Korean Prowess Too Skating-Oriented?

In the Turin 2007 Winter Universiade, Korea confirmed its dominance of short-track speed skating. However, as its performance in other events lagged behind, it is also clear that Korea needs to diversify its winter sports competence.

In the Universiade, Korea swept eight golds out of the ten short-track events and took first place in the final overall medal standings. It is the first time ever for the country to win an international multi-sport event. In short-track speed skating, Korea missed only two gold medals to China in women’s individual 3,000m and 3,000m relay.

The Korean short-track speed skaters in the Universiade this year were mostly the nation’s second string. The A-team, including Ahn Hyun-soo, is presently in Changchun, China taking part in the Winter Asian Games.

The long-track speed skaters also did outstanding jobs. Lee Kang-seok (Korea National Sport University) and Lee Sang-hwa (Hwikyung Women’s High School, admitted by KNSU) won the men’s and women’s 500m races, respectively.

Korean ski jumpers, who ended up with no medals in the 2005 Innsbruck Universiade, won two silvers, showing good potential.

The overall results of the games, however, reveal the fact that Korea’s competitiveness is too biased toward a limited number of sports. All the medals that the country won came from only three sports. This is comparable to China (8th, 3 golds, 6 silvers, 6 bronzes) and Japan (9th, 3 golds, 5 silvers, 5 bronzes) as they acquired medals from various events such as short-track speed skating, figure skating, snowboarding and curling.

beetlez@donga.com