By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
The Korean two-man bobsleigh team will be going to the Vancouver Olympics after all, the International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation confirmed Monday.
The Korean national team was ranked 19th in the FIBT two-man bobsleigh rankings, narrowly missing out on the guaranteed berths for the top 17.
However, Romania, Italy and Austria will only send one of their quota of two, allowing Korea to grab one of the three extra spots.
Those nations only had one team in the top 50 and thus forfeited their second spots.
"It is even more of an advantage for us to appear in both the four-man and two-man events because we will get more practice time (in Vancouver)," Kang Kang-bae, a Korean team athlete, coach and pilot, told Yonhap.
Japan, ranked 18th, also grabbed one of the extra berths.
"It's the first time that both Korea and Japan will advance together. It's also the first time Korea has advanced to the Olympics in both the two-man and the four-man," Kang said.
"It will be hard for us to win a medal, but we will try to be ahead of Japan in Vancouver.
"Even though Japan is our archival, I think the rivalry between us benefits both teams."
The national team will return to Korea on Wednesday after finishing the FIBT European Cup. They will rest before departing for Salt Lake City in the United States on Jan. 26 to prepare for the Olympics.