Taiwan weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun grabbed all three gold medals in the women’s 59kg category at the International Qatar Cup Dec. 21 in Doha, bringing her one step closer to qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Kuo won the golds for her snatch of 103 kg, clean and jerk of 130 kg and combined lift of 233 kg. This total placed her ahead of China’s Luo Xiaomin and Zhang Yujuan, who came in second and third, respectively.
According to the Chinese Taipei Weightlifting Association, this is the first time Kuo has claimed all three golds in one competition.
The star athlete also triumphed at the other two international contests she entered this year, winning gold in August at the Asian Games in Indonesia and two golds and one silver at the International Weightlifting Federation World Championships in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, in November. She also holds the world record for the clean and jerk in the women’s 58kg class after lifting 142 kg at the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade, the largest sporting event ever staged in Taiwan.
Born in southeastern Taiwan’s Taitung County, Kuo claimed silver at the 2010 Youth Olympics Games at the age of 17. She brought home a bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, while bagging two gold medals at the IWF World Championships in 2013 and again in 2017. (CPY-E)
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