I mean, really. You guys are still at it?
Back in 2002, there was a dust-up between American speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno and the entire speed skating delegation from South Korea over his Olympic gold medal win. See, actual frontrunner Kim Dong-sung was disqualified for allegedly blocking him.
Flash forward to the current Winter Olympic proceedings and apparently there are reports that they’re still talking smack to each other. Recent 1,500-meter short track gold medalist Lee Sung-su doesn’t think Ohno deserves the silver medal after telling Vancouver reporters that two other South Korean skaters should have been disqualified for too much bump-n-shove on the ice.
Sigh. And so it begins.
May I make a suggestion, Apolo and South Korea?
Let it go.
We don’t need any more international, inter-Asian hate. Be happy for each other. Because for real, you guys are the only ones who seem to win these speed skating races at all!
In the grand scheme of things, we’re talking about who can skate around in a circle faster. Let’s save that passion and enmity for something that truly matters like fighting social injustice, poverty or…maybe, who looks better in those form-fitting spandex suits?
Now that’s an argument I can get into.
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Korea should end their beef. Ohno’s ended it a long time ago.
When he got a chance to go to Korea (oh yeah, he couldn’t go following 2002 because these Koreans were sending death threats!), instead of stacking up on the bodyguards, he signed autographs and met the few fans he has over there. He’s never said any shit about the skaters; following the race, he even tweeted, “Wow! Koreans are strong as usual.”
Compare that to GOLD-MEDALIST Lee Jung Su stating “Ohno does not deserve to stand on the same podium as me… I was so enraged, he played dirty.” You won the gold medal, why do you need to bag the silver medalist? Something along the lines of “Congrats to all!” would have been simpler and mature.
Either way, though, Apolo’s gotten over it a long time ago. It’s time for Korea to forget about an incident that occurred, oh yeah, 8 fucking years ago.
gotta admit, though, the tension between Apolo Ohno and the South Korean skaters made the sport even much more interesting!!! I was GLUED to every short track skating race in the Olympics!
You just dont understand,
Koreans just dont let these things go.
Just the fact that ohno is japanese and he is a coward…
In any event with Korea competing directly against Japan, I cheer for Korea with full fervor. But it’s not like I’m expecting ill-will against the japanese or Ohno. I mean the infamous DQ does leave a sour taste but who’s countrymen would not feel that way? In any controversial event that was decided by judges, there will be a side that will feel robbed for all time. Look at Cal vs Stanford and The Play and many other controversial decisions!
With that said, as a 2nd-gen korean-american, I take it as a friendly rivalry not one of racial hatred. It’s the same for the American and Russians in the olympics, Brazil and Argentina and soccer, etc. These rivalries are what makes sports exciting and help propel athletes to perform better. Men, especially, are competitive creatures.
It’s not just speed skating. It’s losing to Japan in anything. Koreans have negative feelings towards Japan and as of late the United States. He encompasses both countries and influenced a loss of a gold medal. Though a lot of these points can be debated, I personally feel that it’s fun to watch the competition amongst the speed skaters. Makes it a whole lot funner to watch. A little smack talking ain’t all that bad. You see it in the NBA, NFL, and MBL. Do we not like it when a Asian male voices his honest feelings towards a competitor that he dislikes? Also, someone that he feels cheated his “Sun Bae” from a gold medal. Let them be and enjoy their moment. Who cares about Ohno? Cause he certainly doesn’t care about Koreans. But, I do wonder how it feels being hated by 50 million Koreans?
My .02 cents
Too true too true. Strange how more of my Korean American friends here in the states harbored more blind hatred for Ohno because of his ethnicity, more so than my Korean American friends over in Korea. I don’t find this article “shallow” like some other posters did. How can truce be shallow? Both of them are making asses out of themselves.
Sylvie, Thank you! I totally agree…get over it…both ohno and korea. sheesh. it gives both groups a bad name. just skate and take it as it is. let’s stop adding fuel to the fire. Great article!
Hey Sylvie,
I understand that it was supposed to be a joke, and I agree that my response was harsher than needed.
I’ve been thinking about the issue a lot and I guess your post just sparked something.
My apologies, and keep these posts coming! It’s great to have this open forum!
I also would have appreciated more insight into this issue, and I think Fred made some valid points. I actually came on the KoreAm website today to see what the magazine would have to say about the issue, considering it involves an Asian American. There is a lot more that could have been said, including Korean sentiment towards Japan, its impact on Korean Americans, Korean Americans’ thoughts on the issue, or relations between Korean Americans and other Asian Americans. The article felt shallow and left me feeling dissatisfied, because it seemed to dismiss the issue as unimportant. I didn’t take the article as a joke. The Olympics may not be in the same category as social justice, but they are the culmination of many athletes’ careers, and something that an athlete may strive for his/her entire life. I don’t take the Olympics lightly, and the event is highly regarded around the world.
i agree with fred except the tone was a little harsher than i would use. if it was a joke, i must’ve missed the punchline.
I agree with Fred for the most part although Sylvie stated that it was meant to be a joke.
I guess she never intended for this article to resolve the beef… LOL ya think???
I think any time there is competition with anything Japanese, it gets a rise out of us Koreans. I don’t think that’s totally without merit! Koreans are very passionate people and for the most part, very patriotic. When someone slights one of our own, we take it very personally! If it comes from a Japanese(or Half Japanese with Japanese last name) I think we multiply that times a hundred! When that person has no sense of sportsmanship and is super arrogant, multiply that times a thousand!
You get the picture. I don’t think I’ll ever look at that bucktoothed, goatee faced, dancer/skater with adoration and I don’t have to. The world moves on… Koreans have better things to worry about than Ohno.
Hi Fred,
It was meant to be a joke.
Sylvie
This blog post didn’t really say much of anything at all. I understand that it’s not meant to be an extensive expose into the Ohno-Korean speed skater conflict, but to take a deeply layered issue and try to give it a superficial gloss is in bad taste.
It wasn’t just a dust-up back in 2002, it was a series of remarks and attitudes that left Koreans and Ohno alike feeling slighted.
This post was written with the perspective of someone who a) doesn’t appreciate the gravity that sports has for many people, and b) doesn’t recognize that this incident re-ignited the political and social sensitivities of many Koreans.
Also, to end with a “why don’t we focus on social injustice” is such a cop-out conclusion. You could say that about anything. For example, in the grand scheme of things, Koream is just a magazine, so why not focus all that time/energy/money on fighting social injustice? Or, in the grand scheme of things, art is just coloring on a piece of paper, so why not focus that attention on fighting poverty? You’re insinuating that this conflict is trivial, but just because it may not be as important as big-picture issues like social injustice & poverty, doesn’t mean it’s not important.
On a final note, we Korean Americans have an identity that is distinct from our Korean counterparts. However, to dismiss issues that are significant to them through posts like this, with its underlying tone of flippancy, makes our generation out to be empty-headed, unsympathetic, and shrug-our-shoulders indifferent.