[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Emerging speed skater ready for starring role in Beijing

At the tender age of 16 in his first Olympic appearance at PyeongChang 2018, South Korean speed skater Chung Jae-won willingly played a supporting role for older teammates. Stronger and better than before, Chung is now ready to take up a more prominent position on the national team at the Beijing Winter Olympics. "I will be asked to handle more responsibilities," Chung said after his first training session at the National Speed Skating Oval on Saturday. "I will have to do much m

Feb. 6, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] With S. Korean-born coaches in charge, China throws down gauntlet early in short track

So what do you do when you can't beat them or join them? You bring in someone from them. That's what China did in short track speed skating before hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Kim Sun-tae, who coached South Korea to six medals, including three gold medals, at the 2018 Winter Games, is now the head coach for China. Kim's top assistant is the six-time Olympic champion Victor An, who was born Ahn Hyun-soo in South Korea but later became a naturalized Russian citizen. He's the mos

Feb. 6, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Short track stars look to put disappointing relay behind for individual races

Short track speed skaters Choi Min-jeong and Hwang Dae-heon will try to shake off disappointments from an early relay race as the two South Korean stars chase individual medals at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Monday. Choi will be competing in the women's 500m, starting with the quarterfinals and, if she keeps advancing, in the final at Capital Indoor Stadium. Hwang and two other South Koreans, Park Jang-hyuk and Lee June-seo, will be in the quarterfinals in the men's 1,000m, with the final sc

Feb. 6, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] S. Korean athletes staying out of village dining hall for better food, safety

South Korean speed skater Kim Bo-reum had barely arrived in Beijing on Thursday evening, when she studied her dinner options at the cafeteria inside the Olympic village. And her reaction? "I wanted to go home right then and there," Kim quipped Saturday after a training session at the National Speed Skating Oval. Kim didn't find the Chinese food spread to her liking and she was far from alone. One of her teammates, Kim Min-sun, had also traveled to Beijing on Thursday and had her fir

Feb. 6, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Beijing Olympic Winter Games open under cloud of pandemic, diplomatic boycotts

BEIJING -- The 24th Olympic Winter Games began in Beijing on Friday with an understated ceremony showcasing virtues of the Chinese culture and expressing hope for a reunion of people around the world -- a hope that rings hollow under the cloud of a global pandemic and diplomatic boycotts of the event. The Chinese capital is the first city to host both a Summer and a Winter Games. The National Stadium, better known as the Bird's Nest, staged the ceremonies in 2008 and is back doing the same in 2

Feb. 4, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Canadian figure skating coach says Beijing medal for S. Korean student 'not out of the question'

BEIJING -- Canadian figure skating legend Brian Orser has been quite successful as a coach, too, having produced a slew of Olympic and world champions. He knows a potential medalist when he sees one. And he feels his South Korean student, Cha Jun-hwan, may have a shot at surprising some people at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Cha is fresh off winning the men's singles title at the International Skating Union Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Estonia on Jan. 23. Though some big nam

Feb. 4, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Plagued by injuries, luger set to retire after Beijing

BEIJING -- Still feeling effects of career-threatening injuries she suffered three years ago, South Korean luger Aileen Frisch feels the time has come for her to leave the sport for good. And she wants to make her second and final Winter Olympics here in Beijing a memorable one. "I think (Beijing 2022) will be my last big competition as an athlete. Therefore, I really want to perform my best," Frisch said after her training run Thursday at Yanqing National Sliding Centre in Yanqing D

Feb. 4, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Pandemic or not, here comes Beijing -- again

BEIJING -- In August 2008, Beijing took center stage as the host of the Summer Olympics, with the quadrennial athletic competition serving as China's coming-out party. Nearly 14 years later, Beijing is under the spotlight again as the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Once the Games are officially declared open later Friday at the National Stadium -- the same stage for the ceremonies of the 2008 event -- Beijing will become the first city to host both a Summer and a Winter Games. Things today

Feb. 4, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] S. Korea going for inaugural Olympic title in short track's mixed team relay

BEIJING -- South Korea has been the most successful country in Olympic short track speed skating history with 24 gold medals, and it will look to add to that total in a relay event making its debut at the Beijing Winter Games on Saturday. Following Friday's opening ceremony, the first medals of Beijing 2022 will be awarded Saturday. South Korea's first shot at a medal will come in the mixed team relay at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing. The inaugural relay race is 2,000 meters long, or 18 la

Feb. 4, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Rising star in skeleton wants to trust himself more

BEIJING -- Jung Seung-gi, the rising star in South Korean men's skeleton, will be competing in his first Winter Olympics in Beijing this month. But this isn't his first taste of the Olympic experience. Four years ago in the South Korean alpine town of PyeongChang, Jung had the honor of carrying the Olympic Flag into the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony, along with three other teenage athletes. Now 22, Jung will be carrying the hope of a nation starving for the next big thing in slidi

Feb. 3, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Reigning skeleton gold medalist still pessimistic after initial training

BEIJING -- After his first training run through the Olympic track, South Korean Olympic skeleton champion Yun Sung-bin remained as pessimistic about his chances as ever. At a media conference near the end of January, Yun, the 2018 men's singles gold medalist, had given a brutally honest self-assessment, saying he didn't regard himself as a medal contender for the Beijing Winter Games. Yun struggled through the most recent International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup season

Feb. 3, 2022

Sports minister to head S. Korean gov't delegation to Beijing 2022

Hwang Hee, the minister of culture, sports and tourism, will lead the South Korean government delegation to the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, his ministry said Tuesday. With President Moon Jae-in not traveling to the Chinese capital for the Feb. 4-20 competition, the government decided to make Hwang, the top Cabinet minister for sports, the chief delegate, according to the ministry. 　In Beijing, Hwang will attend the opening ceremony on Feb. 4, and support and encourage South Korean athl

Jan. 25, 2022

S. Korea to send its 3rd-largest Winter Olympics team to Beijing 2022

South Korea announced Tuesday it will have 63 athletes compete in six sports during the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics. It will be the country's third-largest athletic delegation to the Winter Games, behind 146 athletes for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics on home soil and 71 athletes for the 2014 event in Sochi, Russia. South Korea will also have 61 officials accompanying those athletes during the Feb. 4-20 competition. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee has said the goal is to w

Jan. 25, 2022

Women's curling team hoping to add to fond Olympic memories in Beijing

GANGNEUNG -- The South Korean women's curling team will go on a quest for its second straight Olympic medal at the same Beijing venue where the country's Summer Games history was written nearly 14 years ago. At the Feb. 4-20 Beijing Winter Olympics, curling matches will take place at the National Aquatics Center, which held swimming races when the Chinese capital hosted the 2008 Summer Games. It was there on Aug. 10, 2008, that Park Tae-hwan won gold in the men's 400m freestyle swimming. Park,

Jan. 21, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Two-thirds of S. Koreans not interested in Beijing Winter Olympics: poll

Nearly two-thirds of South Koreans have no interest in the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, a survey showed Friday. Gallup Korea polled 1,002 South Korean adults from Tuesday to Thursday on their thoughts on the Feb. 4-20 Winter Games in the Chinese capital. And 65 percent said they were not interested, compared with 32 percent who showed an interest in the competition. The other 3 percent declined to answer. In the same poll conducted prior to the 2018 Winter Olympics in the South Korean hos

Jan. 21, 2022

S. Korean 4-man bobsleigh team ranks season-best 10th in World Cup finale

The South Korean four-man bobsleigh team led by an Olympic medal-winning pilot had its best performance of the season in the final race before the Beijing Winter Games. Won Yun-jong led his quartet to a 10th place finish at the season-ending International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Sunday (local time), with a combined time of 2:10.28 after two runs. Won, who won a four-man bobsleigh silver at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, had hov

Jan. 17, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Surprise silver medalist from PyeongChang wants to take next step in Beijing

Of the seven medals that South Korea won in speed skating at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, none was more surprising than the out-of-the-blue silver by Cha Min-kyu in the men's 500m. Sure, he had won an odd medal here and there at other international races, but an Olympic podium finish was completely unexpected. But lost in the hoopla over that silver was just how close Cha came to winning gold. At 34.42 seconds, Cha ended up only 0.01 second back of the gold medalist, Havard Lorentzen

Jan. 17, 2022

Figure skater Cha Jun-hwan headed to 2nd straight Olympics after winning trials

Figure skater Cha Jun-hwan is bound for his second straight Winter Olympics after winning the final national team trials on Sunday. Cha handily won the second leg of the two-stage Beijing Olympic trials in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province. Cha finished with 283.31 points overall, with 185.00 points in Sunday's free skate and 98.31 points in Saturday's short program. Cha had also won the first leg of the trials in December with 239.16 points. He had 522.47 combi

Jan. 9, 2022

Beleaguered short tracker Shim Suk-hee files for injunction against ban

In a last-ditch effort to regain eligibility for the Beijing Winter Games, South Korean Olympic short track speed skating champion Shim Suk-hee has filed for a court injunction against a ban by the sport's national federation, a source said Thursday. The source, privy to the legal proceedings, said Shim asked the Seoul Eastern District Court on Monday to nullify a two-month suspension by the Korea Skating Union (KSU), which was issued on Dec. 21 last year. The court plans to hold a hearing for

Jan. 6, 2022

4 Olympic figure skating spots up for grabs in final trials Sunday

The four figure skaters to represent South Korea at the Beijing Winter Olympics will be determined in the final national team trials Sunday. The second leg of the two-day Olympic trials will open Saturday in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province. Saturday will feature short programs for the men's and women's singles, followed by free skates for both disciplines Sunday. South Korea has secured two quota places in each of the men's and women's singles. The top two sk

Jan. 6, 2022