(Olympics) Short tracker determined to move past disappointing relay race

▲ South Korean Olympic short track speed skater Choi Min-jeong trains at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 6, 2022, (Yonhap)

▲ South Korean Olympic short track speed skater Choi Min-jeong (L) chats with her teammate Hwang Dae-heon during a training session at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 6, 2022, (Yonhap)

▲ South Korean Olympic short track speed skater Choi Min-jeong (front) is pushed by her teammate Kim A-lang during a relay drill at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 6, 2022, (Yonhap)

(Olympics) short tracker-competition

(Olympics) Short tracker determined to move past disappointing relay race

By Yoo Jee-ho

BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- For Olympic athletes, it helps to have a short memory. It allows them to forget about past losses or close calls and to focus on the next target.

Take South Korean short track speed skater Choi Min-jeong, for instance.

She was a member of the South Korean mixed relay team that got knocked out of the quarterfinals at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Saturday. Few would have predicted that South Korea, the most successful short track nation in Olympic history, would be gone in the first phase, without even sniffing a medal.

But back on ice on Sunday, about 24 hours after the elimination, Choi said she was already looking ahead to her upcoming races.

"(The relay) was just the first of many races here," Choi said. "I told my teammates that we still have a lot of Olympics left and we have to prepare for our next races the best we can."

The mixed relay features two female and two male skaters per team. For South Korea, Park Jang-hyuk, one of the two men, took a fall with three laps remaining in the 18-lap race, as South Korea finished third out of four teams in its quarterfinal heat. Only the top two teams from each of the three heats, plus the two-best third-place teams, moved on to the semis.

"In relays, we win as a team and we lose as a team," Choi said. "I feel like I should have done a better job and I feel terrible about that. I will try to be more responsible in my next races."

Choi's next competition will be Monday evening in the women's 500m. She has made it into the quarterfinals. If she continues to advance, the final will be later Monday night. She will be the lone South Korean there.

For all of South Korean's dominance in Olympic short track -- it leads all countries with 24 gold medals -- the women's 500m is the only event in which South Korea has yet to win a gold.

In 2018, Choi was penalized in the final and finished well off the podium.

"I will continue to battle my way in the 500m," Choi said. "I know we haven't done well in that event, but I am going to try to change that."

As for being the only South Korean left in the 500m, Choi said, "There may be added pressure from that, but it's something I have to overcome as an athlete. I don't think it will affect my performance in any way."

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