(81) 2 Speed Skaters Write New History in Koreas Winter Sports

By Janet Shin

People were excited and touched, happy and sad while watching the Olympic Games, due in large part to the challenges and stories of the athletes' lives. The 2010 Winter Games have ended, leaving people with touching stories about the competitors ― whether they reached the podium or not.

Korea received a lot of praise for its achievements in this Winter Olympics, especially in speed skating. It is a truly meaningful development because Korea had won medals mostly in short track races in past winter Games, but this time around it won in long track and figure skating as well, emerging as a strong winter sports country.

Mo Tae-bum and Lee Sang-hwa won golds in the men's and women's 500 meters speed skating, respectively, the first time for athletes from the same country to win both the men's and women's sprint.

Lee Seung-hoon won the gold medal in the 10,000 meters, giving the fifth gold medal to his country after winning silver medal in the 1,000 meter event. It was a lucky medal because it was given to Lee after world record holder Sven Kramer of the Netherlands was disqualified for straying out of his lane. The 21-year-old Lee became the first Asian to win the long distance race at the Olympics.

Behind this glory, Lee had experienced agony since he was dropped from the national short track players list ahead of the 2006 Torino Olympics. Having gone through frustration, he switched to speed skating last year.

``I had prepared a lot for this race and I thought my performance was good enough for a spot on the podium but not the gold medal. I did not think it would give me a gold medal. Sven is definitely one of the greatest skaters," Lee said.

Meanwhile, when Mo was asked to describe himself after he won gold, he said: ``I'm a person who loves dangerous stuff... I like taking thrills. I'm interested in cars, motorcycles, scary things and taking dares."

After daring to be great on the Olympic stage, Mo said more surprises could be in the offing.

We can notice some differences between these two athletes when it comes to their saju.

Lee Seung-hoon was born Mar. 6, 1988 and his saju is as below.

Mo Tae-bum was born Feb. 15, 1989.

Look at their saju, referring to the five elements circulation.

The day master (day stem) represents the person, so Lee can be described as Gyeong metal, and Mo as Byeong fire. Both are the yang energy, suggesting one of the strongest elements among five. Byeong denotes strong and splendid power, while Gyeong denotes strong but resolute power.

On top of that, we also can notice that Lee has solid three elements with stems taking complete roots in each branch. The energy comes from earth (the knowledge star) for gyeong metal and for wood, which is the money star for metal energy. The money star also denotes the outcome of certain trials.

Although there is a disconnection in the wood element with the other two, Myo wood combines with Jin earth to make a strong wood energy combination.

According to his saju, he is a thoughtful but a results-oriented athlete with strength hidden inside.

Now let's look at Mo's saju.

The domineering energy is fire (red) with the supporting wood energy in the month branch (In wood). Then the energy flows to Gi earth by the 5 elements generation relationship. (wood ' fire ' earth)

We don't see any water energy that would restrain the strong fire. This may also be explained that nothing can stop his passion, motivation and self-confidence. He pushes himself to go ahead not for people's recognition but for his own achievement.

Whatever driving power it was, two young men achieved great records in Korean athletic history. One has a determined inner energy to win and the other has explosive outer energy to throw himself into competitions.

The writer is the president of the Heavenly Garden, a saju research center in Korea. She is the author of "Learning Four Pillars." She offers saju courses to all who are interested. For more information, visit her Web site (https://blog.naver.com/janet_shin) or email janetshin@hotmail.com.