Two Decedes After Seoul Olympics

Yoon Tae-woong, who delighted the public at the opening ceremony of the Seoul Olympics as a school boy, left, is now an aspiring actor in the local theater scene. / Korea Times File

By Jonathan Sanfilippo
Staff Reporter

In one of the more memorable moments of the opening ceremony for the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, the world focused its attention on a young Korean boy named Yoon Tae-woong.

A capacity crowd gazed from the stands and cameras documented the scene, as Yoon, dressed in a white T-shirt and baseball cap, jogged across the grass infield of Olympic Stadium, while using a metal stick to push a rolling metal hoop. The youngster immediately became a symbol for the Seoul Games, as his image was etched in the minds of people throughout South Korea.

That Olympic moment has continued to affect Yoon throughout his life. After the Games, he was approached with offers to appear in commercials and advertisements, but his parents turned them down, fearing they would tarnish his national image. He grew up and attended Kyonggi University, earning a degree in physical education. He then served in the Marine Corps, when his unit was involved in a 2002 military clash between the South Korean and North Korean navies in the West Sea. He donated his hoop from the opening ceremony to an Olympic museum in 2005. Now, he's pursuing a career as a film actor. And although he's had only a few auditions and currently does not have any significant work offers, he still dreams of becoming a movie star and using his fame as part of an antiwar movement, much like his heroes Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon.

His life has been filled with ups and downs. But through it all, Yoon, who is now 26 years old, has continued to draw recognition for his Olympic performance nearly two decades ago.

''The continuous attention on me and my beginnings as an Olympic boy has been a source of great pride," Yoon said in a 2005 article by The Korea Times.

The Seoul Olympics have had a significant impact on the rest of South Korea, too. Much like they did for Yoon, those Games _ which the "Official Report Organization and Planning Vol. 1" described as ''the biggest national project ever undertaken by Korea'' _ put the country on a global stage and inspired national pride.

The Seoul Olympics were a major influence on not only the growth of sports in Korea, but on other aspects of the country as well. The Games marked the beginning of a new era in Korean history, when Korea overcame political turmoil during the decade leading up to the Olympics to establish a stable democratic government, when Korea's older traditions started mixing more and more with modern technologies and industries, when Korea transformed itself from an isolated peninsula to a prominent member of the global community, while expanding trade and boosting its economy.

''The Seoul Olympics are still considered the most successful," current Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) President Kim Jung-kil said in a translated email interview. ''With almost all countries from the world, including the U.S. and U.S.S.R., participating, the Olympics observed the Olympic Charter of being helpful in destroying the ideological dispute of racial discrimination. Through sports, the road to harmony and peace was paved."

Overcoming Political Chaos

The years leading up to the Seoul Games were filled with changes in the Korean government.

Park Chung-hee was Korea's President during the late 1970s, when the country began to consider hosting an Olympics. However, Park did not get to see the idea come to fruition, as he was assassinated on Oct. 26, 1979, just 18 days after the plan to bid for the Games was announced.

Choi Kyu-hah succeeded Park as President in December of 1979, but lost power later that month when a military coup led Major General Chun Doo-hwan took control of the government. In May of 1980, Chun declared martial law and drew resentment later that month after massacring hundreds of student protesters in Gwangju.
Having taken over as President in September of 1980, Chun was in office on Sept. 30, 1981, when it was announced that Seoul would host the 1988 Summer Games after it had won a vote by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) 52-27 against Nagoya, Japan, at a meeting in Baden-Baden, Germany. That was also the day, Yoon Tae-woong, the boy who became famous by performing with the hoop at the Olympic opening ceremony, was born.

As the Olympics approached drawing global attention to Korea, protests broke out by citizens demanding political reform, while world media closely scrutinize the country. Toward the end of 1987, Chun was forced out of power and a democratic government was established. Roh Tae-woo was eventually elected President and took office in February of 1988 to begin a five-year term that made him the head of the Korean government during the Seoul Games.

Olympic Preparation

Throughout Korea's political dilemmas, preparations for the Seoul Olympics continued.

The Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee (SLOOC) finalized a plan in December of 1983 that, according to the "Official Report Organization and Planning Vol. 1," called for the use of 34 competition sites _ 21 existing facilities and 13 that needed to be constructed _ along with 72 training sites. Expenditures for the new facilities were set at 774 billion won.

The Olympic construction included building a sports complex that occupies a 591,000-square-meter lot. The complex houses the Olympic Stadium, which served as the main venue for the Games, as well as Jamsil Baseball Stadium, Jamsil Gymnasium, Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool and Jamsil Students' Gymnasium.

Another massive building project took place with the development of Olympic Park, a 2.6 million-square-meter domain that features the Olympics' fencing gymnasium, gymnastics arena, indoor swimming pool, tennis courts and velodrome, along with educational facilities and plenty of green space.

In addition to constructing sports venues, Korea, being the host country, had to provide an Olympic Village to house athletes and officials, as well as organize Olympic ceremonies, while making sure the Games had adequate transportation, security and resources for media.

Memorable Summer

All the planning and preparation for the Olympics paid off, as the Games, which took place from Sept. 17 to Oct. 2, 1988, gave Korea a summer filled with unforgettable moments.

There was the opening ceremony that gave the world a glimpse of Korean culture by featuring a taekwondo demonstration, followed by Yoon Tae-woong's hoop performance that made him an Olympic icon.

There were athletes from capitalist and communist countries, including the United States and Soviet Union which were rivals at the time, participating together. Though North Korea, still officially at war with South Korea, boycotted the Games.

There was the 100-meter dash that's become one of the most talked-about races in history. Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson won that event in a world-record time, but was later disqualified after failing a drug test and was forced to give his gold medal to American Carl Lewis, who had finished second.

There were several great individual athletic performances. East German swimmer Kristin Otto won six gold medals. American swimmer Matt Biondi earned five golds, along with one silver and one bronze. Soviet Union gymnast Vladimir Artemov captured four golds and one silver. American sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner set world records in the 100 and 200 in addition to winning one gold and one silver in other events.

And there was South Korea having its best Olympic performance ever by placing sixth in the overall medal standings with 33 total medals and fourth in the gold medal standings with 12, putting it behind only the Soviet Union, East Germany and United States. Among Korea's top performers were Kim Soo-nyung, who captured gold medals in women's individual and team archery; the women's handball and men's archery teams, which each won gold medals; and a plethora of boxers, judo participants and wrestlers, who helped Korea win two golds in each of those sports as well as several other medals in those events.

''The Olympics contributed to Korean sports improving," Kim Jung-kil said.

In all, the Seoul Games included 159 nations, 8,391 athletes (6,197 men and 2,194 women), 237 events, 27,221 volunteers and 11,331 media (4,978 written press and 6,353 broadcasters), according to the official Web site of the Olympic Movement, www.olympic.org.

Olympic Impact

Even after the closing ceremony, the Seoul Olympics continued to impact Korea in a variety ways.

From an athletics viewpoint, the Games were a huge boost for Korean sports. After the Olympics, better training programs and improved facilities became available for Korean athletes. Professional sports leagues began to blossom, as the existing Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and Korea Professional Football League (K-League) grew, while the Korean Basketball League (KBL) and Women's Korean Basketball League (WKBL) were later founded during the 1990s. An increasing number of Korean athletes went on to become sports stars in other countries, including former Major League Baseball All-Star pitcher Park Chan-ho and World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Pak Se-ri. And on top of that, Korea has gotten to host other major international sporting events, such as the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

''Before hosting the Olympics, Korea's international sports competition was quite low. It's goals were quite humble,'' said Yoon Kang-ro, a Korean sports diplomat who has done extensive work with the KOC and IOC. ''After hosting the Olympics, the goals became much higher.''

From an economics viewpoint, the Seoul Games sparked a rapid growth in Korean businesses and income. They created work opportunities for Koreans, while earning immense amounts of money from a television contract with NBC and sponsorship from large international corporations, such as Coca-Cola, Kodak and Monum, as well as drawing tourists from throughout the world.

A research paper written by Oklahoma City University Professor of Economics Jonathan Willner titled ''1988 Korean Olympics and Macro Effects: What's there?'' said that from 1982 to 1988, the production resulting from Seoul Olympics projects amounted to 1,846.2 billion won, while 336,000 new jobs were created in Korea during that same period.

Add in the effects the Games had in promoting international commerce with Korea after they took place, and the Olympics stand as a significant factor in the country's economic development over the past three decades. During that time, new businesses, buildings and technologies have poured into Korea, giving it the third largest economy in Asia and 12th largest in the world. According to a chart compiled on the International Monetary Fund's Web site, www.imf.org, Korea's gross domestic product (GDP) in constant prices grew from an estimated 158,259.7 billion won in 1982 to 759,234.4 billion won in 2006.

''The Olympics helped economic development and improvement,'' Kim Jung-kil said

From a social viewpoint, the Olympics helped connect Korea with other areas of the world. Since the Games, not only have international businesses and global trade increased in Korea, but the country also has become the home of more foreigners, while more Koreans have taken an interest in learning English or studying in other countries.

The Olympics also affected other aspects of Korean culture, such as influencing art and building national pride _ aspects that are difficult to measure.

''Through the Olympics, people from all over the world could see Korean culture and tradition, people's competence and potential, which boosted Koreans' pride," Kim said.

Another Asian Olympics

For the first time since the Seoul Games, the Olympics will return to Asia next year when Beijing hosts the 2008 Summer Games.

As the Seoul Games were able to boost Korea's image and economy, the Chinese government is hoping the Beijing Games will do the same for China.

Surrounded by human rights controversies stemming from its occupancy of Tibet and a massacre of protesters in Tianamen Square in 1989, China is in the process of building modern facilities, tearing down slums and cleaning Beijing's polluted environment in an effort to impress the rest or world. The construction projects include the development of more than 30 sports venues as well as highways, subways and housing in preparation to hold the Games next August.

''China has to be exposed to the world at the Beijing Olympics," Kim Jung-kil said. ''People and media from throughout the world will visit the country, which will be a test for the world to evaluate China's national policies. Through the Olympics, China will be closer to an international society. Depending on whether the Olympics will be successful or not, it will be a chance to change China.''

There's even a possibility of bringing another Olympics to Korea. The Gangwon Province resort town of PyeongChang made bids to host the Winter Games in 2010 and 2014, and, despite failing in those attempts, has announced it will place another bid for 2018. Plus, Busan Mayor Hur Nam-sik has said his city will bid for the 2020 Summer Games.

It could be a chance for Korea to have more Olympic triumphs or gain more international recognition, or maybe even an opportunity for a Korean child to capture the attention of the word, like Yoon Tae-woong did with his hoop performance in Seoul nearly two decades ago.

Korea Times Staff Reporters Kim Tong-hyung and Kang Seung-woo contributed to this report.

jonsanfilippo@gmail.com