Lee, Eun-Ju (20. Sangmoo), who won the bronze medal at the female 24.2km road individual race, which was the first cycle match of the Asian Games in Busan on the 30th, was totally obscure.
Lee, Eun-Ju was selected in the national team at the end of June, which was only 3 months away from the Games. Of course, it was her first time to put the Taekuk patch on her chest.
It was Park, Ha-Jung (25. City of Naju) who was originally selected to run the road individual race. Im, Hyang-Joon (22. Cycle Race Team), who won the first place in this division at last year’s National Athletic Festival, changed to 3km race, and Park, Ha-Jung was in the 2nd place.
It was last March when the cycle world was agitated. Lee, Eun-Ju was appeared like Cinderella at the ‘March the First Memorial Tournament’ and won the 1st place. A ‘big senior’ Park, Ha-Jung won the title at the next tournament, the President’s Cup on June.
The Cycle Association, which was in agony, did an evaluation for Lee, Eun-Ju and Park, Ha-Jung during the practice, and Lee, Eun-Ju got the fortune to be selected in the national team.
It was a medal for her first international game since the beginning of her systematic practice 3 months ago, so the experts said, if she reinforce endurance and breathing capacity, the gold medal would be sure for her in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.
Lee, Eun-Ju, who started cycling when she was a high school junior, decided to quit after graduating from high school because there was no team to go, but with help of intense training for short period of time in persuasion of the female team coach of the Sangmoo Team, Park, Jung-Sook, she could wear the medal on her neck. Coach Park said, although she had average physical appearances with 1m65, 56kg, her game spirit was the best.
Lee, Eun-Ju said, “I was grasping even the silver medal because my condition was good this morning, but I was so shaky during the game that I couldn’t even think,” and “I will gain some more experience and get the gold medal in 4 years for sure.”