SA: Why is it so cold here?? Brrrrr!
PM: Because it’s the ice sports episode! I turned on your aircon so you can get into the mood for it!
SA: The only thing I’m in the mood for is…HOUH cold cold cold my leg touched the metal chair! I need a mug of hot chocolate!
PM: That’s not very sporting of you!
SA: I’m from California. Unless you’re skiing you don’t touch snow unless it’s cocaine.
PM: You call this cold?! In Calgary it’s this warm in January! And if you think it’s bad there, head up the road to Edmonton for a real deep freeze.
SA: Whoooo gotta warm up my hands! Man, I remember when one of my friends moved to Yellowknife for a few months. She recalls one night when her eyeballs almost froze.
PM: That’s a normal day! What’s she complaining about?!
SA: So we’re going to tell you how to find ice sports in your area! So you can hate the cold air, then pray for it by mid-may!
PM: It’s the circle of life!
Where are the events?
PM: Let’s talk about one of the favorites of the winter season, speed skating. Where and when can you go to events?
SA: The Korean skating union or KSU for short is the controlling body for events, whatever that means. Their schedule is obtuse to read and a bit hard to find. Again they could make it easy for people but nooooooo that’s too hard! They literally have a calendar on their front page, and it’s blank.
PM: But you of all people found something, right? Right???
SA: Eventually, yes, ish-. It’s not complete. Anyway, two things to know about ice sports. 1) they go on all year long. 2) They only happen once a month. This year or season since this goes past January, has speed skating matches at the international skating center in Taereung Seoul by line 8 Byeolnae. There is a championship this weekend there as well, followed by matches in January. You’ll have to look at the schedule carefully, unless you wanna see the elementary school championships for some reason. Then you got the short track matches that take part all over the country. Except anywhere near us, of course.
PM: Well, of course. Jeolla is considered a backwater for a reason you know!
SA: There’s a tournament in Chuncheon from the 22nd to the 24th, then a small bunch of matches in December, March and April but the locations are not determined at this time. My guess is there will be tournaments in Uijeongbu because last month there was one there.
PM: Of course. It’s like there isn’t a perfectly fine ice rink anywhere else in the country. You can tell by the sarcasm in my voice.
SA: Quite. And of course there’s figure skating. There are fewer tournaments than speed skating but that might be related to the international circuit run by the ISU. The next tournament is on November 28th to Dec 1 in Uijeongbu, then one more after New Years.
PM: And what about the one we care about the most?
SA: Curling? Man it’s been a while since we talked about curling.
PM: You’re the one that likes it the most among us but you barely know anything about it! Though maybe that’s why you like it so much.
SA: You push a stone along the ice and you wipe the path with brooms! What more is there?
PM: You make it sound like it’s air hockey on ice! There is skill involved you know. My beer guzzling grandparents and great-grandparents who curled weren’t just trusting their luck!
SA: Maybe that’s why I keep losing when I played it on the Wii. I kept thinking I needed to guide the rock to the slot on the other side. *joke sting*
PM: So it seems we’ve found the national curling schedule! There are national tournaments in Uijeongbu starting this weekend until the 23rd, and then a national competition in Gangneung sometime in February, followed by the Women’s World Curling championships in Uijeongbu starting March 15th. Incidentally, a curling tournament is called a bonspiel. That’s French for good…uh, spiel.
SA: You sure about that?
PM: Uh, yeah, why not.. They sure don’t have much scheduled, do they?
SA: I believe, like speed skating, that there might be more matches that aren’t mentioned. Anyway, if you wanna give curling a try, there are rinks set up for it in Jincheon, Incheon, Cheongju, Uijeongbu, that international rink in Seoul, Gangneung, and the home of the Garlic Girls in Uiseong Gyeongsangnamdo.
PM: But you’re probably just as likely to catch Korea’s finest curlers in Canadian towns like Lethbridge, Alberta, Brandon, Manitoba and Moncton, New Brunswick because these are where the majority of the big tournaments tend to take place and, just as importantly, where they’ve honed their craft. Canada isn’t as powerful a curling nation as it used to be but we still have the lion’s share of coaches and facilities. The average-sized Canadian city likely has more curling rinks than all of Korea combined.
Famous winter Olympians and the scandals.
PM: When it comes to Korean winter Olympians, there are two names that immediately come to mind. The first is obviously Kim Yuna, the Queen of figure skating. Announcers really took pains to point out that she goes by Yuna Kim. For some reason, this was deemed important.
SA: Important enough for you to bring it up just now.
PM: Only so I could talk about how irrelevant it all was.
SA: She got the gold at the Vancouver games with her damn near perfect skate to the James Bond song. (sound excited) She’s medaled in 4 World Championships, 4 Grand Prixs, 2 Korea persons of the year, honorary citizenship of Los Angeles and-
PM: Alright, we get it! She’s literally the most amazing skater on the planet! But how is that important?
SA: She was literally the keystone in the bid to bring the Winter Olympics to Korea in 2018! That is, what’s reported in Reuters and the Chicago Tribune. Clearly her sports achievements gave the athletic cred to the bid. She inspired many others to take up figure skating, some of whom have gone on to win championships themselves. But I want to draw special attention to something that came up during her reign on the ice. You remember it too, huh?
PM: That’s right! She wasn’t alone at the top of the competitive boards! Chasing right behind her was Japan’s Mao Asada. Mao was an amazing skater in her own right and they often placed 1st or 2nd in the various championships from their junior league days until the olympics. She even pulled off the first triple axel at the Olympics! Their rivalry fueled a nationalistic spirit on the ice between the countries, even to the point where they replaced their foreign coaches with countrymen. But it wasn’t always about the flags, sometimes it was about the cookies. In an interview with Number Magazine, Asada mentioned a cordial friendship between them and understanding of how similar their lives were, and trading delicacies like snacks.
SA: Now that would make a good 30 for SamShip doc! I call it- Rivals for snacks; The Queens of Figure Skating. HUHH?!
PM: Bloody hell, another Choco-pie, Yuna? You are aware these things are available all over the world, right?
SA: No, that’s not true! Choco-pies are a Korean invention! Nooooooooooo!
PM: I gotta better title for you: Nations before flowers, a rivalry born of blood, danced on ice. Now how about that?!
SA: It’s too long! It won’t fit in the Netflix description box!
PM: Must you always find fault?
SA: Look who’s talking!
PM: Things went awry with her a bit following the Vancouver Games. As you mentioned a moment ago, she dumped her coach Brian Orser which upset quite a few people here. I think Orser was regarded as something of a second coming of Guus Hiddink. Plus, her mother seemed to be flexing her muscles.
SA: This was when she made the move from Toronto to LA. That hoped-for movie career didn’t really work out, did it?
PM: In fairness, she had an impressive reel with all those TV commercials she’s been in but it still wasn’t enough for her to pull a Sonja Henie and make the move from the rink to Hollywood. They must’ve thought that if a Norwegian Nazi-sympathizer with a thick accent can make it on the big screen then she could too!
SA: Then there was her let’s say, conservative performance at the 2014 Sochi Games.
PM: Yeah, her opponent stumbled but still managed to win the gold and people here cried foul which may or may not have been accurate but honestly Adelina Sotnikova had the more exciting performance. Kim was boring to watch by then. The other thing was that there were accusations her Masters thesis from Korea University wasn’t quite legit.
SA: But it was a professor from Yonsei who made this claim so take it with a grain of salt.
PM: But let’s turn our attention to the next famous winter olympian, a story of equal parts woe and what the? The story of Victor An, one of Korea’s greatest speed skaters. He’s quite short, at 1 point 6 4 meters and very slight which worked well for going around the corners. A winner of 6 gold medals and 6 world championships! He was active around the same time as Kim Yuna, forming something of a dynasty on ice, albeit one which didn’t last all that long.
SA: But now we have to talk about what happened in the 1,000 meter final at the Salt Lake City Olympics. Ahn was getting ready to pass Apolo Ohno when China’s Li Jiajun pushed Ohno on him on the left, and then tripped Ahn. I’m not saying he could’ve beaten both Ohno and Jiajun but the Australian who hung back won the gold that time. Sometimes things happen on the ice and being at the front doesn’t mean you will win in the end.
PM: That was Steven Bradbury who quote-unquote stole the gold.
SA: The race was a farce but at least it made for good television!
PM: It doesn’t seem like he holds a grudge over it, but the country certainly did when he left Korea and joined the Russian Olympic team in the early 2010’s. He won 3 golds at Sochi and thus completed the elusive 4 gold circuit in short track. His victory there sent the Korean public into a rage, and investigations against the skating union took place. This wasn’t the only time Ahn kickstarted an investigation against the skating union, and the public seemed to take his side for a while. But the fickle public eye soon turned against him.
SA: The public got mad at him when he received a south korean athlete’s pension for winning the gold medals, but now he is Russian and no longer a Korean citizen. He donated that pension to a fellow athlete he used to train with. But he never got to skate for Russia in the Pyeongchang Olympics because the whole team was banned due to the doping scandal. And then the public got mad at him for coaching the Chinese team to victory in the Beijing Olympics. So it’s been a rough time after hanging up the skates. Because of all these controversies he was denied a coaching job with the Seongnam City Hall team. I think now he’s a skating coach but that info was from last year. I know the Russians would like him back.
PM: I bet they would, but as a skating coach or as a conscriptovich on the front lines of Ukraine?
SA: Probably both knowing the Russian (nb: you said “Korean”) government. They’d say “There’s no olympics right now. Here is rifle, go to front lines with Lt. Blyatsky! Huh huuh huhh.”
PM: If he dies, he dies. Sorry, you inadvertently brought out.my inner Drago.
Up and comers
PM: Since Queen Yuna retired, have there been any contenders to take the reigns at the top?
SA: Not really. You Young and Kim Ye-Lim placed in the top 10 at the Beijing Olympics but haven’t translated their success into consistent winning on the circuit. Yoo’s had ankle problems and she seems to be out this season, and Kim’s fallen out of the national rankings. But there might be hope for Kim this season as one of her competitors Lee Hae-in is suspended over sexual harrassment allegations reported by an underaged male teammate she claimed to be dating as well as a drinking scandal at the ISU camp in Italy. Fortunately, there's a possibility in Kim Chae-yeon, who won bronze at the Figure skating worlds in Montreal this year. But again, they will need a lot of work to get anywhere near Yuna’s level.
PM: And what about any contenders for Ahn’s role? Or is the skating union still an issue?
SA: I think the Skating Union’s got their house in order, well for now anyway. The recent Winter Youth Olympics in Gangneung and other competitions revealed some future talents.
PM: That’s right. I heard about Kim Gil-li & Park Ji-won on the news back in February.
SA: Yeah they won the ISU championships in men’s and women’s Short track. So I think Korean fans can hold out more hope for an Ahn replacement at this time.
PM: But what about the one our listeners care about?
SA: More Kim Yuna talk? I mean that’s great and all but we’ve spent 5 minutes on her already.
PM: No silly! On curling! Who’s gonna replace the Garlic girls? Well, technically they are still competing though they don’t play in Uiseong anymore.
SA: They’ve been replaced by a team from Gyeonggi-do called Team Gim with a G. Unfortunately those curlers don’t have food nicknames so they’re harder to remember.
PM: Right, because that’s the most important thing about curlers- their nicknames.
SA: You’re not wrong! Would you remember Chad Johnson?
PM: Oh hell no.
SA: What if I told you he’s better known as Ochocinco these days?
PM: Ah yes, one of the many pro players turned podcasters these days, that are fortunately less annoying than Stephen A. Smith.
SA: Our views would definitely go up if we yelled loudly about the Cowboys every episode. HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS NEEHAWWAHAWAA!!
PM: Yup listeners, we’re at that time of the podcast where it’s time to change topics before the horrid laughter of my co-host scares you away.
On the ice sports
SA: There’s one more ice sport to cover.
PM: I think we covered everything so far.
SA: There’s one more and it doesn’t require skates. In fact you can’t even do it on the ice rink.
PM: Unless the rink owner is pulling a prank, I don’t get it. This feels like a riddle.
SA: Ice fishing! In Hwacheon Gangwondo, there is an annual ice fishing festival in which the river freezes and the city releases mountain trout into the river for tourists to catch through holes. There’s also a stick sled you can rent for ice sledding. It’s usually in January so if you’re in Korea around that time and need something fun to do, keep an eye out for it. It’s about 2 hours from Seoul and 1 hundred hours from where we live.
PM: It would literally be easier for us if we rented a small plane and parachuted out of it over the festival or fly in like James Miller the “Fan Man” I’m sure it would garner significant media attention that it badly needs.
Game of the week!
PM: What’s cooking in the sports world this weekend?
SA: For once on this podcast, we actually get to suggest a competition related to what we’ve been talking about.
PM: Didn’t we do that with basketball?
SA: The season just started so I didn’t think of any games there. We talked about the Korea Series.
PM: Right you are! In fact, I think I was the one who wanted us to chat about the great baseball anticlimax.
SA: Anyway, this weekend at Taereung Ice Rink in northern Seoul is the 55th Presidential Cup National Speed Skating Championships. Starting today through Sunday! If speed skating’s your thing, check it out.
PM: Nothing for short track or figure skating? You know everyone’s looking for the next Yuna at this point but dammit where is she?!? Jesus, I must stop bringing her up. People are going to get the wrong idea.
SA: Too late! But short track’s got something on the 22nd called the Prime Minister’s cup in Chuncheon. There’s a bit of humor with the two competitions’ naming conventions. The long one is the President’s and the short one’s the prime minister.
PM: If the Prime Minister had more power, he’d have the regular track? I get it now…You know what else?
SA: What’s that?
PM: The prime minister may toil in obscurity but at least he’s not as unpopular as the president. You might say that also tracks! See what I did there?
SA: Yeah, you’re something.
PM: To be fair, short track’s got the 4 team relay with the pushing. That’s cooler in the eyes of many fans. Not me, mind you.
SA: It’s a chaotic yet controlled ballet on ice. Anyway what have you got?
PM: Nothing winter sports related even though as a boy I thought basketball ought to be in the Winter Olympics given that’s when it’s played. That’s right! My game of the fortnight is Bucheon Hana 1Q playing host to defending champs Asan Woori this Friday at 7:00. I don’t think Hana has anything to woori about.
SA: You were just dying to squeeze that one in, weren’t you?
PM: Not dying exactly. No, it should be a good match. I have a good feeling about Hana this year. It feels like I say that every mind you.
SA: It helps to stay optimistic.
PM: I’m going to say that Hana wins in a squeaker.
SA: Bold. You heard it here first!
Ending
PM: Thank you for tuning in today. Please share this podcast with your friends & family, anyone you think would be interested in knowledgeable takes on all Korean Sports.
SA: Especially give this to rookies. They need alllll the help they can get.
PM: Don’t forget to rate our podcast, if the site you’ve got has a rating system. But don’t do it if you don’t like us.
SA: You can email the show at hwatingsportspodcast at gmail.com or leave a comment on our various podcast sites. Hate mail will be read aloud on special episodes and ruthlessly mocked.
PM: Fan mail will be mocked but in a more wholesome way.
SA: This is the end of Season 1 of the podcast. We will return in 2 weeks with a newer…something…so stay tuned!
PM: No three to four month hiatus for us! Season 2 will be coming your way so quickly you’d scarcely even notice the switch from first to second.
SA: Except we already told them about the new season.
PM: Right, aside from that. So, do you have a favourite season 1 moment Mr S?
SA: Well, it’s gotta be covering the Yon-Ko Games back in September.
PM: I agree! If this podcast accomplishes nothing else at least it finally got us up off our asses to see college kids play hockey to a deafening crowd.
SA: This is something we’ve talked about doing for years.
PM: In fact, getting me to do things I’ve never done before has been a theme of the past several months. When we met in Iksan back on May 1 for a minor league baseball game, I suggested to Mr S we do a sports podcast and he ran with it. This man is great at taking what I think are pipe dreams and putting them into practice.
SA: You’re too kind.
PM: A big thank you to Mr S for all his hard work. And thanks to all of you for listening. We really hope you’ve enjoyed our takes on all things Korean sports!
SA: Our first episode is a really important one! We’re going all out and covering women’s sports!
PM: And about bloody time too! While women’s sports are unfairly brushed aside in other countries, here in Korea they come with much the same baggage as the men’s games. Equality baby!
SA: Music notes like the opening song thanks to DumiAFava. Cover art thanks to our live-in cycling expert James! Until then, sports fans! Have a happy and relaxing summer vacation!
PM: Guests of the Hwa-ting Sports Podcast stay at Sypho’s Ice Fishing Shack on beautiful Hwacheon Stream. Old Syph’s been getting up to god knows what in the Philippines but he should be back any day now to set up his decades-old second home. Why not come join him for all the Pocheon makgoli you can guzzle. You saw those episodes of Family Matters and Frasier when they went ice fishing? It’s every bit as fun as their capers! Though Sypho won’t pull you out if you end up like Carl Winslow and fall through the ice. He’ll just laugh. For spite.
Notes
http://www.koreacurling.co.kr/
All Yuna Kim's FULL length Olympic medal winning routines | Top Moments
Interview highlights with Asada
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_An
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/sports/2024/08/600_381592.html
Ice Sports Schedule at KSU site (need HWP reader)