Lee Reaches Turning Point for Athens

“He finished half of his progress for Athens.”

Seeking a laurel crown in the 2004 Athens Olympic in August, “National Marathoner” Lee Bong-joo (34-year-old, Samsung Electronics) ended his high-altitude training in Kunming of China for 25 days and returned Korea in the early morning on May 25.

Over 1900m from sea level, Kunming is the fittest spot for high-altitude training. Nothing else is as good as Kunming for maximizing oxygen supply in the blood, which is required for completing the marathon course. Lee has practiced in Kunming four times ahead of big matches in the past.

The discipline was so severe as compared with previous times. Lee still maintains world-level stamina despite his age being older than 30, but the training was so tough that his muscles got a cramp and his lips blistered during the training.

Because the high ground is short of oxygen by 18% compared with level ground, it was not easy to have an even “distance-running” training which an athlete finishes 10km in two hours. But it is said that it was not hard for him to run 35km in the end of training as he was accustomed to hilly sections.

The Athens course is challenging to complete because it has many hills and it’s sultry and damp. His face was bright when he came to the entryway of Incheon Airport on the day with the achievement of completing his first training for conquering Athens.

Coach of Samsung Electronics, O In-hwan, said, “It is expected that the Athens course will consume physical strength 1.5 times more than other courses do, so we focus on contending for precedence rather than records,” adding, “We accomplished 50 percent of our goal through our Kunming training, and we will concentrate on maximizing his physical strength.”

Lee will conduct training for boosting his strength in Hyeng-kye, Kangwon Province from June 2, have training in Brescia, Italy (July 12-19) and Santa Morris, Switzerland (July 19-August 6), where the geographical lays of the land are similar to Athens, and arrive at Athens, Greece on August 7. The Olympic Marathon will start at 6 P.M. on August 29. (Greece time)

Sang-Ho Kim hyangsan@donga.com