Consecutive Losses Dumbfound Korean Wrestlers

In the middle of the second round in a wrestling match, we were ahead 1-0. But the tide of the game soon turns after Jimmy Samuelsson of Sweden executes a grappling and then a roll on the side in the par terre posture, gaining two points and reversing the score to 1-3 in the blink of an eye. Korean team coach Ahn Han-bong complained, saying, “Samuelsson used a technique gripping onto the leg,” only to be ignored.

For the Korean wrestling star Kim In-sup (31, Samsung Life), the goal of entering the semifinals in the 66kg level for Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games fell apart and crumbled to the ground of Ano Liossia Hall on August 25.

The last preliminary match for the lightest weight category, 55kg, took place right afterwards. Lim Dae-won (28, Samsung Life) also was defeated 0-3 by Gueidar Mamedaliev of Russia without once showing any kind of forceful aggressiveness.

Lim Dae-won qualified for the Olympic Games after 10 years as a reserve athlete by defeating Shim Kwon-ho, current trainer of the Olympic team, who was aiming for three consecutive years of victory in the Olympic Games. Shim Kwon-ho, who called himself a private trainer of Lim and had handed down his know-how, was critical of the defeat, saying, “Dae-won played too much of a passive game.”

Kim In-sup and Lim Dae-won were Korea’s hope for wrestling champions. The Korean delegation, which expected at least one gold medal, turned into full remorse upon hearing the news of the consecutive defeats. Wrestling is traditionally a rewarding field of gold medals for the Korean team, and it was expected early on to earn more than two medals in order to put the fire back in the medal race.

Now the only potential gold medal winner left is Moon Ui-jae (29, Samsung Life) in the 84kg freestyle event. There is also Taekwondo, in which we can collect gold medals just off the ground, but Korea has to adjust its original gold medal goal of 13 to a lower level.

Meanwhile, Chung Ji-hyun (Korea National Sport University) completely defeated Wlodzimierz Zawadzki of Poland by a score of 10-2 in the 60kg Greco-Roman wrestling match. Zawadzki was the 62kg level gold medalist at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

Choi Duk-hoon (Sungshin Cement) will not make it to the semifinals after being defeated 2-6 in a match against Filiberto Azcuy of Cuba, who is going for his third win at the Olympics.

Hwan Soo Zang zangpabo@donga.com