Male Short Track: Homegrown Coach vs. International Coach

Rivalry has begun to flare up between a homegrown coach and an international coach over who will break the 100-meter male track record. As the Korea Athletes Federation has hired Prof. Miyakawa Chiaki as a coach for the national reserve track team, his competition appears to be inevitable with Jang Jae-geun, who leads the national team.

Miyajawa said he would completely correct the athletes’ posturing and infuse a new breath into Korea’s short track field, while Jang said his team would break records with his own know-how.

“Korean athletes assume the same posturing when running,” said Miyakawa. “If they are trained according to their body shape, the records will be broken”

“Before retirement, I overwhelmed Japanese athletes on the short tracks,” said Jang. “They can make good records with my own skills.” After observing both coaches’ training sessions, Kim Dong-wook, coach of Kyunggi Athletes High School, said, “They are worlds apart in terms of training style and the length of it.” He said, “If they work together, there will be good results.”

The two coaches’ first battle looms in April 8 and 9 when the 8th Corporation Athletes Competition will take place in Bucheon Stadium.

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com