Speed Skater Named to National Ice Hockey Squad

The voice of Jeon I-kyeong (29), once the “queen of the short track,” and recently selected as a member of the national ice hockey team, was filled with vitality.

Just five months have passed since she started playing ice hockey as a hobby. Yet her world-class skating ability and an insufficient number of ice hockey players helped her join the national squad for play in two different games. On October 7, the Korean Ice Hockey Association announced a list of 20 players including Jeon I-kyeong for the national women’s ice hockey team.

Jeon became a star short track speed skater after winning two gold medals for the women`s 1,000m and the women’s 3,000m relay in two consecutive Olympic (the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics and the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics). After retirement, she started golfing and won a certificate as a semi-pro golfer, showing her unmatched athletic talents.

In May, she began to play ice hockey. Jeon is a striker and has already scored several goals in practice matches as a member of a club team “Peoples.” She is also a striker on the national squad.

She said, “I’m a striker? It was totally luck for me to join the national team as a beginner. I don’t feel burdened. It is good to play sports for pleasure and play the game in the Olympics. The biggest attraction of ice hockey to me is that it’s a team sport unlike the short track.”

The national women’s hockey team will meet on October 9 and will undergo training twice a week at the Mokdong ice-rink in Seoul and the Taereung ice-rink in preparation for the 2007 Changchun Asian Winter Games.

uni@donga.com