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Kim Hyo-jung won the U.S. short track speed skating championships in Marquette, Michigan, and will thus be representing the U.S. in the next Olympics. The 17-year old¡¯s world cup ranking for this season was fourth. Born in Seoul in 1988, Kim Hyo-jung is legally an American citizen
The short track star thanks the sport for giving her back her health. Being sickly in childhood, it was common for her to spend months out of the year in hospital. But in her fourth year of elementary school she took up skating, and her condition grew much better.
¡°I never wanted to make her into a national athlete in Korea because of the atmosphere there, where people are so fixated on results,¡± her mother Moon Kyeong-hee says.
Kim went to the U.S. in the beginning of 2004 to practice short track and widen her horizons by studying. Soon after she arrived, she made a name for herself in short track speed skating and joined a training camp in Colorado Springs. Kim, who is in 10th grade at a local Christian high school, attends regular training sessions with male athletes, including Apolo Anton Ohno. Since she is the youngest on the national team, her older friend and roommate Allison Baver (25) takes care of Kim. ¡°Allison always brings me along when she goes on dates with her boyfriend, Ohno, for shopping or to go to Korean restaurants.¡± Ohno remembers the names of Korean food like Dolsot bibimbap, Yukgaejang and Mandoguk and orders them in Korean, Kim says.
¡°I feel bad because there some people who think I came to America because I failed to become a national athlete in Korea,¡± says Kim, a devout Christian. ¡°But more than my desire for an Olympic medal, I¡¯m really just doing it to devote myself to the sport.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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