BEIJING, Aug 11: North Korean weightlifter O Jong Ae broke down in disappointment after winning only Olympic bronze in the women’s 58kg category on Monday.

“I wanted to bring joy to the North Korean people, however I failed to do so, and I’m very sorry,” she later told reporters, having first tried to flee without attending the medallists’ news conference.

O Jong Ae entered as one of the reclusive, poor communist state’s few Olympic medal hopes. She wowed spectators with a daring, last-ditch lunge for the bronze, raising her weight from 125kg to 131kg just before the end of the competition.

But after China’s Chen Yanqing won the gold and Russian Marina Shainova the silver, the North Korean looked close to tears.

She marched towards the exit of the competition hall, surrounded by half a dozen Olympic volunteers in bright blue jackets who tried to hold her back and steer her towards waiting reporters.

“She must present herself,” one of the volunteers urged O Jong Ae’s interpreter. “Could you explain that this is Olympic policy?”—Reuters