Speed Skater Joins Ice Hockey Team

“Queen of short track speed skating” Chun Lee-kyung (31) has switched to ice hockey. She will be playing in the Winter Asian Games which will take place between January 28 and February 4 in Changchun, China. It is her first participation in the Asian Games in 11 years since the 1996 Harbin games.

It was May 2006 when Chun, winner of four gold medals in the Winter Olympic Games, started playing ice hockey for a club team named “Peoples” as a hobby. As there are only a few players yet in the whole nation, she was able to join the national team in October, although she hardly had anything more than her world-class skating skills.

Teaching skating to kindergarten and elementary students since the end of last year, she can join training only once a week. Every Wednesday, she takes a KTX ride to Seoul to join the national team training at Taereung, and moves to the Korea University Ice Rink to train with “Peoples” between 10:30 p.m. and midnight.

uni@donga.com