Olympic Girlfriend Tops Web Search List

For the first time in the history of the Winter Olympics, 21-year-old short-track speed skating gold medallist Ahn Hyun-su has a chance to sweep gold in all of the men’s short-track events. After he won his second gold medal in Torino, his girlfriend, Shin Dan-bi also became a celebrity.

When Ahn won the gold in the men’s 1,000m on February 19, Shin’s name was the most searched keyword on the Internet search engine Naver, dethroning Lee Hyo-ri, a popular female star in South Korea.

Shin is currently attending Korea National Sport University’s annual winter ski training camp. Shin, a field hockey player, entered the school in the same year as Ahn.

“Our school traditionally holds a talent showcase after freshmen orientation where new students pick partners and showcase their talents together. Hyun-su took my hand and started singing and dancing. We started going out after that,” said Shin.

Shin had already been a big fan of Ahn’s before college. It wasn’t easy dating a member of the national skating team, according to Shin, since his tough training schedule takes up so much of his time. But the two still find time go out on dates on weekends.

“It was tough for him to be away from home and going through a physically demanding training schedule before the Olympics. He was also stressed about the competitiveness and tension within the team,” said Shin. She was upset when she heard a press report suggest Lee Ho-suk “yielded” the gold medal to Ahn. “There is no ‘yielding’ in the Olympics. Team members look out for each other, but each of them race to win,” she said.

Near the end of the interview, her cell phone rang: it was a call from Torino. “He saw my homepage. He said he still can’t believe he’s a celebrity,” Shin said.

Jae-Yun Jung jaeyuna@donga.com