Life of XC Skier in Korea Not Easy
The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics are less than two weeks away. Every Tuesday and Saturday until the Winter Olympics begin, The Korea Times will point the spotlight at Korea’s Winter Olympians. Today, in Part 6, the Korea Times speaks to the cross country skiers.
By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
Among the 46 South Korean athletes who will be competing at the Winter Olympic Games next month, perhaps the most overlooked will be the cross country skiers. Kim Yu-na needs no introduction to anyone, sports fans know the short trackers by name, a hit film introduced the ski jumpers to the nation and even long track speed skating and bobsleigh are at least on the radar in the sporting media.
But Lee Chae-won and Lee Jun-gil are virtual unknowns in Korea. While neither is expected to come close to challenging for a medal, they are still among the nation's best winter sports athletes.
"It's true, we aren't close to the medals," Lee Chae-won told The Korea Times. "But we will do our best."
Lee, who started cross country skiing in middle school, has been Korea's top female in the sport for 10 years. She recalls initially getting into the sport by accident. "When I joined the ski team in middle school, I thought I would be downhill skiing," she said.
Vancouver will be her third, and according to Lee, final Olympic Games.
"I am not tall like Westerners, so I have struggled to keep up. And as the years have gone by, I've felt a lack of stamina. I think this is the last Olympics for me."
Lee Jun-gil, meanwhile, will be competing at the Olympics for the first time, though he could have easily made his debut at the Games four years ago in Italy.
"I could have gone to Turin in 2006 but I went for my military service," the 24-year-old said. "The reason I entered the military at that time is because I didn't want to ski anymore.
"I felt it was too hard and I just wanted to quit. But I spent a lot of time thinking about it while in the military and I realized that the only thing I'm good at is cross country. I made a comeback after I left the army."
Lee also got into cross country skiing under unusual circumstances. He had no choice but to join the ski club in elementary school.
"My school was very small ― there were only seven students in the whole school. It was located in an area that gets heavy snowfall each winter. So every student had to join the ski club. That's why I started," he explained.
Like many other Korean winter sports athletes, Lee and Lee don't enjoy the same advantages as some of their competition. Most other national teams have staff that makes sure the wax on their skis is perfect for the snow conditions at the time.
"We do that ourselves while the others are doing their warm ups. In short, we warm up by waxing our skis," Jun-gil said.
They also lack adequate coaching. Their current coach is not up to speed on the latest advanced methods of training.
"As we still train using the old style, we also need to learn some more advanced techniques," Lee Chae-won said.
This winter, as they prepared for the Olympics, they had no proper course to practice on until Jan. 1.
"The cross country venue is located at Alpensia, but they didn't prepare a course until Jan. 1. This is because there is no one else to cross country ski there except us. So they couldn't make money on a cross country venue," Jun-gil said.
"So we did our training at the bottom of the downhill slopes," said Chae-won, "And in order to be safe ― to stay out of the way of the downhill skiers ― we trained early in the morning. It was really cold."
Lee Chae-won's will compete in the 5km classic and the 2 x 7.5km mass start pursuit. She was 62nd in the 10km classic and 57th in the 2 x 7.5km mass start pursuit four years ago in Turin. She was recently fourth at the Far East Cup in Japan in the 5km.
Lee Jun-gil will be competing in the 10km classic and the 2 x 7.5 mass start pursuit. He finished 94th at a World Cup race in the 15km classic in Finland in November.
Jun-gil said that in cross country skiing, regretfully, size really matters.
"In cross country skiing, size of build really has an effect. We are quite small compared to the Western athletes," Chae-won. "It is really hard to overcome. And the gap between us and the world is widening, not getting smaller. We sometimes feel frustrated more often than we feel we've achieved something."
"But we will do our best," they both said.
Lee Chae-won said once she retires, she will try to make efforts to improve the state of cross country skiing in Korea.
"If I have the chance, I will move abroad to study so as to improve the sport here. I will learn advanced techniques and share them with the country's skiers."