Teen swimmer Lee Eun-ji shrugs off freak injury to end quarter-century drought in pool
Korean swimmer Lee Eun-ji celebrates after winning the bronze medal in the women's 200-meter backstroke at the Asian Games at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatic Sports Arena in Hangzhou, China, Sept. 26,. Yonhap
The last time South Korea won a women's backstroke medal in Asian Games swimming, Lee Eun-ji hadn't even been born.
It was in Bangkok in 1998 when Choi Soo-min and Shim Min-ji each grabbed bronze in the women's 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke races.
Lee came into the world eight years later, a bundle of swimming potential waiting to be tapped. Now 17, Lee ended that quarter-century medal drought Tuesday in China.
Lee claimed the bronze medal in the women's 200m backstroke at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, with a time of 2:09.75. She finished behind two Chinese swimmers, Peng Xuwei and Liu Yaxin.
When informed by reporters of ending the 25-year drought, Lee perked up and said, "This is the first time I've heard that. It's been such a long time. I've ended it, people!"
Given Lee's perpetually ebullient nature, it may be hard to tell she had just overcome a freak injury. In late August, Lee suffered frostbite after undergoing cryotherapy, at a time when she should have been building up for the Asian Games.
Incredibly, Lee returned to training after just nine days.
"I decided I couldn't do anything about what happened in the past. So I wanted to just concentrate on recovery," Lee said with a smile. "I kept working hard and I think it helped me in the end."
Lee was in fourth place at the 150m turn, 0.14 second behind Mio Narita of Japan. Lee found extra gear for the final stretch and came home in 32.62 seconds for the bronze. Narita had the final 50m split of 33.73 seconds. Lee's final spurt was even faster than that of Peng's.
"I wasn't sure, but I figured I was either fourth or fifth at the 150m point," Lee said. "But when I touched the pad, I knew I'd done it. It was such an emotional moment for me. I was so happy that all the work I'd put in paid off."
Lee's medal was the seventh swimming medal for South Korea, already one more than the country's total from the 2018 Asian Games with three more days to go.
Lee had earlier competed in the 50m backstroke, and has the 100m backstroke and relay races left.
"It's not easy to be racing so much," Lee said. "But if I can keep winning medals like this, I can handle things 10 times as tough as this." (Yonhap)