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‘Old hero’ to make 6th Olympic try

January 22, 2014

Lee Kyou-hyuk

By Baek Byung-yeul

Lee Kyou-hyuk was once regarded as Korea’s greatest speed skater.

Now Lee is an ‘over-the-hill’ 36-year-old but will try and skate for his first Olympic medal in Sochi or maybe, in his mind, he wants to settle for any respectable performance that qualifies for his swan song.

Despite having four world championship titles under his belt, he has never finished better than fourth in the Olympics. Sochi will represent Lee’s sixth Olympic appearance, the most ever by a Korean athlete.

While Lee is preparing a perfect swan song for his career at the upcoming Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, expectations have never been lower for him. Lee has qualified for the men’s 500 and 1,000 meters, but not many observers consider him as a serious threat to compatriot Mo Tae-bum, who won the 500-meter gold and 1,000-meter silver at the 2010 Vancouver Games, and American standout Shani Davis.

While Lee is only three years removed from his last world championship title in 2011, his advanced age and diminished results have been more evident in the last couple of years.

Still, Lee has no intention to go down without a fight. While his talent may be waning, his competitiveness remains as fierce as it ever was.

“Recently, I can feel my form coming up. I have been getting better,’’ Lee told reporters recently.

“The show must go on. You try your hardest or give up entirely, and there can be nothing in between. I will do my best at Sochi and I will leave no regrets on the ice.’’

Lee participated in the Essent International Skating Union (ISU) World Sprint Speed Staking Championship 2014 in Nagano, Japan, for his final tune-up before the Sochi Games. He finished 25th, completing only the 500-meter event and backing out of the 1,000-meter event due to back spasms.”

Mo and Lee Sang-hwa, the reigning women’s Olympic champion in the 500 meters, have sat the event out, being athletes who have less to prove.

At Nagano, the Korean athlete garnering the most media attention is not Lee but Kim Tae-youn, a 19-year-old prospect in the 500 and 1,000 meters, who finished 12 overall in Nagano.

At Nagano, skaters raced one 500-meter and 1,000-meter event each day, once in the inner lane and one in the outer lane. The recorded times were converted into points using the samalog scoring system, which means that the skater who has the lowest number of accumulated points, thus the shortest overall time, wins the all-around event.

During his prime, Lee dominated World Cup events and World Championships (2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011), which were unfortunately matched with a paucity of results in the Olympics.

He first qualified for the 1994 Games in Lillehammer as a 16-year-old, and finished fourth in the men’s 1,000-meter event at the 2006 Games in Turin, which remains his best Olympic outcome.

Lee probably lost his best chance to win an Olympic medal at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, when he entered the competition as the world record holder in the men’s 1,500 meters. However, it seemed that the pressure got to him and he finished eighth in the 1,000 meters and fifth in the 500 meters.

Lee has not displayed his top form during the 2013-14 season, including finishing 18 out of 20 in the 1,000-meter event at the speed-skating world cup in Calgary, Canada, in November last year.

Nonetheless, Lee continues to believe he has a shot at Olympic glory. He has not been at his best under the greatest of pressure. Sochi would be his first Olympics ever where he enters with a paucity of pressure. It remains to be seen whether he has enough juice left in his legs to exploit it.