A dream come true.
Some say it is a miracle, but the ones who earned it want to say that it is the fruit of their toil and sweat. They spent three years in an unfamiliar place far from their homes. Even with the Olympic Games coming, no one was interested, not even once, in them. Nevertheless, empty-handed, they managed to beat the odds and achieve the feat of making it to the top 10.
On August 25, the 2004 Athens Olympic equestrian mixed team jumping final round took place at the Marcopoulo Olympic Equestrian Stadium. After finishing in ninth place, the Korean team, comprising of Coach Choi Myung-jin (48), Woo Jung-ho (33), Hwang Soon-won (30), Sohn Bong-gak (30), and Joo Jung-hyun (30, all sponsored by Samsung Electronics) all hugged and cried as if they had won the competition.
They had achieved a valuable feat: for the first time in the Korean equestrian history, they had advanced to the final round and placed in the top 10. Coach Choi said tearfully, I am very happy, and I thank the players for doing well under such difficult conditions.
In this event, 16 countries compete in the first round, and only the top 10 advance to the final round to decide the medals. Korea participated in this event during the 1988 Seoul Olympics when it earned a spot as the host country, but it finished last. In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Korea once again placed at the bottom of the standings, and in the following Olympics in Atlanta, due to an injured horse, the team did not even get to compete.
At first it even seemed difficult for Korea to even participate in the Athens Olympics equestrian competition. After the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, it was decided that only 15 countries each with a four-member team - would be allowed to compete after a tough qualifying round.
In order to prepare for the 2004 Olympics, the Korean equestrian team, which had not even participated for two straight Olympics, set up its training camp at Muehlen, Germany, in April 2001. Since that time, the players only returned to Korea twice by the end of the year, and spent all their time training in Germany. The married team members, Choi and Hwang, were virtually separated from their spouses, and the other players also had to endure a solitary life without any friends in an unfamiliar place.
We spent the whole day thinking about horses, and the topic of our conversations was always about horses. The players would ride their horses in the morning and afternoon, and at night, they would study video tapes of outstanding European riders. They also learned advanced techniques from German world-class tutor Chocquet Muller, who led the Saudi Arabian team to a bronze medal at the Sydney Olympics. In addition to leading the team, every month Coach Choi drove three hours to Düsseldorf to buy Korean staples such as kimchi, rice, and other side dishes.
The Korean team participated in the International Obstacle Course Tournament held in Aachen, Germany in June of last year, and out of the 46 competing countries, it placed second after Japan, hence winning a ticket to Athens. It was quite a shocking event, considering the fact that Britain, an equestrian powerhouse, had lost its ticket to the Olympics while only the U.S., Japan, and New Zealand were among the non-European countries to advance to the Olympics.
The support of the Samsung Electronic Equestrian Team was also a great strength it poured in 12 billion won in funds over the course of the teams training period in Germany.
Other people may laugh, but in equitation, ninth place is equivalent to a medal in another sport. I would like to try to win a medal at the next Olympics in Beijing, said a chuckling coach Choi.