For someone supposed to play the role of David at the Beijing Olympics, Cha Kum-choi looks surprisingly like Goliath.
The weightlifter is one of North Korea's very few medal hopefuls and, like other athletes from the isolated socialist state, he attributes his sporting success to the moral influence of ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong-il.
Impoverished North Korea has never used the Games as a Cold War battlefield the way the Soviet Union and East Germany did.
While other communist contenders were known for their elite training camps and state-backed sports schools awash with performance-enhancing drugs, the North has stuck to the role of underdog.
When its athletes do succeed, they are quick to emphasise that ideology, not physical power, is behind their success.
After Cha Kum-choi won his first world title in 2007 in Thailand, he belted out a song in praise of Kim Jong-il. The title: ‘If you do not exist, we would not exist.’
Plagued by famines and poverty, North Korea maintains it will prevail thanks to its moral superiority - or, as state media put it in a recent article, ‘the great mental power of the army and people like the erupting volcano’.
Kim comes across as dour and withdrawn but Cha is known for his smiles and exuberance, shouting and punching the air when he succeeds.
His spontaneous musical performance in Thailand came after a reporter asked him if he had any hobbies. Cha said he liked singing, then grabbed the microphone to prove it.
‘There are not a lot of people who can make our Dear Leader happy,’ he said at the time. ‘If I can be one of them this will give me great satisfaction.’ He said Kim Jong-il was very interested in sport, including weightlifting.
Cha won two silvers and the overall gold medal in the men's 56kg category at the championships, nudging dominant China off the winner's podium.
Defending champion Li Zheng of China matched the weight he lifted but lost out because of his heavier bodyweight.
‘If I can also win the Olympics, this will bring great happiness to our Dear Leader,’ Cha said.
Little is known about training conditions in the reclusive country. State media have quoted North Korea's Olympic champions as saying they picture Kim Jong-il during competitions or use his teachings to motivate themselves.
While North and South Korea will march under a joint flag in Beijing as part of their slow rapprochement, the gap between their medal tallies is expected to be as wide as ever.
Apart from weighlifting, North Korea could win medals in judo and wrestling. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, it won five medals; South Korea won 30.
