South Korean companies are providing support to all 13 winter sporting events that the country’s athletes will compete in at the upcoming Sochi Olympic Games, a business federation said Monday.

According to the Federation of Korean Industries, the lobbying group for conglomerates, local companies have been providing direct and indirect assistance to athletes and sports federations to help the country become a power in winter sports.

“Companies for the past few years have been giving support to federations, sponsoring hopefuls and even setting up various winter sports teams to help build up related infrastructure in the country,” the FKI said.

South Korea had done relatively well in the Winter Olympics between 1992 and 2006, but all of its gold medals came from the short skate competition. Only in the 2010 Games did South Koreans become Olympic champions in speed skating and women’s figure skating.

The business federation said Samsung Group has particularly helped bolster South Korea’s stature on the ice rink.

The country’s largest family-run conglomerate has consistently supported speed skating and short track events, providing expenses for athletes to compete in overseas games and inviting foreign coaches for training. (Yonhap)