| ▲ [올림픽] Short track team flying a hand heart (Yeongjongdo = Yonhap News) Reporter Ryu Young-seok = The short-track team, which harvested two gold medals and three silver medals at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, is making a finger heart following returning home from Incheon International Airport Terminal 2 on the followingnoon of the 18th. 2022.2.18 |
Harvesting gold 2 and silver 3 through various evils… Outperformed 2014 Sochi Competition
The Korean short track team, which reaffirmed the world’s strongest at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, returned to gold.
The Korean short track team returned home through Incheon International Airport on the 18th, promising the Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics four years later.
Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), a separate welcome event was not held at the airport.
The national team accomplished more than expected by harvesting two gold medals and three silver medals in this tournament.
Even before the opening, the negative outlook was great, and although it suffered from bias and territoriality by the host country, China, the Korean short track race performed better than the 2014 Sochi Games.
The issue of internal conflict within the short track team, which was pointed out as a chronic ailment, was once once more raised to the surface following Shim Seok-hee’s text message scandal over suspicions of disrespect and intentional collision with colleagues just four months before the Olympics.
As a result, Ji-yu Kim, the ‘next-generation sign’, who took third place in the national team selection following Shim Seok-hee was disqualified, broke her foot at the World Cup and was frustrated from boarding the national team.
The situation was similar for the men’s team. Lim Hyo-jun (Chinese name: Lin Xiaojun), who was the national team ace, was disciplined and chose to become naturalized in China.
The national team, which even the manager has not decided, was evaluated as the weakest in history. When I came to Beijing, I had to struggle with my heart because of the absurd decision.
It was the undisputed aces, Choi Min-jung and Hwang Dae-heon, who changed the atmosphere of the national team, which was suffering from internal and external currency.
Hwang Dae-heon opened the door for a rebound by winning his first gold medal in the men’s 1,500m on the 9th, and Choi Min-jung took over the baton.
Choi Min-jung was the first to cross the finish line in the women’s 1,500m final at 2:17.789 on the 16th, the last day of the short track, and decorated the golden finale.
Choi Min-jeong, who won two gold medals in the 1,500m and 3,000m relays at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, won the 1,500m Olympics twice in a row.
He also won the third medal in this event, following the 1,000m relay on the 11th and the 3,000m relay on the 13th (above a silver medal).
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| ▲ [올림픽] ‘Pink Boy’ Kwak Yoon-gi with a silver medal (Yeongjongdo = Yonhap News) Reporter Ryu Young-seok = Kwak Yun-ki, who won the silver medal in the 5,000m short track relay at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, holds up the medal following returning home from Incheon International Airport Terminal 2 on the followingnoon of the 18th. 2022.2.18 |
The men’s team finished second in the 5,000m relay and won a medal for the first time in 12 years following winning a silver medal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
The national team ended the tournament with 9 gold medals, 2 gold medals and 3 silver medals.
It surpassed the host country China (2 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze), which recruited a large number of Korean leaders, including coach Kim Seon-tae and technical coach Ahn Hyeon-soo (Russian name: Victor Ahn), and achieved the best performance among the participating countries.
Comparing with recent competitions, Korea performed better than Sochi in 2014 (2 golds, 1 silver, 2 bronzes) in 2014, although the number of medals decreased compared to Pyeongchang 4 years ago (3 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze).
The national team, who lived in Beijing only in a closed loop (a dedicated space for tournament officials isolated from the outside world), moves to a designated quarantine facility immediately following returning home.
Here, he will undergo a gene amplification (PCR) test and will be released from the isolation facility as soon as a negative result is obtained on the 19th.
After that, they will return to their respective teams and prepare for the 103rd National Winter Sports Festival to be held on the 25th.
