Expected 4th Winning at Asian Games’ Marathon

Lee Bong-joo (32, Samsung Electronics) and Lim Jin-soo (26, Kolon). Two major marathoners of Korea have just started honing for the gold medal at the 2002 Pusan Asian Games. They are stretching themselves soaked in sweat in scorching hot weather.

Lee and Lim are aiming at winning the Asian Games’ marathon 4 years in a row following Kim Won-tak (’90 Beijing Games), Hwang Hyung-jo (’94 Hiroshima) and Lee Bong-jo himself (’98 Bangkok).

The Korean record holder Lee Bong-joo (2H7’10”) left for the Taeback Mountain on June 5th to build up physical fitness in the middle of his honeymoon days. On July 5th, he moved to Huinggye in Kangwon Province and built up his strength through high-level circuit training and weight training, and endurance through cross-country including 40 km running through rugged terrain. His condition is at 80%. On the 30th right upon completing the first level training, Lee will fly over to Hamilton in New Zealand and build up his speed for about a month.

Oh In-hwan, the marathon coach for Samsung Electronics’ male team, said, “After one month of training, Lee is expected to regain his 100% condition. The temperature in New Zealand is hovering between 10-15 degrees, and optimal for intensive training.”

Lim Jin-soo ranked 3rd at the 2002 Dong A Marathon (2H12’41”) and thus became eligible for the Asian Games participation. He also started a 16 week long training program to build up his strength until the opening of the Games. Once he finished up the fitness program in Seoul, he has been staying, from 21st on, in the Soback Mountain in Danyang, Choonbook, and engaged in a toughest training involving 3 hours of running in the Mountain.

The gold medal at this Asian Games conveys a special meaning to Lim. If he wins it, he will be exempted from the mandatory military service and therefore will earn some time to achieve his goal of becoming the world’s number one marathoner.

In the meanwhile, the female marathoners such as Kwon Eun-joo (25, Samsung Electronics) and Oh Mi-ja (32, Iksan City) have started training from mid-June. They are aiming at the gold medal, the first for women marathoners in the Asian Games. Kwon started in Taebaek. Then she has been staying in Huinggye to take the training programs for endurance and speed in earnest. Oh is also stretching herself thin in the Chiree Mountain to grab the gold medal.

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com