Korean Job Discussion Forums

[just another day]

A young generation of Korean athletes is conquering the world of swimming, speed skating, fencing and other sports once regarded as hopeless because Koreans were shorter than their Western competitors. But Park Tae-hwan (1 beat Australia�s Grant Hackett in the 400 m freestyle last Tuesday in Japan�s International Swimming Competition, while Jeong Seul-gi (19) became the first female Korean swimmer to win a gold medal at the Universiade a few days ago. Yoo Hyo-suk (21) beat Columbia and New Zealand to grab gold in the World Championship in speed roller skating, known to be better suited to long-legged athletes. Figure skater Kim Yu-na, (17), fencer Nam Hyeon-hi (26) and speed skater Lee Gyu-hyeok (290 have all made to the top in what had been Western-dominated events.


◆ Growing athletes

Experts say physical changes played a key role in producing series of young champions. While Park Tae-hwan is only 3.21 cm taller than the average 178.29 cm of Korean national swimmers since 1998, his shoulder width is 46 cm, a noticeable 6.32 cm wider. His arms fully stretched measure 190 cm, about 5 cm longer than the average. Kim Yu-na is also quite differently built than previous female athletes. �Kim has very long body line coming from her long arms, which enables her to perform in a very graceful manner,� said Korea Skating Union director Lim Hye-gyeong. �Even foreign pundits acclaim her perfect figure.�

Lee Gyu-heyok, the 29-year-old Korean speed skating hero who conquered this year�s World Sprint Speed Skating, is a modest 174 cm tall, but boasts 90.6 cm legs, significantly longer than the average Korean of his height. Nam Hyeon-hi (26) also has relatively long arms (66.7 cm) and legs (79.3 cm) for her figure, helping her win this year�s fleuret. Lee Ju-hyeong, the 34-year-old silver and bronze medalist in parallel and horizontal bars, also has markedly long arms and fingers. �As more and more Korean athletes have long arms and legs, they can now master a greater variety of techniques while building up necessary muscles with more ease. This is the main driving engine behind their winning spree,� said Prof. Gang Sang-jo of Korea National Sports University.

◆ A change in proportion

It�s not just athletes: the average Korean figure has changed as well. According to the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards �Size Korea 2004� report, the average male leg was 79.9 cm long in 2004, 4.9 cm longer than in 1979. Female legs have become 2.7 cm longer in the same period. Perfect proportion is imagined as something like a height of eight heads. The height of Korean males was 5.9 heads in the Koguryo era, 6.4 in the Chosun period, 6.8 in 1979, and 7.4 in 2004: in other words, physical changes in the last 25 years were more dramatic than for the previous millennium. For this rapid transformation, many point to a changing diet. Prof. Kim Myeong from the department of physical development at Ehwa Women�s University said, �Proteins and calcium in meat are essential nutrients for physical development, and as more Koreans eat more meat, they are developing longer arms and legs.�

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[Ya-ta Boy]

Wouldn't it be more effective use of space to post the link to the article, rather than re-post the whole article here? Then you could use this space to state an opinion or reaction.

[pkang0202]

Asians are growing bigger. Then again, people in general have been getting bigger. I think Asians were just behind the curve of everyone else.

Wasn't the average height for a European a thousand years ago like 10cm shorter than it is now?

[Alyallen]

Hmm...

I would have thought the fact that better facilities, more training for potential talent, better training, sports cooperation between Korea and other foreign countries that have a longer and more successful record in specific sports and MORE MONEY might have something to do with it....

But yeah....the height thing MUST be the reason. Oh and why are people taller anyway? Kim chi, anyone?

[hubba bubba]

[4 months left]

Seems like Koreans do well at mind numbing individual sports such as golf, swimming and skating where one can practice and practice but they don't seem to be working well with others such as in baseball or soccer....hmmmmmmmmmmmm. B.Y. Kim, the last Korean major leaguer - already with his 4th??? team this season - Florida twice.

Koreans Pushed Down Pecking Order
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/sports/2007/08/136_9058.html

Florida Marlins re-sign Byung-Hyun Kim 22 days after letting him go on waivers....Byung-Hyun Kim rejoined the Florida Marlins on Saturday, signing as a free agent 10 days after the Arizona Diamondbacks designated him for assignment.

Despite the ongoing exodus of young talent to the United States, Korea currently has only one Major League Baseball (MLB) player _ Arizona Diamondbacks(now back with Florida) reliever Kim Byung-hyun _ to show for it.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/sports/sports_view.asp?newsIdx=8221&categoryCode=136

[JMO]

[Alyallen]

[pkang0202]

I didn't know Korean children even had TIME to do sports considering they spend 18 hours a day at school/hagwon/study rooms.

Oh yeah, Micahel Ri of North Korea is 7-10 and is a basketball player.

[Troll_Bait]

[Alyallen]

[just another day]

yeah, some of this article does seem to not be accurate. figure skating like u guys say.

but swimming, speed skating, etc... there is a definite stereotype.

before park tae hwan, many people said that asians were too short to win a gold medal in swimming events.

[JMO]

[just another day]

^ yeah i suppose. i can see how it can be more facilities oriented, but for some reason a stereotype exists that a white person's body is just "better made" for swimming.

[4 months left]