Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bo Peabody]

I only ask because this sort of one-sided historical obsession in a global sport since inception is only paralleled in... let's say the Brazilians' dominance in football... but short-track is more specialized than football because it requires more specific and uncommon skill sets.

And that's when it's interesting to ask tangential questions (ie. cultural, biological or economic factors) where normally, as Ya-ta Boy pointed out, it would just boil down to one common denominator: talent.

[4 months left]

Pretty simple - win or get beaten.

Were Korea's speed skaters subjected to beatings by their coaches?

http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501041122-782168,00.html

[Bo Peabody]

Oh SNAP!!!

[ajgeddes]

I don't think it is right to say that they have been dominating the sport for the past decade.

In fact, if you go back to the 2002 olympics, Korean only got 4 medals in short track and Canada got 6.

But seriously though, I don't know anybody from Canada that speed skates in long or short track.

[ajgeddes]

As well, just checked out 1998, where Korea got 6 and Canada 4. So, for the most part they have been pretty even until this year.

[VanIslander]

Training and more training, practice and more practice.

Koreans take their education seriously.

The athletes in women's golf, archery and speedskating work very hard at learning and developing into perfectionist little performers at a specialists' narrow scope of study/practice.

More generally, the same cultural traits that helped South Korea transform into a relatively prosperous, industrialized nation so quickly. Plus a little "bali bali".

[Dan The Chainsawman]

Training lots of it for sure...


and roids...


more roids...


and more and more roids.....

[Thunndarr]

Hmm...Why do Koreans dominate a sport where the objective is to move as fast as you can while ending up exactly where you started? I have no idea why they'd excel at that.

[Hollywoodaction]

Actually, Korea was already investing a considerable amount of money in short-track skating before the 94 Olympics. The decision to invest in sports where Koreans have a physical advantage may have been inspired by success of the Jamaican bobsleigh team at the 1988 Winter Games.

[Paji eh Wong]

[Xerxes]

Ok, I'll help Bo Peabody keep this thread on track. Actually, I've wondered the same thing, and here are my guesses.

My wife is the quintessential Korean young wife. She is aggressively business minded and nearly obsessive about our daughter��s education, so you have money and education as considerations. She wants our daughter to do well in school but still get involved in some sport pastimes, but not the ��plebian�� sports. Swimming, golf, equestrian, skiing and ice skating are of that genteel category (there may be more). She did swimming and ice skating because they are easily accessible from the city center so that she can keep up with her studies while she ��enjoys�� those sports. Golf and skiing are too time consuming to take on as a serious sport merely because of the commuting considerations (you can��t be world class just by taking drive shots at the driving range only).

Another factor is facilities at the city center. No Olympic level sport can be pursued in the city center except for swimming and short track. The huge regular speed skating rinks are unavailable in metropolitan city centers and such sports would require the parents to have decent income to keep that up. You can��t get the coaching and the facilities in the country side (but you can for soccer, probably why so many of Korea��s best soccer players come from the countryside).

I guess the only reason that swimming is not a dominant sport for Koreans is their relatively compact physique while swimming is advantageous with a lanky body structure--same for Olympic big track speed skating.

The same can be said of the Japanese too, but I saw them pursuing the more big label sports like ski jumping, figure skating, downhill. Those categories are dominated by the Europeans and North American countries. Probably why Japan has such a low medal count in comparison to Korea or other countries of their economic clout.

I make a lot of assumptions here but I think they are reasonable.

[Newbie]

Yep, I think you're jumping the gun on "dominate"

But they are pretty good. Let's not forget the insane amounts of nationalism in this country, so as soon as they found a winter sport they could train for properly, they just focus on that.

[Swiss James]

how did I know that the answer (from some quarters) would be a variant on "Because Korea is so CRAP!!!??"

[Homer]

Focus most of their winter olympic program on that sport...thats how.

No shame in that, I would call it a realistic approach...

[JongnoGuru]

They dominate that sport for one very simply reason:



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