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[이데일리 스타in 이석무 기자] The Korean short track, which had been evaluated as the weakest in history, overcame various trials and tribulations and smiled broadly at the end.
Choi Min-jung, a ace of the women’s national team, won the gold medal in the women’s 1500m short track short track speed skating finals at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics held on the 16th, beating out prominent competitors such as Ariana Fontana (Italy) and Schuzaner Spilting (Netherlands).
Choi Min-jung won the Olympic Games for the second time in a row following the Pyeongchang Games four years ago. Following her earlier silver medals in her women’s 1000m and women’s 3000m relays, she picked up her third medal at the event.
On the same day, the Korean men’s national team (Park Jang-hyuk, Kwak Yoon-gi, Lee Jun-seo, Hwang Dae-heon, and Kim Dong-wook) won silver medals in the men’s 5000m relay following Canada.
As a result, the Korean short track speed track team completed the schedule by winning two gold medals (men’s 1500m Hwang Dae-heon, women’s 1500m Choi Min-jung) and three silver medals (men’s 5000m relay, women’s 3000m relay, women’s 1000m relay) at the Beijing Olympics. It maintained the pride of being the ‘strongest nation’ by achieving the best results among the short track participants.
On the other hand, China, which brought in a large number of Korean leaders, including coach Kim Seon-tae and technical coach Ahn Hyeon-su (Russian name Victor Ahn), achieved only two gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal, even with the home advantage on their backs. The two gold medals (men’s 1000m and mixed 2000m relay) were all judged by controversy.
The Netherlands, with the leading female star Swheeling, also won 2 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze, while Italy (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) and Canada (1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze) Dog) and Hungary (1 gold, 2 bronze) also joined the gold medal ranks.
The performance of the Korean national team is even more meaningful in that they overcame the dark prospect due to various adverse events ahead of the Olympics.
The Korean national team was embroiled in a scandal in October last year when Shim Seok-hee (Seoul City Hall), a key player in the women’s national team, leaked a private message exchanged with the national team coach at the Pyeongchang Games. Her messages were full of gossip regarding her colleagues. At the time of the Pyeongchang Games, she had content that raised suspicion of a deliberate collision. Shim Seok-hee, who was disciplined by the Korea Ice Skating Federation, did not participate in the Olympics. To make matters worse, even Kim Ji-yu (regular general), who placed 3rd in the national team selection, was frustrated with her national team boarding due to a broken foot she suffered at the World Cup.
Choi Min-jung, the national team ace, was not in normal condition. After Shim Suk-hee’s message leak, she complained of extreme stress. He suffered so much mentally that he might not concentrate on the game.
In the first round of the World Cup held in China last year, he fell twice and injured his ankle and knee. He went to the Beijing Olympics in a situation that was not 100% in condition.
The same was true for the men’s team. Lim Hyo-jun (Chinese name: Lin Xiaojun), who was an ace, was punished and became naturalized in China, and his power was greatly weakened. Except for the next-generation ace Hwang Dae-heon (Gangwon Provincial Government), there were no cards to believe and put forward in the solo exhibition.
Even following coming to Beijing, the national team suffered from continued bad luck and biased judgments. At the beginning of the tournament, the faces of the players were full of disappointment and anger. But the players did not give up. Rather, the ordeal stimulated the desire to win. We encouraged each other and overcame difficulties as one. As a result, all the players smiled brightly and achieved the beauty of the species.
Choi Min-jung said, “I prepared this competition with the thought that it is important how far I can go beyond my limits in fighting myself.” “When things did not go well in the beginning of the competition, I did not panic and solved the game as calmly as possible. lead to,” he said.
The Korean short track also left a lot of homework. We need to help Shim Seok-hee and Kim Ji-yu, who failed to participate in the Olympics, overcome their disappointment. We also need to focus our efforts on discovering new aces to support Choi Min-jung and Hwang Dae-heon.
The national team leader problem should be considered fundamentally. For the first time in the history of the short track speed track team, the Olympic Games were held without a coach. The Korea Skating Federation launched an open recruitment of coaches, but might not find a suitable person. Instead, coach Lee Young-seok, Ahn Jung-hyun, Kim Byeong-jun, and Lee So-hee led the team.
The federation explained that there was no worthy leader as the standards of morality and corruption were raised unprecedentedly following the sexual assault of former coach Jo Jae-beom. Coach Kim Seon-tae, who was in charge of the Korean national team at the time of the Pyeongchang Games, was suspended for one year for failing to prevent the case of former coach Cho Jae-beom, and then left following receiving a love call from China.
There are also growing calls to enhance sports diplomacy in order to prevent unfair situations such as biased judgments at international competitions.
