Om secures surprise weightlifting gold for North Korea

North Korean Om Yun-Chol pulled off a surprise victory in the men's 56kg weightlifting after equalling the world record for the clean and jerk.

Analysis

BBC Sport commentator Colin Bryce: "When you have a nailed-on favourite like Wu you really thought he was going to take it away but in the Group B session this relatively unknown North Korean stepped forward with 168kg in the clean and jerk. He hit such an enormous clean and jerk that he takes it on total. It's unheard of for a B Group lifter to do this. It's bizarre to say the least."

The 20-year-old, who lifted in the unfancied Group B, cleared 125kg in the snatch before setting a clean and jerk Olympic record of 168kg.

Om then looked on as Chinese favourite Jingbiao Wu failed to better his 293kg total and had to settle for silver.

Azerbaijan's Valentin Hristov picked up the bronze medal with a total of 286kg.

Om was included in the B Category on Sunday morning, which was supposed to act as a warm-up to the later session for the supposed medal contenders.

But he became just the fifth man in history to lift three times his bodyweight in the clean and jerk to set an imposing target.

Chinese lifter, Wu, who won the weightlifting world championships in 2010 and 2011, was in a strong position after lifting 133kg in the snatch.

But he could not lift more than 156kg in the clean and jerk, leaving him with a silver medal.

Final Results

Final results by Athlete
Rank Athlete Country Medal moment Result
1 Om PRK 293 kg OR
2 Wu CHN 289 kg
3 Hristov AZE 286 kg
View full results for Men's 56kg