Yun proud of home fans

Yun Sung-bin of Korea, center, who won the gold medal in the men’s skeleton, poses with his medal at the medal ceremony held at the PyeongChang Medal Plaza, Friday. Yun is flanked by silver medal-winning Russian athlete Nikita Tregubov, left, and the U.K.’s Dom Parsons. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

By Baek Byung-yeul

Yun Sung-bin, who finished first in the men’s skeleton race of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Friday, was officially awarded his gold medal.

During the victory ceremony at the PyeongChang Medal Plaza, Yun was awarded the gold medal from Ryu Seung-min, Korea’s sole International Olympic Committee (IOC) member.

Yun became the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic medal in skeleton. The 23-year-old clocked a combined time of 3 minutes and 20.55 seconds after four heats. Yun was followed by Russia’s Nikita Tregubov (3:22:18) and the U.K.’s Dom Parsons (3:22.20).

After finishing first in the event, Yun bowed down to kiss the track and expressed his gratitude to the home crowd.

“Getting a gold medal in any Olympics is good but getting the gold here in my home country is a very great honor, much bigger than that,” Yun said.

Yun also paid homage to two-time Olympic silver medalist Martins Dukurs of Latvia who finished fourth.

“Martins Dukurs has always been a legend for me,” Yun said. “I have always striven to be as good as him and he will always be my hero. He is a legend to the sport of skeleton and I think that I still have a lot of things I can learn from him.”

At the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, medal winners are recognized at the venue right after completing their competitions. At the so-called “venue ceremony,” medal winners are given a small-sized “Soohorang,” a PyeongChang Olympic mascot wearing an “uhsahwa,” a paper flower bouquet that the king bestowed upon a man when he passed the state exam during the Joseon Kingdom period (1392-1910). The winning athletes will also receive wooden sculptures engraved with “Hangeul,” the Korean alphabet, against the mountainous scenery of PyeongChang.

The winners are recognized again with the real gold, silver and bronze medals during the victory ceremony at the medal plaza in PyeongChang in the evening or the day after the competition.

Following his gold medal winning performance, Yun received congratulatory messages from people of all walks of life including President Moon Jae-in.

The president sent a message to Yun saying he gave the best present to the Korean people on the occasion of Seollal or Lunar New Year Day.

“Yun showed us that those who work hard and challenge themselves in a new field can also become the world’s best,” Moon said in his congratulatory message. “It gives us courage and confidence.”

Moon added that he wishes Yun will lead Korea to become a sledding sports powerhouse. “Sledding will be a much more enjoyable activity because of Yun,” he said. “Skeleton king Yun Sung-bin, you’ve done great.”