A women judoka who will compete her 4th Olympics for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was the most expected athlete to grab a gold medal for the country.
Whenever the DPRK people talked about Beijing Olympics, Kye Sun Hui, a female judoka who won three Olympic medals in different classes since 1996, was mentioned naturally, hoping she would strike the gold in Beijing, said Wednesday the web version of Choson Sinbo, a newspaper run by ethnic Koreans in Japan.
Kye was no doubt a star of the six-member DPRK judo team for the Beijing Olympics.
The 16-year-old Kye amazed the world by grabbing a gold medal in the 48 kg category at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. She won bronze and silver medals in the following two Games in Sydney and Athens. She also crowned at the latest four World Judo Championships.
Kye was a "Kim Il Sung Prize" winner, the most honorable title in the DPRK. She was also entitled a labor heroine of DPRK and a people's athlete.
"I have only one goal right now. That is to crown in Beijing," Kye said, "the gold medal will be more valuable than those I have gained ever before."
(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2008)