Korea’s Ski-jumper Choi Yong-jik Works a Miracle

“Unpopular sports events come into spotlight only when there’s a medal won. If handball is unpopular, ski-jump gets no attention at all.”

Boosted by the popularity of ‘Forever the Moment,’ a movie featuring a real story of Korea’s national women’s handball team, handball is gaining attention again. In the meanwhile, a ski-jumper has drawn much attention while trying to pioneer the nation’s ski-jump in poor conditions.

Korea’s best ski-jumper Choi Yong-jik, 28, is who created a miracle in Tarvisio, Italy.

In 2003, Korea’s ski-jump team won gold medals both in the individual match and the group competition at an international event, Winter Universiade in Tarvisio, Italy, for the first time. Choi Yong-jik was one of the Korean squad which won the gold in the K-90 team match. Korea has only seven registered ski-jumpers and only five, among them, are qualified for international competitions. Given that, it is a miracle for the Korean team to beat their competitors from Europe, which has more than 1,000 registered ski-jumpers.

Ski-jumping from childhood… endless potentials

Choi Yong-jik, born in Muju, North Jeolla Province, began ski jumping since ten years old. He participated in three Olympics in Nagano in 1998, Salt Lake City in 2002 and Torino in 2006, and he eventually won the gold in the 2003 Winter Asian Games in Aomori. Moreover, he has made good records at World Cup games and the World Championship series. He even won a silver medal in an individual match in last year’s Universiade.

However, he still faces bitter reality. He has rarely gotten financial support. Three of the seven registered ski-jumpers have given up and only four remain now. He does not belong to any team and he depends on training fees and paychecks from the Korea Sports Council. Worse yet, he cannot get any financial support from the council unless the national team has a formal training session. The conditions have gotten worse since Pyeongchang of Gangwon Province lost to Russia’s Sochi in its bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics. He only gets monthly pension of 300,000 won since he won gold medals in Universiade and Winter Asian Games. He participates in European competitions for two months in summer and three months in winter. Other than that, he stays in Korea and earns money through part-time jobs.

Director Kim Yong-hwa makes a film about ski-jump

Despite all the financial difficulties, he could not give up his dream. Choi Yong-jik says, “Frankly speaking, it is hard to make a living. However, I cannot give it up since I believe that I can do better if only I invest slightly more.” Experts explain that Choi Yong-jik, with his good landing posture and aerial performance skills, can be a far better ski-jumper only if he gets better training.

Meanwhile, Director Kim Yong-hwa, who made ‘200 Pounds Beauty,’ has been drawing much attention since he plans to create a movie tentatively named ‘National Team,’ which will feature poor surroundings of national ski-jumpers. Choi Yong-jik says, “I hope the new movie will arouse even just a tiny interest in ski-jump, as the handball movie did.”

He left for Germany yesterday to participate in the World Cup games held in Europe. Due to a lack of money, he bought his ticket with his frequent-flyer miles he has accumulated.

yjongk@donga.com