THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2015 SPORTS What lies ahead for Korea’s forgotten athletes? SEOUL: Weightlifting champion Kim recognised the need to provide better sup- Association of National Team Members, Kim the weightlifter was one of those down two years ago while training, told Byeong-chan died alone, paralysed and port for athletes and introduced a bill that which aims to protect the rights of the athletes who poured his heart and soul Reuters it was impossible to combine ath- penniless after a motorcycle accident cut would provide pensions to national team local sports community, said very few ath- into sport. He won a gold medal at the letics at the highest level with traditional short his career, and for some former ath- members who sustain serious injuries, des- letes reach the pinnacle of their sport and 1990 Asian Games, as well as silver and schooling. letes his demise is a consequence of South ignating them ‘people of national merit’. most are unprepared for what comes next. bronze medals at the World “It’s a common saying (in South Korea) Korea’s ruthless pursuit of sporting excel- The proposal was passed into law in “Ninety-nine percent of athletes disap- Championships a year later, and was that ‘athletes are dumb.’ This is wrong,” said lence. January 2014 but has taken almost two pear before they bloom,” Chang told viewed as a potential Olympian until a the athlete, who declined to provide his The limited social safety net for athletes years to finalise guidelines and standards. Reuters. “Only one Kim Yu-na comes out of motorcycle accident in 1996 left him paral- name due to an ongoing lawsuit. who get seriously injured, or who fail to The Sports Ministry only began accept- 1,000 figure skaters. Same with soccer, one ysed from the waist down. “Athletes are very clever but in a way make the grade, is a concern for many ing applications on Oct. 1. A ministry offi- Park Ji-sung out of thousands of soccer Unable to find a job and struggling to we are ignorant because we don’t learn sportsmen and women in South Korea, a cial said it expected four applications this players. “It takes a tremendous amount of survive on a pension of some $500 a the knowledge taught at school.” Almost country which arrived on the global stage month. hard work to win a medal, but the govern- month awarded to medallists from inter- every waking minute was dedicated to with the hosting of the 1988 Seoul “This law is symbolic in that it shows ment has a tendency to look down on national competitions, Kim’s body was dis- sport at school, he said, with training start- Olympics. Park Chung-hee’s regime of the the country is protecting its national team these elite sports people. The treatment covered in his flat by a neighbour in June. ing at six in the morning and continuing 1960s saw sport as an avenue to raise athletes,” Lee told Reuters. “But if the coun- athletes receive after their retirement is The cause of death was not disclosed but after school until 10 p.m. Korea’s global profile and gain legitimacy try really wants to help its sports people, it unbelievably bad.” media reports said he had suffered various “If I went to school, it was really hard to at home, and poured huge amounts of needs to reform the sports welfare system, Kim Yang-rea, who led research into the illnesses. stay awake. I didn’t really participate in money into creating an elite athlete pro- this is the bottom line.” Lee, a former table status of 3,000 retired athletes for the Kim’s death shook the sports communi- class, even in the really basic ones,” he gramme as well as bidding to host interna- tennis world champion, said it was unlikely Korea Institute of Sport Science, said close ty to its core in South Korea, where leading added. “You can ask all the athletes out tional competitions. the law would be extended to include to a third end up unemployed. sports figures earn huge endorsement there, and I guarantee they all sleep in While the programme boosted Korea as non-national team members. The sports industry is too small to deals and Olympic champions receive class. Teachers used to say that even if we a sporting power and produced world- “I wish the country would come up employ all of Korea’s former athletes, Kim lucrative bonuses and lifetime pensions. sleep throughout the entire class, if we class athletes, it also has a darker side. with ways to help sports people when they said, and they often struggle to adapt to Kim So-young, a former gymnast who attend we’re doing a good job.” Athletes at schools and universities rarely retire as well as athletes who have lost normal life not governed by training and was paralysed from the neck down after an Former gymnast Kim knew the late excel academically and are encouraged to their way in life,” she said. “It’s not a great competition. Serious injuries further limit accident on the asymmetric bars, said the weightlifter when he was competing and focus all their efforts on joining the sport- amount of money we’re asking for.” their opportunities. “There needs to be a weightlifter’s death should be a wake-up remembers him as outgoing and magnani- ing elite. Former national volleyball player system that can support athletes by man- call. “It could’ve been any athlete’s story, mous, always surrounded with lots of Those who fail to win international Chang Yoon-chang said athletes have a aging their careers and improving their including mine,” said Kim, who now works friends. Cho Hong-joong, one of the chief titles or make national teams have little to hard time getting jobs and adjusting to general job skills,” Kim said. “Since they are for the Korea Spinal Cord Injury inspectors who recovered the body, said fall back on when their sporting careers society when their careers end because not capable of working right after retire- Association. Kim had no family when he died. His funer- end, and they can expect little help from they are “made into machines” through ment, (the government) should give them “There is nothing a disabled athlete can al was organised by a local sports commit- the government, according to support years of training and competition. money or at least help them attain the do. For us, sport was everything.” One for- tee and held at Kangwon National groups. South Korean lawmaker Elisa Lee Chang, president of the Korean skills needed for other careers.” mer athlete, paralysed from the waist University Hospital. He was 46. —Reuters Owens emerges from ‘dark place’ into the final limelight LONDON: In most sports it is considered the with many observers saying that his ability to sign of a good referee if he is not noticed but keep the game moving played a large role in when charismatic Welshman Nigel Owens has it being labelled “Match of the Century.” “I’m the whistle on the rugby pitch, players and not like some refs who could quote you the fans are usually more than happy to allow number of the law, with or without the brack- him his own cameo. Owens will take charge ets,” Owens said in a recent interview. of Saturday’s World Cup final and it is an “Of course I know them. But knowing the appointment that is richly deserved and has laws too well and technically applying those been almost universally welcomed. laws, well, you’ll never have a game of rugby. “He has been the outstanding official in You’ve got to have a bit of empathy as well.” the game for years,” Ian McGeechan wrote in Excellent refereeing is only one half of the his Daily Telegraph column yesterday. “His Nigel Owens story, however, as his position as game management is exceptional, especially one of the few high-profile gay men in inter- his rapport with the players. He is strict with national sport has brought him another kind them but always keeps a clear channel of of fame. communication.” Fans have become used to Owens came out publicly as gay eight Sergio Perez of Mexico in action in this file photo. hearing the officials via “ref-link” devices at years ago and has since told of his dark days major matches and Owens has developed before that, even coming close to suicide something of a cult following. when he took an overdose and passed out on When intervening in a spat between a Welsh mountainside with a shotgun by his Welsh brothers Scott and Craig Quinnell in a side, only to be rescued by a police helicopter. Perez ready for career Welsh club match, a young Owens admon- “I was going downhill very fast, to a very ished them by saying: “What would your dark place where there was no way out for mother think?” During a World Cup match at me,” Owens told the BBC in an interview soccer club Newcastle United’s St James’ Park broadcast this week. highlight in Mexico a few weeks ago, Owens told Scotland’s “I left a note for my mum and dad and said Stuart Hogg: “Dive like that again and come I can’t carry on any more with my life. I didn’t MEXICO CITY: Some Formula One drivers never among the liveliest of the year and Perez has favourite for what would be his 11th win of the back here to play in two weeks” while he tell them why.