Women’s Handball Captain Lee Sang-eun

After the 2004 Athens Olympic games were over, the women’s handball team captain Lee Sang-eun (29, Hyomyung Construction Company Ltd.), dubbed the “nuclear launcher” for her powerful throws, has become a nationwide recognized celebrity.

No Need to Pay for Restaurants or Taxi Rides-

“Yesterday I went out to have pork belly with a friend, and the restaurant manager wouldn’t take our money. The man eating next to me even ordered extra drinks for us. Even the taxis refused to take my money.” The sudden change in attitude has definitely been a surprise for her.

We were able to meet her on the morning of September 1 at her Incheon Yunsu apartment.

A large placard imprinted “Congratulations to Lee Sang-eun For Winning the Silver” hung at the entrance of her apartment, which made it easy to find her home.

The same Lee Sang-eun, who showed intimidating facial expressions and cannon-like shots during the games, looked quite different in her shorts when our reporter first met her.

“From the beginning, the game against Denmark was so close, I had to focus myself in every part of the game. I had to focus even more during the penalty shootout because it was the first time I ever participated in a penalty shootout in an international match during my 12-year national team career.”

After finishing the first and second half tied at 25 to 25, Korea was not able to bring home victory even after the following two overtimes.

“I started to worry after we finished the first and second half with a tie. We played the final against Denmark during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and lost during overtime. When I was ejected for two minutes due to a foul from the game for two minutes during the first half of overtime, I was very disappointed. I was totally exhausted during the second half but I kept reminding myself that ‘it took so much to come this far,’ which only made me run even faster.”

There were many married women on the national team. Oh Young-lan (33, Hyomyung Construction Company Ltd.), Hu Yung-sook (29, Pusan City Sports Organization), Lim Oh-gyung (34), and Oh Sung-ok are all married, and Lim Oh-gyung and Oh Sung-ok even have children.

Even so, they fought until the end. Where could they have mustered such strength?

The secret is Coach Lim Young-chul’s special training. Special training that closely resembles the power training Guss Hiddink put into effect for the South Korean soccer team before the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup.

“Once every week, starting mid June until early August, we had a total of six training sessions. We had to run 20-meter sprints back and forth, going faster every time until we were completely exhausted. After this was over, we scrimmaged for 20 minutes and then continued with our sprints. It was so hard that my friend Jang So-hee fainted and was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.”

Handball is well known for its intensity-

On top of that, it’s almost a war when you play against foreign athletes who have extraordinary physical strength.

Both the offensive and defensive lines demand exceptional performance.

Plastered With Poultices, No One Can Sleep After Games-

“After games, we have bumps and bruises all over our body. It hurts so much we plaster ourselves with poultices, and the burning sensation keeps us awake during the night.”

At one point Lee Sang-eun spent eight months without any team affiliation after her former team, sponsored by Allianz Life, decided to dissolve the team.

Afterwards, she joined the recently created Hyomyung Construction Company team.

As soon as the interview was over, she said she had an assembly she had to attend to and started packing.

Her mother, Yoon Ok-boon (63) felt sorry for her daughter who had to leave again right after the day she came back from Athens.

Yoon, who has looked after her daughter ever since losing her husband during an accident that occurred at a construction site, said to the reporter who was just about to leave, “Sang-eun never forgets to visit her father’s grave. Isn’t she something?”

Her face was emblazoned with love for her daughter.

Sung-Kyu Kim kimsk@donga.com