By Jung Min-ho
The Olympics provide competition for the world’s finest athletes but it is also about winning personal battles. This strikes true for Korean coaches at the 2012 London Games as they are competing against each other on different teams.
Different nations have an edge in different sports. Jamaica is known for its sprinters while many stellar fencers come from Italy. When it comes to archery and taekwondo, many would without hesitation say Korea is at the top. However, at these Summer Games, Team Korea has been challenged more than ever before as other nations became much stronger thanks to Korean coaches’ instruction.
In the men’s team archery event on Sunday, Team Korea had to swallow its pride when it failed to claim a fourth-consecutive Olympic gold medal after losing to the United States, led by Korean coach Lee Ki-sik. Lee trained Team Korea for many years until he became a coach for the Australian squad and helped Simon Fairweather top the Olympic podium at the 2000 Sydney Games. Since 2006, Lee has been in charge of Team USA which shattered the Korean archers’ dream in their semifinal.
“Coach Lee came in and totally reconstructed what Team USA did,” Brady Ellison of the U.S. men’s archery team said in a media interview. “It took us a while to get our heads around what he was doing, but in the last three and four years all the people on this team have been his students.”
The USA making the final led to another encounter between two Korean coaches because Suk Dong-eun currently leads the Italian team. The three national squads, all instructed by Korean coaches swept the medals with Italy taking home the gold.
The emergence of Korean coaches has been seen in other sports as well. In Sunday’s women’s hockey preliminary at the Riverbank Arena, Korea lost to China 4-0. The improvement of the Chinese team is attributed to Korean coaches. Former Korea hockey coach Kim Sang-ryul, who led his home country to silver at the 2004 Athens Games currently heads the Chinese squad. Under another Korean head coach, Kim Chang-baek, China won the nation’s first silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“Even though I’m Korean, I am a coach of the Chinese team now,” Kim said. “I really hope Korean team does well, but I can’t let my team lose.”
The Korean taekwondo team, which swept four titles at the Beijing Games, is expected to face American competitors, led by Korean head coach Kim Woo-sup, from Aug. 9. Team USA is anticipated to be one of the biggest challenges for Korea along with China in the sport. Since it became a full medal competition in Sydney, the U.S. now ranks third on the total taekwondo medal standings with two golds, two silvers and two bronzes. Korea is first with nine golds, one silver and two bronzes.