제 21 호 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games
Kicker: ENTERTAINMENT
2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games
By Ye-Dam Hwang, Reporter
Have you heard about the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games? From January 19th to February 1st, 2024, the 4th Winter Youth Olympic Games took place in the province of Gangwon in the Republic of Korea. 1,802 athletes from 78 countries participated in this Youth Olympic Games, and they competed for their ability in 15 events. The Winter Youth Olympic Games of this year is called ‘Gangwon2024’, and it is meaningful that Gangwon2024 utilizes the legacy of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games and is the first Winter Youth Olympics to be held in Asia.
The mascot of the Games is called Moongcho, which was born from snow, as can be seen in its face. Moongcho encourages everyone to embrace every moment and enjoy the Games based on the value and spirit of the Youth Olympic Games, like there are no winners or losers in snowball fights. Like its meaning, there were great and shining records not only of athletes but also of the process of Gangwon2024.
Ice Sports
As it was an ice skating event that was highly anticipated even before the games, we could see the wonderful performances of Korean youth athletes in such events as short track speed skating and speed skating. First, Joo Jae-hee won the gold medal in the men’s 1,500m, Kim You-sung won the bronze medal, Kang Min-ji won the silver medal in the women’s 500m, and Chung Jae-hee won the bronze medal. They showed their performances by giving the thrill of overtaking as rising stars of short track speed skating, and in particular, Joo Jae-hee’s men’s 1,500m gold medal was the first gold medal for the Korean team in this competition.
In speed skating, Jung Hui-dan, a promising skater in speed skating, won the silver medal in the women’s 500m and Shin Seon-ung won the bronze medal in the men’s 500m. Jung Hui-dan is the next-generation ace in speed skating, succeeding the skating queen Lee Sang-hwa and Korean speed skating star Kim Min-sun. In the mixed relay, Heo Seok and Lim Lee-won won the silver medal.
In figure skating, Kim Hyun-gyeom won the gold medal in men’s singles and Shin Jia won the silver medal in women’s singles. In the team event, Kim Jinny, Kim Yu-seong, Lee Na-mu, Shin Jia, and Kim Hyun-gyeom won the gold medal, and since the Youth Winter Olympics have not held figure team events as a national competition, the Republic of Korea has also been named the first winner of the figure team event in the Youth Olympics. Especially, when the team was ranked second behind the U.S. in the team event, Shin Jia, the last runner of the national team, performed perfectly in the women’s single and won the first place by a dramatic reversal.
Shin Jia in the team event
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Snow Sports
The young athletes’ challenge to win medals continued in snow sports. The rising star of snowboarding Lee Chae-Un won two gold medals in both men’s snowboard slopestyle and halfpipe events. Lee Chae-Un, who was named the youngest athlete in the Korean squad at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, is also one of the world’s top athletes who won the youngest(16 years and 10 months) title ever at the FIS World Championships in March last year.
Lee Chae-Un in the final game of halfpipe
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Freestyle skiing, which maybe a little unfamiliar, brought more medals. Freestyle skiing is an event which people compete for their skill and artistry by performing aerial movements that soar up through the white snow and remind us of acrobatics. In the men’s dual mogul event, Lee Yoon-seung won the gold medal, and the mixed dual mogul team of Yun Shin-ee and Lee Yoon-seung won the silver medal. Since dual moguls were adopted as the official event of the Winter Youth Olympics and mixed teams were also held for the first time in history, Yun Shin-ee and Lee Yoon-seung were honored as the first medalists in the event.
The Republic of Korea finished 6th in the rankings by total points, winning seven gold medals, six silver medals, and four bronze medals, totaling 17 medals. The fact that the youth national athletes have performed so well makes us look forward to the youth athletes who will compete in the Olympics in the future. I hope you continue to watch Korean promising athletes with anticipation and interest, and I also hope you to note that the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games(Gangwon2024)is valuable in that it utilized the legacies of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games and that it was the first Winter Youth Olympic Games held in Asia.
Sources:
https://olympics.com/ko/gangwon-2024/
https://news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.do?news_id=N1007521983&plink=SHARE&cooper=COPY
https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20240201125900007?input=1195m
https://www.munhwa.com/news/view.html?no=2024020101039939044005
https://www.segye.com/newsView/20240128508375?OutUrl=naver
https://www.nocutnews.co.kr/news/6086116
https://olympics.com/ko/gangwon-2024/promotional-materials
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