National Marathon Team Flies to Kenya Amidst Controversy

The Korean Athletics Federation (“KAF”) has begun to carry out its “Kenya Project” in earnest.

The project is designed to train Korean athletes to win gold medals at the 2011 World Athletics Championships to be held in Daegu, South Korea.

Five national team marathoners, Seo Haeng-jun, 20, Nah Yeong-san, 20, Hwang Jun-hyeon, 20, Kim Ji-hun, 19, and Oh Seo-jin, 19, hopped on a plane to Kenya yesterday. They will stay there for eight weeks, working out with local athletes.

The Korean team will train at 2,300m above the sea level, and 350 km away from the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

Most experts, however, doubt the training program will lead to any enhancement. Despite their previous training in Kunming, China, which is 1,900m above the sea level, it will take another two weeks for the Korean athletes to adjust themselves to the local conditions in Africa. Even after a successful adjustment, they won’t be able to pitch in 100% during training for some time to come.

The concerns do not stop there. Experts worry about the long traveling distance, different food, and local diseases. Due to these reasons, many Korean club teams prefer Kunming.

The KAF argues that the program might help the marathoners muster up their spiritual readiness. Putting things in practical terms, few experts expect it to help them improve their performance. The project reportedly costs the KAF $210,000.

yjongk@donga.com