Football legend joins PyeongChang Olympics torchbearers

Torchbearers for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics pose with the Olympic torch models during a ceremony at Seoul Plaza Hotel, Wednesday. From left are 1996 Olympics silver medalist marathoner Lee Bong-ju, signer Sean, former national men’s football team head coach Cha Bum-kun, singer Jeong Jin-woon, photographer Cho Sei-hon and the 2016 Olympics gold medalist fencer Park Sang-young. / Yonhap

Cha Bum-kun, Lee Bong-ju join torch relay

By Baek Byung-yeul

Torchbearers for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics held a ceremony Wednesday wishing for the success of Korea’s first-ever Winter Olympics.

Hosted by Coca-Cola, partner for the PyeongChang Olympics torch relay, the ceremony featured seven bearers known as “Dream Mentors” for youths. They are Korean football legends Cha Bum-kun and his son Du-ri, Rio Olympics fencing champion Park Sang-young, 1996 Atlanta Olympics silver medalist marathon hero Lee Bong-ju, singers Sean and Jeong Jin-woon and photographer Cho Sei-hon.

The Olympic torch will be first lit in Olympia, Greece, on Oct. 24, and will be handed over to a PyeongChang delegation in Athens on Oct. 31. The torch will arrive in Korea on Nov. 1 and begin a 2,018-kilometer-long tour through 18 cities and counties in Gangwon Province and 17 other cities around the country. The relay will have 7,500 runners, representing 75 million people on the Korean Peninsula.

The marathoner Lee said he also participated in the torch relay for the 1988 Seoul Olympics as a high school student. "After carrying the torch that year, I was able to nurture my dream of becoming a marathon runner," Lee said during the ceremony at Seoul Plaza Hotel. Lee will run with Yang Jun-hwan, a local student who’s dreaming of becoming a physical education teacher.

The elder Cha, who coached the men’s national football team at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, said he was “thrilled to join the torch relay for Korea’s first-ever Winter Olympics.”

He added, “I also hope these young athletes, who are little stars now, will grow into big shining stars in the future. Hopefully, this torch relay will take them closer to their dreams."