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| Shin Dong-bin, chairman of Lotte Group and the Korea Ski Association, appears at the Seoul Central District Court on Feb. 13 for a ruling on his bribery charges. The ski association lost its head after the ruling sentenced Shin to a 30-month prison term. / Yonhap |
By Nam Hyun-woo
Korea's ski association is in a quandary as its athletes have been unsuccessful at the PyeongChang Games amid controversy in making its Olympic entry.
With its chairman having been taken into custody on bribery charges, woes are deepening for the association in the absence of its leadership.
The Korea Ski Association (KSA) has already drawn public criticism as it excluded five skiers who had already been provided national team uniforms for the Games just weeks before the event kicked off.
The excluded skiers protested the decision, claiming the KSA's poor handling caused the incident. They took their complaint to court.
With the athletes and the association blaming each other, the dispute also affected those who made it into the Olympics. KSA officials said those who made the cut feel bad about the excluded athletes' claims.
After the Games started in a chilly mood for skiers, KSA Chairman Shin Dong-bin was sentenced to a 30-month prison term and taken into custody.
Shin, who is chairman of Lotte Group, was found guilty on charges of offering a bribe of 7 billion won ($6.5 million) to a sports foundation led by Choi Soon-sil, who is the center figure of impeached former President Park Geun-hye's corruption scandal, in return for favors for the group's duty free business.
With the sentence taking immediate effect, the KSA has lost its head, who had been leading it since November 2014. And its skiers are also far from displaying fine performances.
At the PyeongChang Games, Korea was cruising toward its goal of sitting at No. 4 on the medals table. However, no Korean skier has been able to contribute to the pursuit so far, with all of the country's medals coming from bladed or sliding sports.
The association has been pinning its medal hopes on mogul skier Choi Jae-woo. Meeting the expectations on him, Choi finished first in the men's moguls qualification 2, after scoring 81.23, but was disqualified in the final 2 as he collapsed and did not finish.
Other than Choi, Kim Dong-woo and Jung Dong-hyun could not reach higher than 33rd in the men's alpine skiing events, with slalom remaining as of Monday. Gim So-hui and Kang Young-seo could not finish higher than 45th in women's alpine events.
The situation is not so different in other ski events. As of Feb. 14, the highest finish among Korean skiers is Choi's disqualification in the final 2, while most athletes remain near the bottom of their respective tables.
Was the support from a rich chairman poor? Not really.
Korea has been weak in snow sports. The country has been sending skiers to Winter Games since the 1960 Winter Olympics in California, but has never been close to the podium.
To overcome the blind spot at the Games on home soil, Lotte has been pouring money and other support into the KSA for the past three years.
As an official partner of the PyeongChang Games, Lotte has spent 60 billion won to support the Games, test events and the KSA. Before the Games, Lotte helped the KSA hire 19 foreign coaches as well as putting up prize money worth hundreds of millions of won for medal winners.
For mogul skiers, Lotte provided a separate residence inside Phoenix Park, the venue for mogul skiing, so the athletes could fully focus on their competition. The residence had its own restaurant for athletes and a lounge, with a famous chef having a brand in Lotte providing a "balanced diet" for the athletes.
Industry insiders also say Shin himself also made efforts to promote Korea's ski community. Immediately before the Games started, Shin reportedly met International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and International Ski Federation President Gian-Franco Kasper to ask for additional quotas for the excluded skiers.
Lotte has pledged to provide 10 billion won of support to the KSA by 2020, but it has become uncertain whether the support could continue.
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