London—Smortchov-ing means winning the World Weightlifting Championships from the B-session, so maybe now Om-ming will mean winning the Olympic gold medal in weightlifting when in the B session—the very feat that Om Yun Chol (North Korea) accomplished in the men’s 56-kg category tonight.

He listed an entry total of 280 kg, but even his openers added to 285 kg and by the time he was done lifting, Om Yun Chol had racked up a 125-kg snatch and a 168-kg clean and jerk, for a 293-kg total.

It was a big number to chase under the best of circumstances, and things did not go perfectly for the top guns in the A-session: Tran le Quoc Tran (Vietnam) missed 125 kg on both his first and second attempt in the snatch, and Wu Jingbiao (China) missed 130 kg on his opening snatch and then he missed his first clean and jerk—misses that left him chasing Om Yun Chol on the final attempt of the competition.

Wu Jingbiao cleaned the 161 kg he needed for victory, but missed the jerk, so he settled for silver 4 kg behind Om Yun Chol.  Valentin Hristov won the bronze, much to the delight of the Azerbaijani fans.
        

At the press conference following the session, Om Yun Chol said it is easier to lift in the B-session, so that was part of their plan.                                                   

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