Athletes Training from Dawn to Dusk for 2008 Olympics

At around 10 a.m., athletes in training suits started to come out from their accommodations heading toward their training camp when I went to the Fencing Stadium on the second floor of Gaeseongwan.

Some 36 male and female national athletes warmed up their bodies on mattresses. Soon they sharply wielded their epees. Although it was practice, the ends of their swords were powerful and their steps were brisk.

South Korea is hoping to earn two medals in the upcoming Olympic Games.

Lee Uk-jae, director of the National Fencing Team, said, “Our first priority is to gain tickets for the Olympic Games as many as possible through good performances in various world competitions, including the Grand Prix and the World Cup, which will be held from January to March this year.”

I then moved to a weight-training center (Wolgyegwan) where wrestlers were in the midst of weight training. Beads of sweat flowed from their foreheads as they lifted weights. With low but heavy breath, athletes constantly lifted up and down weights over 100kg.

Wrestling is what historically nets South Korea lots of medals. Since the Montreal Olympics in 1976 when Yang Jeong-mo won the first-ever Korean gold in wrestling, South Korea has gained 10 gold, 12 silver, 11 bronze medals in total until the Athens Olympic in 2004. The country also boasts seven consecutive Olympic gold medals. The objective for the Beijing Olympic is to win two gold medals.

Jeong Ji-hyeon, a gold-medal winner in 60kg Greco-Roman at the 2004 Athens Olympics, said, “It is a bit regrettable that the public pays attention to wrestling only when the Olympics approaches. Yet I will endeavor to achieve the national record of winning eight consecutive gold medals.”