Koh Gi-Hyun Has Won `Hope`

Short Track ladies 1000m finals. Koh Gi-Hyun (16, Mokil Middle School) was under heavy burdens that the `two` Yang Yangs advanced to the finals.

In Short Track, two players from the same country have absolute advantage when they are running together, because they are able to carry out `cooperative strategy` that blocks rivals’ courses.

As if they were proving so, Yang (A) Yang and Yang (S) Yang began putting pressure on Koh by coming out to first and second positions before the last 7 rounds. It was not easy for Koh to penetrate between the two Chinese.

The same situation continued until the last 3 rounds, but Koh took a gamble with the final 2 rounds left. She tried and succeeded overtaking Yang (S) Yang through the inner course. Koh made a final spurt in the last round to catch up with Yang (A) Yang, but fell short to claim the silver.

However, Koh looked bright after the match. Her pride for silver was bigger than her shame for losing gold. She held the national flag and went around the link as if she won the race, and was happier than any other athlete during the medal ceremony.

The Korean athletes won the total of 4 medals in Short Track in this Olympics. Among them, Koh Gi-Hyun earned one gold (ladies 1500m) and one silver (ladies 1500m), becoming the `hope` of Korean ladies’ Short Track.

She displayed a mature spirit and excellent talent for the best outcome, even in the difficult situations of experiencing a bone fracture in the training just 3 months before the Olympics and nose bleeding in high altitude training sessions.

Koh shyly said, "Isn’t silver good enough? Older teammates helped me to do well. I’ll do my best to train for weaknesses and become a great skater."

ssoo@donga.com