(Olympics) S. Korea looking after short trackers' emotional, physical wellbeing following chaotic night

▲ Hwang Dae-heon of South Korea reacts to being disqualified in the semifinals of the men's 1,000m short track speed skating event at the Beijing Winter Olympics at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 7, 2022. (Yonhap)

▲ Lee June-seo of South Korea reacts after the semifinals of the men's 1,000m short track speed skating event at the Beijing Winter Olympics at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 7, 2022. (Yonhap)

▲ Lee So-hee, a coach on the South Korean women's national short track speed skating team, speaks at a press conference at the Main Media Centre in Beijing on Feb. 8, 2022. (Yonhap)

▲ Yoon Hong-geun, head of the South Korean athletic mission to Beijing 2022, speaks at a press conference at the Main Media Centre in Beijing on Feb. 8, 2022. (Yonhap)

(Olympics) short track team-support

(Olympics) S. Korea looking after short trackers' emotional, physical wellbeing following chaotic night

By Yoo Jee-ho

BEIJING, Feb. 8 (Yonhap) -- With their medal hopes ruined after unexpected falls, questionable refereeing and, in the case of one athlete, an injury, the South Korean short track speed skating team in Beijing is a mess.

Team officials said Tuesday they're prepared to offer any type of support to ensure the emotional and physical wellbeing of their athletes.

Yoon Hong-geun, head of the South Korean mission to Beijing 2022, held a press conference on Tuesday in light of two South Korean short trackers' disqualification from their races the previous night.

And Yoon opened the proceedings by apologizing to fans for failing to protect the national team athletes. While South Korea plans to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the top sports tribunal, Yoon said it is even more important to heal his athletes' wounds.

"There are a lot of Olympics left for our athletes," Yoon said. "We should all give them our unwavering support so that their blood, sweat and tears shed over the years will not go to waste."

Lost in the hoopla of disqualifications for Hwang Dae-heon and Lee June-seo in the men's 1,000m was the abrupt fall that Choi Min-jeong took in the quarterfinals of the women's 500m.

Choi, a double gold medalist from 2018, slipped and fell without contact at Capital Indoor Stadium, where ice quality had been in question since before the start of the Olympics.

Lee So-hee, coach of the women's team who also attended the press conference, said Choi is trying to pick herself back up.

"She has just completed her first (individual) race here," Lee said. "She's trying to stay focused on her remaining races the best she can."

A third South Korean in the men's 1,000m, Park Jang-hyuk, sustained cuts to his left hand that required 11 stitches after a fall during the quarterfinals. While he was skidding toward the fence, Wu Dajing of China inadvertently clipped Park's hand with his skate. Park pulled out of the semifinals to get treated. He's scheduled to race in the men's 1,500m Wednesday.

"Park's injury is not as serious as we'd feared last night," Lee said. "He really wants to keep on skating. We still have time to make any changes before tomorrow's race, so we'll be talking to him about his status."

Yoon said a sports psychologist that traveled with the delegation will be ready to help Hwang, Lee or Park as necessary. Yoon added he and other leaders of the delegation were scheduled to pay the three athletes a visit to offer their support.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved