Ri Hak Son won the men’s 52kgfreestyle wrestling event at the 25th Olympic Games after overpoweringall his opponents.
He already emerged victorious on several occasions including at the 5th and 8th Asian freestyle wrestlingchampionships and the international freestylewrestling championships and finished runner-up at the 26th World Freestyle Wrestling Championships. He cut a brilliantfigure in the wrestling circles and his games drew the attention of experts.
He overpowered all his opponents with overwhelming margins and advanced to the finals. At thefinal, he put the US player, who was attackingrecklessly, on the defensive and scored in succession to beat him 8-1 and win the Olympic gold medal.
Ri was honoured withthe title of People’s Athlete as he gave great pleasure to President Kim IlSung and Chairman Kim Jong Il by snatching the gold medal at the 25th Olympic Games.
He redoubled hiseffort with a single mind to repay their love and trust. He won victories again in the 1993 internationalfreestyle wrestling contest and the 9th Asian freestyle wrestling championships.
Ri, assiduous by nature, began to learn wrestling at the then Waudo District Sports Club.
With tireless efforts and strong attachment tothe sport, Ri won a gold medal at the then national sports club members contest, was selectedas wrestler of the Amnokgang Sports Club and made remarkable successes ininternational games.
Several decades have passed sincethen, but his feats left an indelible imprint on the sportshistory of Juche Korea along with the Olympic gold medal.
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