Middle Schooler- Koh Gi-Hyun Wins the First Gold in Short Track

16 year-old middle schooler Koh Gi-Hyun (Mokil Middle School) won the first gold medal for Korea.

Koh participated in the women`s 1500m short track event at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics, which was held at Salt Lake Ice Center, Utah, on the 14th. She took the lead before the last 2 rounds, and defeated China, which had world’s top Yang Yang, with a record of 2 minutes 31 seconds 581. Choi was only 0.029 second behind Koh, and won the silver with the record of 2 minutes 31 seconds 610. The two women competitors helped Korea to draw nearer to the top 10 positions 4 times in a row since the 1992 Albertville Winter Games.

Korea is also looking forward to another gold meal on the 17th, as Kim Dong-Sung (Korea Univ.) and Ahn Hyun-Su (Shinmok High.) advanced to the semifinals of the men’s 1000m. However, in the men’s 5000m relay event, in which Korea expected to win a gold medal, Min Ryong (Keimyung Univ.) slipped during the semifinals race and was disqualified.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com