Paralympic snowboarder's wife Kwon Ju-ri tells vivid story

Kwon Ju-ri, who is the wife of PyeongChang Paralympics national snowboarder Park Hang-seung, has three roles to perform. She will cheer for her husband, who is participating at the Paralympics, and turn into a Bandabi. She will also serve an MC at the disbanding ceremony of the Korean team.

Kwon is one of the Korean citizens who transforms into a Bandabi mascot, also known as “citizen’s Bandabi” who gained immense popularity as they greeted guests at the opening ceremony of the Paralympics. She is expected to become one of Bandabis at the closing ceremony.

The lives of the couple were filled with incidents that once seemed impossible become possible. This was so when Park and Kwon got married at a ski resort three years ago. Since an acquaintance of these two introduced them to each other, they snowboarded every weekend, fell in love, and decided to get married at a ski resort on a snow board. When they asked the ski resort about getting married there, the resort told them, “No one actually had a wedding march on a slope but you can do it if you want.”

This was also the same for Park Hang Seung’s participation at the Paralympics. “He told me that he wanted to participate at the Paralympics even before we got married. He would watch video clips of foreign athletes and would tell me that he could do it. We were wondering whether this may be possible but a team was created at the right moment and he also became a national snowboarder,” she said. “Opportunity kept on coming to my husband. I think that he has met his golden time of his life at the PyeongChang Paralympics.”


Bo-Mi Im bom@donga.com