FEATURE/Imperfect but real: Kuo Hsing-chun accepts being 'not my old self'

By Chao Yen-hsiang, CNA staff writer

For many athletes, standing on an Olympic podium even once, regardless of the color of the medal, is a tremendous honor.

However, for someone as dominant as Taiwanese weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳) has been during her career, only gold medals signify success.

In Paris, her fourth and likely final Olympic Games, the 30-year-old veteran couldn't hold back tears after finishing with a bronze in the women's 59-kilogram event.

"I feel like I've let you down," she admitted to the press, despite being the second oldest among the 12 competitors in the event.

However, for her fans since Kuo's crowning achievement in Tokyo three years ago, she has nothing left to prove.

What they witnessed in Paris this summer was not a failure, but a woman who could no longer defy Father Time, a weightlifter who is "not perfect but real," as she described her journey in the French capital.

'Past my prime'

Kuo proved herself before Tokyo, with four world championship golds, five Asian championship golds, an Asian Games gold and an Olympic bronze.

In Tokyo, she set new Olympic records: 103kg in the snatch, 133kg in the clean & jerk, and 236kg in total.

However, since then her form has declined due to thigh and waist injuries that have continued over two years -- a period she described as "getting lost" when recalling her struggles after Thursday's competition.

Kuo said she gradually got back on track this year after Chinese coach Gao Kaiwen (高凱文) joined her team, but admitted it took time to adjust her practice and lifting techniques.

"Why are these different from what I used to do?" Kuo reflected, acknowledging that accepting her new self was the first step toward relaunching her career.

Yet, she also acknowledged that she has passed her prime, making it a huge achievement for an athlete her age to reach the podium, especially after her waist injury worsened about a month before the Games.

Beyond the limit

"I really got so mad at myself at that time, wondering why it happened again -- wasn't everything fine?" Kuo said, noting that people around her often could not understand the pain she was experiencing.

At a press conference in early July, Kuo began sobbing when discussing her physical condition, admitting, "It's going to be tough [to win] this time."

Despite the injury, Kuo's journey revealed her never-say-die spirit and her desire to pushing the limit through numerous ups and downs.

Kuo secured the bronze with a total of 235 kg -- 105 kg in the snatch and 130 kg in the clean & jerk -- after Venezuela's Anyelin Venegas Valera failed to lift 134 kg at her last attempt. Kuo knew she could have taken silver if she had lifted 135 kg, but determined to challenge for the gold instead.

"Me and the coach both knew that we could have secured a silver medal with 135, but I told coach, 'Let's talk about this after the others are out,' and he knew what I meant," she said.

In her last attempt, Kuo tried to lift 137 kg to pass leader Luo Shifang (羅詩芳) from China. She managed to clean the bar but couldn't complete the jerk, finishing third behind Luo's total of 241 kg and Maude Charron from Canada with 236 kg.

After the competition, Kuo revealed that she had not successfully lifted 137 kg in her preparation for the Paris Games. "Considering my condition, it was great that I did the clean, though it's a shame I couldn't complete the jerk afterward."

That scene reminded her fans of her last attempt back in Tokyo.

Kuo had already secured the gold with new Olympic records in the snatch (103 kg), clean & jerk (133 kg), and total (236 kg) before her final clean & jerk attempt. Yet, she decided to challenge the world record with 144 kg.

Although Kuo ultimately failed, she lived up to the Olympic slogan: "Citius, Altius, Fortius - Communiter," "Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together," despite falling on her back, where her silhouette merged with the Tokyo Games' logo on the mat.

More than a weightlifter

Kuo's peak roughly overlapped with that of Taiwan's badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎), and the nearly 370,000 followers on her Instagram account reflect her status as the second most popular female athlete in the country.

Beyond her dominance, it was also her connection to her homeland that led Taiwan nationals to place their hopes and expectations on her shoulders, as they saw in her the country's struggle to rise against the odds.

Born in Beinan Township, Taitung County, Kuo was named after surviving a nuchal cord incident at birth, a detail reflected in her name "Hsing-chun" (婞淳), which sounds like "survival" (倖存) in Chinese.

Raised single-handedly by her mother the family was not well-off, but Kuo is known for trying to improve the lives of those around her through her achievements in weightlifting.

Over the years, she has made numerous anonymous donations to Taitung County's St. Mary's Hospital, a fact known to few until the dean made it public.

Likewise, after winning the 2013 Asian Championships, she intended to donate an ambulance to St. Mary's Hospital but ended up gifting it to a hospital in Penghu County because St. Mary's did not provide ambulance services.

Elsewhere, she once said she would like to run a breakfast shop near her alma mater to ensure students attend school full of energy.

Kuo said she has not yet decided on her next step.

However, just as she has never shied away from her supporters' expectations, fans will stand by her no matter what she decides, even if that means she no longer stays on top of the weightlifting world, but instead embraces life as someone who is "imperfect but real."

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