight, and was dubbed "Eastern Bailey" by the Western media. Upon his return, he was immediately promoted to sergeant, and the North Korean government rewarded him with a Mercedes-Benz sedan and a two-story high-end apartment in the center of Pyongyang, making Mr. Park a sports hero admired by all North Koreans.
<h1>Two: Shen Jindan (Athletics</h1>).
Who was the first woman in the world to make it to the women's 800m two-minute mark? Turning to the dusty annals of world athletics history, I learned that it was north Korean track and field superstar Shin Jin-jin who worked as a female athlete who trained for only one year and ran a staggering 1 minute 59.1 in 1963, breaking the women's 800m world record held by herself, and she also broke the women's 400m world record many times, which can fully cover all the gold medals in the women's 400m and 800m at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. It was only because the IAAF banned her from the Olympic Games because she suspected that she was intersex, so that she lost the opportunity to play in the world of athletics, in fact, she is a real woman, but the amount of male hormones in her body is higher than that of ordinary people.
<h1>Three: Han Bihua (speed skating</h1>).
As the first athlete in Asian history to win a medal at the Winter Olympics, North Korea's women's speed skater Han Bi-hwa is a symbol of the miracle of socialist sports. At the 9th Winter Olympics in Innsbruck in 1964, the little-known Han Bihua met soviet athlete Wa. Stenina tied for runner-up in women's 3,000m speed skating, with the title being taken away by another former Soviet athlete, Skoblikova. Although she only won one silver medal, she made history and opened the curtain on the asian ice and snow athletes going to the world.
<h1>Four: Lee Ho-joon (shooting</h1>).
Like Hsu Hae-fung, China's first shooting Olympic champion, Lee Ho-joon, a sniper from the Korean People's Army, is a great figure in the history of North Korean sports that deserves a big book. At the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, Lee Ho-joon, who participated for the first time, scored 599 rings, not only breaking the world record, but also defeating the big favorite American powerhouse Orr with a slight advantage of 1 ring, winning the championship of the men's small-caliber rifle 60-round horizontal shot, becoming the first athlete in the history of North Korean sports to win the Olympic championship, this gold medal was twelve years earlier than Heo Hae-bong won the gold medal. One of his most famous winning tips is still fresh in people's minds: The secret of my victory is to treat the target as the heart of the US empire!
<h1>Five: Gu Yongzuo (amateur boxing</h1>).
In the 54 kg boxing competition of the Montreal Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976, Gu Yongzuo from the Korean People's Army went through five levels and slashed six generals, successively defeated Faredin of Romania, Anlekowski of Bulgaria, Satlanglen of Thailand, and Kaudal of the United Kingdom, and reached the final of the championship and runner-up, in the contest with the "enemy of the heavens" American boxer Mooney, Gu Yongzuo beat his opponent one after another, and finally won 5:0 over Mooney. Won the first Olympic gold medal in the history of boxing in North Korea and even East Asia. In order to make the North Korean people remember this hero, the North Korean government has put his heroic posture on the stamp nine times for the first time, which makes him the athlete with the most stamps in the history of North Korean sports.
<h1>Six: Park Young-soon (table tennis</h1>).
The North Korean table tennis team has won a total of three and a half individual championships in previous World Table Tennis Championships, of which the Meritorious Athlete park Young-soon alone took two and a half, and the straight-shooting female player defeated the Chinese female player Zhang Li twice in the 33rd World Table Tennis Championships in 1975 and the 34th World Table Tennis Championships Women's Singles Final in 1977, winning two heavy gold medals for North Korea, and her transnational combination with Chinese female athlete Yang Ying also won the women's doubles championship of the 34th World Table Tennis Championships. It shows the indestructible and profound friendship between the Chinese and DPRK peoples.
<h1>Seven: Li Fanji (table tennis</h1>).
If Park Young-soon's world championship victory with the Factor of China's handicap, then the tough general Lee Pink-hee is a real fight in the confrontation with the Chinese women's table tennis, her threat and impact on the Chinese women's table tennis far exceeds park Young-soon ten years ago, she is not tall but extremely fierce, tenacious, backhand rubber bullet hit the world's first, known as "Wang Tao", twice reached the World Championships women's singles final, but the last moment was unfortunately defeated by Chinese players Qiao Hong and Deng Yaping, In the final of the 1991 World Championships Team Championships, as the main force of the Inter-Korean United team, defeated the Chinese women's team and won the first Cup of Cobilun in the history of the DPRK and Korea, that unforgettable story was later made into the movie "Korea" by the Koreans, after her retirement, the world women's table tennis entered the era of China's monopoly, and the Chinese women's table tennis became lonely and invincible for more than twenty years, and never encountered such a strong and fierce opponent as Li Fanji.
<h1>Viii: Katsura Shun-hee (Judo</h1>).
Known as the "Queen of Judo", North Korean judo star Kwai Soon-hee is the youngest champion in the history of Olympic judo, in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, only 16 years old she held a wild card to compete, creating the world's largest unpopular in the history of women's judo, she defeated the Japanese judo empress, known as 84 undefeated Ryoko Tamura in the women's 48 kg final, won the first Olympic gold medal in the history of judo for North Korea, since then, Kwai Soon-hee opened an era of monopoly of this level of king-in-law, She won four consecutive World Championships in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007. For her outstanding contributions, she was awarded the "Kim Il Sung Award" and the "Labor Hero Award".
<h1>Nine: Chengyu Zheng (Athletics</h1>).
In the history of North Korean sports, the only athlete to be awarded the honor of "Hero of the Republic" is the female marathon runner Jeong Sung-woo, who defeated the world's best athletes at the 7th World Athletics Championships in 1999 and won the first world championship in the history of North Korean athletics. She was also promoted from an ordinary athlete to a senior party and state cadre, becoming a people's hero admired by all.
<h1>Ten: Kim Eun-kook (weightlifting</h1>).
North Korea is rich in weightlifting geniuses, which stems from the fact that they have the ideal body in the world for weightlifting: short limbs, long waist, and stable lower plate. Kim Eun-kook is one of the best of many weightlifting champions, this Hercules with a height of only 1.55 meters, is a mountain that has been pressed on Chinese athletes in the past decade, the first fierce enemy in the eyes of China's lightweight athletes, Chen Lijun, Zhang Jie, Zhang Xiangxiang, Li Jie and others have learned the strength of this North Korean, his personality is exposed, the competition is very provocative, very popular with the audience. In 2012, he broke the world record and won the gold medal with an overall score of 327 kg in the men's 62 kg final at the London Olympics, and set new world records in snatch and deadlift.
<h1>11: Lin Zhenxin (Weightlifting</h1>).
A female weightlifter from an acrobatic family, Lim Chung-sin, is one of only two athletes in the history of North Korean sports to win two Olympic gold medals, and the fourth female athlete in the history of North Korean weightlifting to win an Olympic gold medal, she won the 69 kg championship at the London Olympics in 2012, and four years later she won the 75 kg championship at the Rio Olympics.
<h1>12: Yan Runzhe (weightlifting</h1>).
Known as the "Little Giant of North Korea" and "Little Steel Cannon of North Korea", Yan Runzhe, is another superstar who shocked the world's weightlifting world since the retirement of Turkish prodigies Suleimanolgu and Mutru, this pocket-sized Hercules with a height of only 1.52 meters, including five world championships lightweight champions from 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019, and is one of the few athletes in the history of world weightlifting who can lift more than three times their own weight. Many of the Chinese athletes who competed with him have lost to him and are recognized as one of the world's greatest weightlifters today.
A review of the twelve most representative sports figures in North Korea is written here for the time being, in fact, there are many famous athletes worth remembering that are not included, such as Kim Il, the north Korean wrestling king who won the Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling twice, The famous football player Jeong Dae-se, the table tennis star Yu Soon-phok and Kim Yun-mi. The old irons are welcome to express their views and opinions on the sports situation in North Korea.
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