"The Cruise Food Was So Bad I Lost 4 Kilograms"... Why 300-Kilogram Lifter Park Hye-jeong Cried Out for "Tteokbokki" [Nagoya Asian Games]

[Financial News] "I was preparing for the Asian Games when I heard Li Wenwen was suddenly coming back. I said, 'Huh? Why is she competing?' Honestly, I was annoyed! Hahaha!"
At the barbell, the 23-year-old "successor to Jang Mi-ran" is more serious than anyone. But once she steps off the platform, she is an uninhibited and witty young woman. When asked when she could beat the seemingly unbeatable world champion, she answered without a moment's hesitation: "When she retires?" Park Hye-jeong of Goyang, a pillar of South Korean women's weightlifting, lifted a gleaming silver barbell in Nagoya.
On the 29th, Park Hye-jeong lifted 133kg in the snatch, 167kg in the clean and jerk, and 300kg in total at the women's over-86kg final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at the Small and Medium Business Promotion Hall in Nagoya, Japan. She proudly won the silver medal. The gold went to China's "weightlifting queen," Li Wenwen, who recorded a 310kg total.

Although she failed to defend her title at a second consecutive Asian Games after the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, Park Hye-jeong looked brighter than the gold medalist. And for good reason: she bettered her previous snatch record by 2kg that day, setting a new Korean record of 133kg. She also finally broke through the dream 300kg total mark in weightlifting.
Yet an untold farce(?) lay behind those dazzling records. Despite being a superheavyweight athlete for whom maintaining body weight is vital, Park Hye-jeong actually lost 4kg after arriving in Japan. The culprit was the menu at the athletes' cruise-ship accommodation for the notoriously troubled Nagoya Asian Games.
Park Hye-jeong hesitated, saying, "Can I talk about this?" She then confessed, "The food at the cruise accommodation didn't suit my palate. I thought there would be lots of tasty food because it was Japan, so I didn't bring any Korean food, and that was really difficult." Her extraordinary performance stands out all the more because she set a Korean record despite the forced diet caused by the organizing committee's chaotic administration.

Park Hye-jeong also made no secret of her feelings toward Li Wenwen of China, her strongest rival and the athlete who relegated her to silver. Joking that she had been "annoyed" when Li made a surprise comeback after appearing to be on the verge of retirement and blocked her path to victory, Park soon showed proper respect, calling Li "a rival, a friend and another goal for me." Before taking the podium, she even joked with Li in Chinese, saying, "Ni hen ke'ai" ("You're cute"), displaying a deep friendship that transcended the competition.

After winning a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics while overcoming the grief of losing her mother, Park Hye-jeong once again kept her longing close to her heart. She calmly said, "After returning home, I will compete at the Korean National Sports Festival and the World Weightlifting Championships, and if I have time, I will be sure to visit my mother." Then she flashed the unmistakable smile of a woman in her 20s, saying, "What I want to eat most is Yupdduk's mild flavor."
Neither the cruise ship's tasteless food nor the world's strongest lifter's surprise comeback could stop Park Hye-jeong's growth. After conquering the elusive 300kg mark, the cheerful Park Hye-jeong is now setting her sights squarely on the top step of the podium at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter