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The president of the Korea Skating Union, Park Sung-in, on Thursday apologized for the Korean team, which has split into two warring factions. At a press conference at the Olympic Parktel in Songpa-gu, Seoul, Park took ¡°full responsibility¡± for his failure ¡°to live up all your expectations¡± and for the disappointment caused to the Korean people.
He vowed to address the ¡°fundamental problem¡± presented by the composition of the national team in a transparent and principled manner according to regulations ¡°to restore the trust of the Korean people.¡± Park also promised broad reforms for the sake of the national prestige.
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(From left) Song Suk-woo, Lee Ho-suk, Oh Se-jong, Ahn Hyun-soo and Seo Ho-jin wave on the podium after winning a gold medal in the men¡¯s 5,000 m short-track speed skating relay at the Turin Winter Olympics in February.
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The record of the Korean short-track speed skating team is dazzling. Of the eight gold medals in short-track skating at the Turin Winter Olympics, Korea took six, and in the World Short Track Championship that finished on Monday, Korean athletes occupied the top overall positions in both the men's and women's competition. No fewer than 29 medals -- 17 gold, seven silver, five bronze - of 31 that Korea has won in winter Olympics have been on the short track. By rights, it looked as if Korean short-track skaters were a united, unstoppable juggernaut.
Far from it. There was factional strife dividing athletes and coaches. One faction includes Ahn Hyun-soo, a student at Korean National Sport University, who is being trained by Park Se-woo, a KNSU graduate and coach of the women¡¯s team who also coaches women athletes from the university. The other faction, however, also includes women skaters including Byun Chun-sa and Jin Sun-yu who are trained by Song Jae-keun, a Dankook University graduate and coach of the men¡¯s team.
When the athletes came home from the Minneapolis championships on Tuesday, Ahn Ki-won, Ahn Hyun-soo¡¯s father, hit the vice president of the Korea Skating Union during an argument at Incheon International Airport. Ahn said his son, who took the championship in individual combined exercises for the fourth straight time, called him to say the coach of men¡¯s team and other athletes, colluded to block him in the 1,000 m and 3,000 m races.¡± Ahn junior still captured the lead in the 1,000 m and 1,500 m races and finished top overall. But in the 3,000 m race, he collided with Lee Ho-suk while trying to overtake him and was later disqualified. Ahn, a sophomore at KNSU, and Lee, a freshman at Kyunghee University, were once close enough to share a room at the athletic village last year. Now they have become so estranged that they no longer talk.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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