Weightlifting in North Korea | Choe Hyo-sim

Undercover athletes, stollen products, and mesmerising techniques.
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[@WeightliftingHouse]

Like the video for more North Korean training! More footage below www.patreon.com/weightliftinghouse

[@dylanbepis570]

I couldn't find the additional footage on your patreon - did you end up uploading it?

[@elliotrowshan2669]

Oly lifting is such a niche sport that unfortunately doesn’t get the attention it deserves. You just have to praise the work and dedication of Seb.

[@vfxforge]

I remember back in the days when ATG & Hookgrip would post epic training hall sessions for love, those were the days.

[@tre-moon-dous6122]

They still do though. It's just covid. WH approach is just more a podcasts/news style

[@AfferbeckBeats]

@@tre-moon-dous6122 Hookgrip stopped because it wasn't worth the time and effort and expense for the views they got. Short clips on insta work out better for them.

[@tre-moon-dous6122]

@@AfferbeckBeats did the hook grip team confirm this with you? Are you their spokes person? Lol

[@pannonianfit1582]

@@tre-moon-dous6122 yes they confirm that to me when I asked them the same question, instagram just pays more

[@tre-moon-dous6122]

@@pannonianfit1582 yeah. That's fair enough. But they do have a lot of clothing line. I'm happy for WH, but hookgrip and ATG definitely missed the boat on this weightlifting news market niche

[@adamloo85]

DPRK is always that underrated team lurking in the back, grinding to win. Love it.

[@rcruz6025]

They’ve been steadily growing and challenging China in some of the women’s classes . China def recognizes their grind

[@blackrock1009]

these Asics 727 are pure gold, the price is 300-400$. made with a wood heel, suede upper, real rubber sole and a leather strap and , can be custom ordered with personal touches like with or without (+,-) 5mm on the heel in 1mm increments.

[@scottessery100]

Interesting 🤨... would have assumed socialist shoes would be better than capitalist 👟 shoes 🙂

[@AfferbeckBeats]

@@scottessery100 They're Japanese shoes, and in typical Japanese high end craftsmanship fashion, Asics Japan are really not interested in the business side of things. Despite being one of the iconic weightlifting shoes going back decades, they have no interest in making them more available for purchase, people like Hookgrip approached them about making big orders and selling them, but they were not interested. And they recently restricted the ability to order custom configurations of the shoes (~$600) to only the Japanese weightlifting team.

[@kangkim6534]

South korean athletes who are in city teams like jin yun sung and seo ji hyup are registered as city officials. So it is their job to compete even if they are injured they have to participate as part of their contract as city government officials. Athletes who are part of company team are registered as employee and one of their benefits is that they can be promoted based on the result of their competition. Also these athletes can work for the company after they retire.

[@kblkbl]

A similar thing happens in Brazil. Many athletes are poached or sponsored by the military. It offers them the support to be a full time athlete and provides some of them job security after their athlete career. Not something specific to weightlifting, tho.

[@joe718gt4]

Somebody I knew who competed at the Universiade in Taiwan (2017 I believe) took a picture with Om Yum Chol... said it took a bit of egging out of him and he didn't look very happy either haha

[@HAHAHHHAHHAA]

Thank you, wanted to see more North Korean weightlifters.

[@Chinatown18]

What an absolute champ, thank you for filming!

[@frankmolina6910]

She's amazing...

[@GilBatesLovesyou]

Is it just me, or does she have one of the few externally rotated (elbows down and not back) snatch grips overhead internationally? Actually, looking at it, a lot of the DPRK women have it, but the men don't. It's definitely different than China. I also really like the DPRK frog start/close stance start position. I'm guessing they had some Japanese cooperation at one point for their WL team, as they're one of the few teams that seems to consistently have people doing it (Japan does, too, obviously, but even they seem to do it less than DPRK.) I tend to lift that way for some reason (long femurs?) and it's cool to see internationally.

[@geezgoddamn]

If you know North Korea and Japan's history, I highly doubt they had any kind of cooperation lmao

[@GilBatesLovesyou]

@@geezgoddamn Nah, that's wrong. Just look up DPRK Japan relations on wikipedia. Things were pretty cordial until the 80s, but with sports there's still a lot of diplomatic stuff that goes on even when other avenues go bad. Even the 2018 Olympics had a unified Korean team.

[@5hydroxyT]

what the heck is with that short shuffle/step forward after the clean? it’s such a DPRK signature! check out some training videos of Om Yun-chol

[@AfferbeckBeats]

Looks like it's her method of having a consistent clean recovery, but some make it a deliberate tactic to add consistent whip to the bar on the clean recovery.

[@charlestran7309]

Love watching the North Korean Weightlifting Team

[@TheLeoBianco1]

Her quads are 👌🏼 oof

[@getstrongby4038]

Wow escape you know, that's absolutely crazy

[@gabrielduarte3904]

its amazing how this lighter female lifters just outright outlift heavier female athletes..

[@jeremysamuelson9922]

Does om yun chol compete anymore?

[@klydeflores7909]

He’s in a non olympic category but whenever so idk if theres a point unless he goes to 61, but when he does he’s almost guaranteed to win atleast in the 55 category

[@glennmarksalgado7180]

This is almost, almost, almost a Rim Jong Sim video... :D got one in the not so distant future, WH?

[@ondrej7982]

3:27 Whoever loaded the barbell deserves to be imprisoned :D

[@tobiasbrunner4720]

AESTHETICS

[@bebble985]

They are

[@Scott-zh5ip]

The OCD is killing me

[@jhonnyola]

Did they tell you to talk bad about North Korea?

[@algorerhyth]

your commentary is so sensitive and insightful. love it

[@scottessery100]

Has she really short tibia? Great video again ☺️

[@antonwijaya5114]

Does she have Facebook?

[@chucklowder2855]

How can I meet her?

[@jamegullit6815]

4:40 why no lift ?

[@chrisdavisjr]

There's a slight bending and re-straightening of the right arm in the receive/'catch' position. Plenty of referees would let that go because it's very slight, but others are very finicky and would flag that as a 'press out'. Looks like the referees at this competition are quite harsh.

[@defygravity9211]

Such a straight finish. Solid overhead too. Shoulders/arms don’t even vibrate.

[@justicaterra8227]

😍😍😍😍😍😍🏋️‍♂️

[@sdoieqwfjhweoiuhasdo]

shes cute

[@8ballrocco731]

Beautiful Work ❤️👊🏼

[@grumpycroissant8712]

Gotta make supreme leader proud, or else

[@honeyverma7221]

🤣🤣

[@square7935]

why dont north korean lifters try to escape EZ freedom no ?

[@jimmyweathersby327]

Its not that easy man im sure even if they are competing outside the country i guarantee you some North Korean spies are watching there every move

[@maofas]

Because there is nothing to escape from. It's all fake Western news to justify sanctions.

[@jokuheppu3920]

How's the testing in North Korea?

[@Patchesmcgee123]

3:34 Mike Graber is such a nice dude

[@steveng.7269]

Right?! Class act.

[@derekyun5109]

i never like our northern neighbor as a state.. but their lifting techniques tho...

[@alveber4427]

very capable. and just as scary

[@inky4690]

always odd to see these athletes from north korea and and just see how they are. that place is...well its different. a

[@klydeflores7909]

a

[@inky4690]

@@klydeflores7909 yes

[@elmollo9432]

Thank you Seb!

[@ashleytaylor3980]

Fascinating

[@anasianguy9793]

I imagine how she lives in North Korea....

[@williamavila241]

beautiful girl!!

[@oliverallen5324]

The sad part is she probably won't see this video.

[@MAYNEFLAC]

lol just escape

[@jimmyweathersby327]

You cant just escape you are watch by north korean spies whenever you participate in a event outside the country when there football team made the fifa world cup back in the past tournaments many of those players got to comfortably just speaking and partying with outsiders to where they did so bad in the tournament the whole team got punish and sent to prison camps so yeah its like win or you and your family receive punishment for the north korean athletes

[@albinsunny6493]

Amazing video! Does anyone have any clue where they sell those Asics shoes?? gold dust

[@suprempuk]

Japan

[@sakaue]

Japan exclusive, and i think that they only go up to us 10.5 Edit: you can buy imports from ebay and (maybe) average bros gymnasium. Its called the tiger 727

[@AfferbeckBeats]

Global rakuten, about $300 USD. But the sellers tend to be out of stock or only have one size etc. And they only go up to size 28cm. You used to be able to get custom ones like you see the Japanese team wearing, that cost about $600, and they can go up to about size 13US and can have a custom heel height etc. But they recently stopped offering that service to anyone outside the Japanese team which is a shame.

[@albinsunny6493]

Thanks guys

[@signs80]

@@AfferbeckBeats dammit noooooo curse my genes for giving me clown feet

[@johnrussell519]

Is there not a lack of competition in this women's weight class because of doping suspensions.

[@haroldpepete]

he has to do it well or the leader is going to be really dissapointed

[@RetreatHell518]

They have to remember: No lift = No rice.

[@lucasskrobish2473]

North Korean women are beautiful when they are given access to food

[@Mike-cp1tj]

you're handsome when you crawl out of your basement

[@lucasskrobish2473]

@@Mike-cp1tjawe, thanks boo 🥰😘

[@Andreastheduck]

One possible reason for the vacant look between sets is severe indoctrination. why think about anything else than the great leader?

[@GilBatesLovesyou]

I wouldn't say that, but it's possible they have a sort of military mental training, and might have military ranking by being athletes. In the past I've heard Om Yun Chol for example fell asleep in the training hall/warmup room between sets. That's basically a military technique to calm your mind. The women seem to be the quieter/more reserved team, the men seem fairly normal in training videos, and Om Yun Chol is always smiling and seemingly pretty happy in all the videos I've seen of him training.

[@AfferbeckBeats]

I mean I space out between sets too and I'm not thinking about how sexy Kim Jon Un is

[@Andreastheduck]

@@AfferbeckBeats thats actually a really good point. I'll reconsider my position

[@fredastaire6156]

this is both beautiful and brutally heartbreaking to hear My heart goes out to the DPRK team! May you all find freedom!