A young generation of Korean athletes is conquering the world of swimming, speed skating, fencing and other sports once regarded as hopeless because Koreans were shorter than their Western competitors. But Park Tae-hwan (18) beat Australia¡¯s Grant Hackett in the 400 m freestyle last Tuesday in Japan¡¯s International Swimming Competition, while Jeong Seul-gi (19) became the first female Korean swimmer to win a gold medal at the Universiade a few days ago. Yoo Hyo-suk (21) beat Columbia and New Zealand to grab gold in the World Championship in speed roller skating, known to be better suited to long-legged athletes. Figure skater Kim Yu-na, (17), fencer Nam Hyeon-hi (26) and speed skater Lee Gyu-hyeok (290 have all made to the top in what had been Western-dominated events.
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Left: Park Tae-hwan just before the 1500 m freestyle swimming event at the World Swimming Championships in Melbourne, Australia on July 31. Figure skater Kim Yu-na at the Hyundai Card 2006 Superstars on Ice at Mokdong Ice Rink on June 17, 2006. /Yonhap
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¡ß Growing athletes
Experts say physical changes played a key role in producing series of young champions. While Park Tae-hwan is only 3.21 cm taller than the average 178.29 cm of Korean national swimmers since 1998, his shoulder width is 46 cm, a noticeable 6.32 cm wider. His arms fully stretched measure 190 cm, about 5 cm longer than the average. Kim Yu-na is also quite differently built than previous female athletes. ¡°Kim has very long body line coming from her long arms, which enables her to perform in a very graceful manner,¡± said Korea Skating Union director Lim Hye-gyeong. ¡°Even foreign pundits acclaim her perfect figure.¡±
Lee Gyu-heyok, the 29-year-old Korean speed skating hero who conquered this year¡¯s World Sprint Speed Skating, is a modest 174 cm tall, but boasts 90.6 cm legs, significantly longer than the average Korean of his height. Nam Hyeon-hi (26) also has relatively long arms (66.7 cm) and legs (79.3 cm) for her figure, helping her win this year¡¯s fleuret. Lee Ju-hyeong, the 34-year-old silver and bronze medalist in parallel and horizontal bars, also has markedly long arms and fingers. ¡°As more and more Korean athletes have long arms and legs, they can now master a greater variety of techniques while building up necessary muscles with more ease. This is the main driving engine behind their winning spree,¡± said Prof. Gang Sang-jo of Korea National Sports University.
¡ß A change in proportion
It¡¯s not just athletes: the average Korean figure has changed as well. According to the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards ¡°Size Korea 2004¡± report, the average male leg was 79.9 cm long in 2004, 4.9 cm longer than in 1979. Female legs have become 2.7 cm longer in the same period. Perfect proportion is imagined as something like a height of eight heads. The height of Korean males was 5.9 heads in the Koguryo era, 6.4 in the Chosun period, 6.8 in 1979, and 7.4 in 2004: in other words, physical changes in the last 25 years were more dramatic than for the previous millennium. For this rapid transformation, many point to a changing diet. Prof. Kim Myeong from the department of physical development at Ehwa Women¡¯s University said, ¡°Proteins and calcium in meat are essential nutrients for physical development, and as more Koreans eat more meat, they are developing longer arms and legs.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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