Korean short track team hopes for repeat
Korea's biggest gold medal winner at the Winter Olympics has always been the short track squad.
It has brought home 29 medals, including 17 gold, out of the 31 overall medals the country has earned at the event so far. It had 10 short track medals, including six gold, at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics.
This month in Vancouver, eight gold medals are available in short track speed skating. Korea is modestly aiming for three of them, with three-time gold medalists Ahn Hyun-soo and Jin Sun-yu absent due to injuries.
And it is the men's team - composed of Lee Ho-suk, Lee Jung-su, Sung Si-bak, Kwak Yoon-gy, Kim Seung-il - that the golds are expected from. Hopes are high for the world's strongest team in the 1,000-meter, the 1,500-meter and the 5,000-meter relay.
Lee Ho-suk, the oldest on the team, is a top contender for gold. The 24-year-old skater is the veteran on the team with two previous Olympic experiences.
Though he played his part in clinching the gold in the 3,000-meter relay in Turin, Lee had been overshadowed in individual races by Ahn and had to settle for two silvers. This time, with Ahn out, Lee has to skate with all the expectations and pressure on his shoulders.
Seong Si-bak, 23, and Lee Jung-su, 21, are also expected to top the individual races. Another interest would be who of the three would bring home the most medals. AP recently predicted Lee Jung-su to win a triple crown this year, based on last year's short track world cup records.
The women's team - composed of Kim Min-jung, Cho Ha-ri, Choi Jung-won, Lee Eun-byul and Park Seung-hi - however, faces stiff competition against China. The two countries have been rivals in this sport for quite a long time now.
Although the Korean team had swept three golds out of four in Turin, it had to give up its world champion title to the powerful Wang Meng-led China team in most events held during the last two years.
Many expect that the top two spots in women's individual races in Vancouver will be dominated by China's Wang, 25, and Zhou Yang, 19, both world No. 1 in the 500 meter and 1,000 meter, and the 1500 meter, respectively.
So instead, Korea is focusing on the 3,000-meter relay. When it comes to the relay, the Korean ladies have been unbeatable since 1994.
"I want to win gold in the 3,000-meter relay and record five consecutive victories. Winning the gold medal in the relay is the priority right now, not individual races," said Cho Ha-ri.
But the team did not get to practice much on relay ever since they arrived in Calgary earlier this month because of some Chinese strategy analysts who often visited to spy on the Korean team. They even recorded the team's training sessions on video, stated the athletes.
"We couldn't train hard for the relay because if our strategy gets revealed, it becomes useless. We just had to settle with individual practices," said Kim Min-jung, 24, the oldest on the women's team.
Though time is not measured in short track speed skating, the good news is that all the Korean skaters have been breaking their own lap time records in Calgary, especially the women's team. They have been racing against the men's team, imagining they are the Chinese.
"Our athletes' personal lap times are getting shorter and shorter. It could be because of the good quality of ice here, but anyhow it means that their conditions are getting better and better," said the team's head coach Kim Gi-hun.
The men's 1,500-meter final is to be held on Feb. 14, the 1,000-meter final on Feb. 24, the 500-meter final and 5,000-meter relay final on Feb. 27. The women's 500-meter final is to be held on Feb. 18, the 1,500-meter final on Feb. 21, the 3,000-meter relay final on Feb. 25 and the 1,000-meter final on Feb. 27. The venue is the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver B.C.
(claire@heraldm.com)
By Park Min-young
