Women in the Sochi Olympics

Post by 리플레이.

Today I am going to deviate from the world of K-pop and talk about the Olympics. If you watched Yuna Kim's performance this morning, it reminded you of 4 years ago as it did for me. 4 years ago, I was in my apartment holding my breath as I watched with my brother. This time around, I was watching with a mix of Korean, Japanese, and American friends. 

There are a lot of things you can write about this recent Olympics, but I'm going to just going to relay a couple of thoughts: 

The role of Korean women in the Sochi Olympics: 

• Yuna Kim's attempt to win gold medal, do a two-peat gold, which has not been achieved since 1988. This is significant for a number of reasons: following Yuna's performance in Vancouver, there were many critics who said it was unachievable. She also moved in and out of injury, and it wasn't certain whether or not she would be able to compete. But as we reached the Sochi Olympics, Yuna Kim became the person to beat. After today's short skate, Yuna stands in 1st place. Unfortunately for Mao Asada, Yuna's Japanese rival, fell during her short skate today and landed behind her fellow Japanese competitors.
  
• Lee Sang Hwa's win. I thought this article about her was a great piece. Lee Sang Hwa became the person to beat in speed skating, people were competing for the other medals. What an achievement. I watched a Healing Camp interview of her recently, and she explained that both her and her brother trained in speed skating when she was younger. Due to financial constraints, however, her parents had to choose between their two children and decided that Sang Hwa and not her brother should continue. What a difficult choice for a parent to make. But what great achievement from her and her family. When Sang Hwa won her first gold, she texted her brother and said "brother (oppa) this gold is yours."
  
• The women in the short track competition. If you haven't seen this video already, I would highly recommend seeing this one. It was a great competition to watch, and it was so intense till the very last lap. It was great to see how aggressive and competitive each of the countries were.
  
• Additionally, for the first time, a Korean women's bobsled team competed. The results were by no means close to medal worthy, but definitely worth mentioning. In both competitions, the women placed second to last. Regardless of the actual placing, I thought it would be important to laud the competitors for putting themselves out there. According to a brief news snippet, this was a great way to start preparations for the 2018 upcoming Olympics, which are to be held in Korea.

That's it for now, I will try to write about the men in the Olympics as well. And enjoy the remaining days of the Olympics!