Korea defends 2nd place at Asiad, beating Japan

By Yoon Chul

South Korea, once more, defended its second place title against Japan following China, in the 16-day Guangzhou Asian Games, Saturday.

With marathoner Ji Young-jun’s final gold medal, Korea collected 76 gold, 65 silver, and 91 bronze medals, beating archrival Japan for four consecutive Asian Games. Japan won 48 gold, 74 silver, and 94 bronze medals.

All the Korean athletes and support staff made a huge effort that was inspiring for domestic fans, especially the return of swimming icon, Park Tae-hwan who pleased the entire peninsula by snatching three gold, one silver, and two bronze medals.

Park was hopeful as a candidate to win the Most Valuable Player (MVP) title, again in the Asian Games but failed to win the honor.

Dubbed “Marine boy,” Park stumbled after grabbing a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The Korean swimmer collapsed in the World Championships held in Rome in July, last year.

But the 21-year-old let the world know of his comeback and he overwhelmed two world-class Chinese swimmers Sun Yang and Zhang Lin in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle.

A new Asian record in the 200-meter freestyle was a notable feat for Park.

“I trained very much for the entire past year in preparing for the Asian Games,” Park said. “I could stand on this stage due to the many staff members standing next to me who provided great aid and support. I want to attribute the glory to all these people,” added Park.

Among the 42 sports, shooting, fencing, bowling and golf were the ones the Korean athletes really excelled in, with archery helping to exceed the country’s goal — 65 gold medals.

Korean shooters surprised the domestic fans as well as the Asiad winning 13 of the 40 gold medals — the most ever in one sport in the Asian Games, along with eight silvers. So far the boxers and taekwondo athletes had collected the most in one sport with 12 gold medals in 1986 and 2002.

Fencers and bowlers also proved Korea’s prowess in Asia.

Korean swords surely dominated at the Guangda Gymnasium poking contenders for seven gold, two silver, and five bronze medals in 10 events. In short, Koreans advanced to the finals in nine of the 10 events.

Korean golfers proved again that they are the best golfers in Asia sweeping all four gold medals, again and the bowlers made the nation proud with eight gold, five silver and two bronze medals.

Meanwhile Korean martial arts athletes such as wrestlers and boxers collapsed and taekwondo was no longer the confident gold mine for medals.

Previously Korean wrestlers grabbed many medals in the Asiad and the Olympics, but their slump continued for about 10 years and recently they didn’t get a single gold medal. Instead they earned three silvers and six bronze medals.

The performance in boxing was even worse, with athletes snatching only two bronze medals.

In Guangzhou, taekwondo proved that the event is getting world-wide attention but Korean taekwondo athletes also appeared unable to dominate any more.

Korea sent 12 athletes in 16 events expecting many gold medals but they collected only four. There was word in Korea that becoming part of the national team is much harder than winning a gold medal in the international events in taekwondo field but this idea has become buried deep in the valley.

In the ball sports many different athletes had mixed emotion.

Korean baseballers including Major Leaguer Choo Shin-soo of the Cleveland Indians surely dominated the Aoti Baseball Field for the gold but footballers, who dragged most of the attention, failed to regain the gold medal for the first time in 24 years.

The contrasting results alter the fate of the two overseas athletes — Choo and Park Chu-young of AS Monaco (football) — will go different ways due to the conscription law in Korea.

Choo, who is eligible for arbitration for the first time, can extend his life as a Major League player without break and get the chance to hit the jackpot but as Park failed to get the exemption card, he has to either do his military service for about two years or wait another four years to play in the Asian Games again.

And it will be big obstacle for Park to deal with the professional team in Europe.

Korean men’s and women’s basketball teams and the women’s volleyball team reached the final and all of them had to compete against China. The host team is strong but the result is pretty hard to accept because they were denied the gold not to superior Chinese talent but unfair calls by referees.

In handball, the men’s team, which were deprived the gold due to unfairness in the calls in Doha in 2006, regained the gold but the women’s team failed to defend their title, surprisingly upset by Japan in the semifinals.

The next Asian Games will be held in Incheon, South Korea.

As China hosted a successful Asian Games by investing a great deal of money (about $17 billion) with 590,000 volunteers, the next host city for 2014, Incheon is likely to have a big burden on their shoulders.

“For the successful hosting of the Asian Games, we need to focus to prepare for a high-quality Asian Games rather than using the strategy of massive investment,” Korean Chef de Mission, Lee Kee-heung said.

yc@koreatimes.co.kr