Sports University Students Get 5 Medals in Vancouver
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
What do three Vancouver Olympic gold medal-winning speed skaters ― Lee Seung-hoon, Mo Tae-bum and Lee Sang-hwa ― have in common?
They all attend the Korea National Sport University (KNSU), an elite sports college.
Then, what is the secret of their success?
According to school President Kim Jong-wook, their golden performance is attributable to their "insatiable hunger" to win on the back of his school's program to cultivate world class athletes.
In its history, the university located in Seoul has produced twenty-eight gold, twenty-eight silver and twenty bronze medal winners in Olympic sports.
In Vancouver alone, students from the university won three gold and two silver medals, an achievement that betters France ― ranked 10th in the medal count ― in the number of gold medals.
"I was surprised to see our students doing such a great job in the Olympics," Kim said in an interview with The Korea Times at the school campus in Songpa-gu, southern Seoul.
"We initially expected one silver and one bronze medal. But the successes went far beyond our expectations."
Hours after the interview, Lee Seung-hoon, a junior at the school, won a surprising gold in the men's 10,000-meter speed skating.
This was also just days after two other junior students - Mo and Lee Sang-hwa - added a new chapter to Korea's speed skating history by winning two gold medals in the men's and women's 500-meters speed skating.
For that reason, his endeavor to answer questions in a calm manner was sporadically disrupted by congratulatory calls from professors, government officials and the head of the national team in Vancouver.
He said he felt sorry for the interruptions but couldn't conceal his heightened state of emotion.
Physical strength, endurance and tailor-made training programs are a prerequisite, as they have been for great performances at any international competitions, he said. And the key secret behind KNSU students' outstanding performances is the "spirit" that's shared among its 3,500 faculty members and students.
"We are hungry to win," stressed Kim, who chairs the nation's only state-funded sports university.
"It drives students to endure tough training with no holds barred and consequently stand at the top of the podium. This is sort of the time-honored value we have shared. In other words, it's sort of a can-do spirit."
The former national canoe team coach said KNSU is not a college established to harbor athletes for domestic or B-list competitions.
"The college was basically established to find talented youngsters and bring them up as literarily 'elite' athletes," he said. "We always aim at international competitions and train students to outperform top-level athletes at home and abroad."