Jakarta Jamboree
A FAMILY DOUBLE
Rim Jong Sim bagged North Korea's seventh weightlifting gold of the Asian Games in Indonesia on Sunday to complete a remarkable family double, just a day after a victory by her little sister.
Like her 22-year-old sibling Rim Un Sim in Saturday's 69kg category, the reigning Olympic champion enjoyed a comfortable margin of victory in the 75kg class -- this time by a massive 26kg.
"I was a bit nervous after my sister won, just hoping I could do the same," said a delighted Jong Sim, 25, who was watched by her sister Un Sim as she further extended North Korea's record weightlifting haul at the Asian Games.
The sisters couldn't hold back their emotions after Jong Sim was presented with her gold medal by North Korean Sports Minister Kim Il Guk and the secretive country's anthem played for the seventh time in seven days of competition.
After wiping away her tears, Un Sim told AFP: "I was so happy for 'Onni' ('big sister'). I knew she could win but I couldn't hold back when I thought of her and my country."
It was a sentiment echoed by Jong Sim. "This gold is not just for me but for my country," she told reporters. "I cried when I thought about my country. I can't wait to go back home now."
CHAMPION CHELIMO BLASTS HEAT
World champion Rose Chelimo made light of brutal conditions on Sunday to scoop Asian Games gold for Bahrain with a runaway win in the women's marathon.
The Kenyan-born athlete produced a devastating break from the leading pack after the 25-kilometre mark in Jakarta and ploughed a lonely furrow as she crossed the line to win in a modest time of two hours, 34.51 seconds.
Chelimo's gold continued Bahrain's recent Asian Games success in the marathon after Eunice Kirwa and Hasan Mahboob -- both also born in Kenya -- won the women's and men's titles in 2014.
Despite smashing her rivals in a slow race to take gold, Chelimo admitted that Jakarta's heat and poor air quality had caused her problems.
"It was bad, it was too hot," the 29-year-old told AFP. "I felt something in my throat too. The air here, you feel like it's hard to breathe. I felt like I wasn't going to finish but I found some morale and hope to keep going. Thank God I finished with no harm.
"But I'm very proud to be the Asian champion," said Chelimo, who captured the world title in London last year.
'NORTH KOREA NOT SCARY'
The success of a joint Korean basketball team showed the two sides of the divided peninsula can work together, a South Korean player said, saying she'd realised North Koreans aren't "scary" after all.
Kim Han-byul -- who was born Kimberly Roberson to a Korean mother and an American father in Indiana -- was speaking after Unified Korea thrashed Thailand 106-63 to set up a semi-final clash with Taiwan at the Asian Games on Thursday.
She said there had been hurdles to overcome when the women's team got together, but they were now aiming for the podium.
"Our aim is to get a medal. We only got together for a short time so that was an obstacle; you need to build a chemistry in sport. There is a little language barrier, like the dialect is different," Kim told reporters.
"But anything can happen. Peace on the court, peace everywhere," she said with a smile.
"The people on both sides are the same. They are not scary or anything like portrayed on the internet," she said.
“We have been focusing on just the basketball bit. But yeah, it's been the normal girl talk with them. Food is also common between us."
Comments