By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Weightlifter Sa Jae-hyouk has earned South Korea's first Olympic gold medal in the sport in 16 years, but perhaps his bigger feat is overcoming four surgeries to do it.
Sa, 24, won the men's 77-kilogram class in Beijing Wednesday.
When he was a kid, he dreamed of being a marathoner. His mother recalled that her son ran around the neighborhood boasting to be the next Hwang Young-jo, who won the marathon gold in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Sa, however, joined his school's weightlifting team in 1997 and won a youth championship a year later after lifting a combined 180 kilograms.
He underwent a knee operation afterwards, but never stopped practicing with heavier barbells.
In 2003, his athletic career was jeopardized after he injured his shoulder in training and had two operations.
Sa said he seriously thought of giving up the sport due to his long rehabilitation period. Yet he recovered and won a competition in the 69-kilogram class by lifting a combined 320 kilograms in 2005.
His nagging injuries did not end there. In December 2005, he had another surgery on his wrist and was out of competition for one year.
After finishing rehabilitation, he threw himself into training.
The diminutive Sa, who is just 163 centimeters tall, lifted a combined total of 50,000 kilograms every day, and pressed a combined weight almost equivalent to that of a small mountain.
In Wednesday's 77-kilogram final, he snatched the 203-kilogram barbell and rested it on his chest.
When he lifted it above his head, he initially seemed to slightly overbalance but then set his feet.
Sa cheered his victory, and his father, mother and younger sister who came from Hongcheon, Gangwon Province, shed tears of joy in the auditorium.
His win also halted China's dominance in weightlifting and earned South Korea's sixth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics.
Afterwards a smiling Sa told reporters that he wants to pursue his favorite hobby of fishing as much as he can when he returns home.