Olympian Declares That North Korea Is One Of The Few Countries That Has Tackled Obesity

Olympian Declares That North Korea Is One Of The Few Countries That Has Tackled Obesity

James Cracknell is a British athlete and two-time gold medal Olympian. But now he has his sights set on politics. His pet issue? Tackling obesity. But wait until you hear what he believes are model countries for battling the obesity epidemic.

Double Olympic gold medal winning rower James Cracknell in 2008 (Photo by Cate Gillon/Getty Images)

Spit take warning: You may want to slowly put any hot beverages like your coffee or tea down before you watch this video.

Yes, you heard that right. Cracknell told Sky News that he believes Cuba and North Korea are shining examples of countries that have tackled the obesity problem.

“If you think of the two countries in the world who’ve got a handle on obesity, what do you think they are, which two countries?” Cracknell asked a Sky News presenter.

“I’m stumped there, I don’t know,” the presenter said.

“North Korea and Cuba,” Cracknell said proudly.

The presenters all take a moment to wait for the punchline or something and then kind of politely agree before realising that he’s serious. Cracknell insists that these dictatorial regimes influence “behavioural change”.

“Yeah, but people are starving in North Korea, aren’t they. They’re not obese because they haven’t got any food,” another presenter chimes in, trying to inject some sanity into the conversation.

“Exactly,” Cracknell says, responding with what should have been the end of it before continuing on. “Well, there’s sanctions and everything else, but, well, the example is that it’s behavioural change.”

Yes, behavioural change. Like in the case of North Korea, where money is being pumped into a standing army of one million troops and developing nuclear weapons instead of providing food for its people. Behavioural change like that.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.