S.Korea Wins Their First Swimming Gold at Asian Games

Home>>Sports

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, October 05, 2002

S.Korea Wins Their First Swimming Gold at Asian Games

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

South Korean swimmer Kim Min-suk shared the gold with Ravil Nachaev of Uzbekistan in the men's 50m freestyle with a time of 22.86 seconds, winning the host nation their first and probably the only swimming gold on Saturday, the closing day of swimming races at the Asian Games.

Kim surged over the distance with everything he had. Emotions soared among the spectators as they were so excited by the victoryof the 23-year-old South Korean.

Issei Nakanishi of Japan placed third in 23.14 seconds.

"We have been expecting the gold for long. Kim is a very good swimmer in short-course freestyle races," said Lee Moon-hee, the only female coach of the team.

In the morning heats, Kim placed top with a time of 23.08 seconds. Two Chinese swimmers failed to advance to the finals, which was the only one of such cases happened to China in the pool.Out of the 24 swimmers who joined the race, 16 guys swam inside 24seconds.

The host nation had been aiming for two golds in the pool sinceChina was strong in women's events and Japan in men's, according to Kim Bong-jo, the head coach of the team.

South Korea missed its chance of grabbing a gold in the men's 1,500m freestyle Friday, as Cho Sung-mo was beaten by Yu Cheng of China into second place.

Sun So-eun got another silver for the team in the women's 50m freestyle, defeated by Chinese girl Xu Yanwei with a time of 25.42seconds.

The members of South Korean swimming team were selected through three matches in the nation. Most of them were non professionals and had only been training for three months.

Questions?Comments? Click here

>> Full Coverage

Jiang Urges Army to Prepare for Military, Anti-Terror Struggles ( 64 Messages)

Two Chinese Students Shot Dead When Robbing a Malaysian Bank ( 6 Messages)

China Becomes Biggest Market for English Learning ( 40 Messages)

China Continues to Absorb Foreign Investment ( 46 Messages)

US Urged to Stop Activities in Chinese EEZ ( 32 Messages)

'Taiwan Independence': Greatest Threat to Taiwan Straits Peace ( 70 Messages)