BEIJING -- After his first training run through the Olympic track, South Korean Olympic skeleton champion Yun Sung-bin remained as pessimistic about his chances as ever. At a media conference near the end of January, Yun, the 2018 men's singles gold medalist, had given a brutally honest self-assessment, saying he didn't regard himself as a medal contender for the Beijing Winter Games. Yun struggled through the most recent International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup season

Hwang Hee, the minister of culture, sports and tourism, will lead the South Korean government delegation to the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, his ministry said Tuesday. With President Moon Jae-in not traveling to the Chinese capital for the Feb. 4-20 competition, the government decided to make Hwang, the top Cabinet minister for sports, the chief delegate, according to the ministry. 　In Beijing, Hwang will attend the opening ceremony on Feb. 4, and support and encourage South Korean athl

South Korea announced Tuesday it will have 63 athletes compete in six sports during the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics. It will be the country's third-largest athletic delegation to the Winter Games, behind 146 athletes for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics on home soil and 71 athletes for the 2014 event in Sochi, Russia. South Korea will also have 61 officials accompanying those athletes during the Feb. 4-20 competition. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee has said the goal is to w

GANGNEUNG -- The South Korean women's curling team will go on a quest for its second straight Olympic medal at the same Beijing venue where the country's Summer Games history was written nearly 14 years ago. At the Feb. 4-20 Beijing Winter Olympics, curling matches will take place at the National Aquatics Center, which held swimming races when the Chinese capital hosted the 2008 Summer Games. It was there on Aug. 10, 2008, that Park Tae-hwan won gold in the men's 400m freestyle swimming. Park,

Nearly two-thirds of South Koreans have no interest in the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, a survey showed Friday. Gallup Korea polled 1,002 South Korean adults from Tuesday to Thursday on their thoughts on the Feb. 4-20 Winter Games in the Chinese capital. And 65 percent said they were not interested, compared with 32 percent who showed an interest in the competition. The other 3 percent declined to answer. In the same poll conducted prior to the 2018 Winter Olympics in the South Korean hos

The South Korean four-man bobsleigh team led by an Olympic medal-winning pilot had its best performance of the season in the final race before the Beijing Winter Games. Won Yun-jong led his quartet to a 10th place finish at the season-ending International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Sunday (local time), with a combined time of 2:10.28 after two runs. Won, who won a four-man bobsleigh silver at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, had hov

Of the seven medals that South Korea won in speed skating at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, none was more surprising than the out-of-the-blue silver by Cha Min-kyu in the men's 500m. Sure, he had won an odd medal here and there at other international races, but an Olympic podium finish was completely unexpected. But lost in the hoopla over that silver was just how close Cha came to winning gold. At 34.42 seconds, Cha ended up only 0.01 second back of the gold medalist, Havard Lorentzen

Figure skater Cha Jun-hwan is bound for his second straight Winter Olympics after winning the final national team trials on Sunday. Cha handily won the second leg of the two-stage Beijing Olympic trials in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province. Cha finished with 283.31 points overall, with 185.00 points in Sunday's free skate and 98.31 points in Saturday's short program. Cha had also won the first leg of the trials in December with 239.16 points. He had 522.47 combi

In a last-ditch effort to regain eligibility for the Beijing Winter Games, South Korean Olympic short track speed skating champion Shim Suk-hee has filed for a court injunction against a ban by the sport's national federation, a source said Thursday. The source, privy to the legal proceedings, said Shim asked the Seoul Eastern District Court on Monday to nullify a two-month suspension by the Korea Skating Union (KSU), which was issued on Dec. 21 last year. The court plans to hold a hearing for

The four figure skaters to represent South Korea at the Beijing Winter Olympics will be determined in the final national team trials Sunday. The second leg of the two-day Olympic trials will open Saturday in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province. Saturday will feature short programs for the men's and women's singles, followed by free skates for both disciplines Sunday. South Korea has secured two quota places in each of the men's and women's singles. The top two sk

With one month to go before the Beijing Winter Olympics, South Korean bobsleigh pilot Won Yun-jong seems to be finally hitting his stride. After a series of mediocre showings, Won and his brakeman, Kim Jin-su, posted their first top-10 finishes of this season in the two-man bobsleigh at the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup in Sigulda, Latvia, over the weekend. On New Year's Day, they ranked a season-high ninth with a combined time of 1:39.77 after two runs. Th

With only about a month left until the start of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, South Korea still doesn't know if one of its best medal hopes will compete in China. That bit of uncertainty is unwelcoming for a country that may fall well short of the glory it enjoyed as the host of the previous Winter Olympics four years ago. The athlete in question is Shim Suk-hee, a two-time gold medalist in short track speed skating. On Dec. 21, Shim was suspended for two months by the Korea Skating Uni

With the new year having dawned, the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games are on the horizon, as problems ranging from a global pandemic to diplomatic boycotts to lack of star power threaten to plague preparations for China's next global showcase. The 24th Winter Olympics will open on Feb. 4 and wrap up on Feb. 20. It will be the last of three consecutive Olympic Games to take place in East Asia. South Korea started the unprecedented streak with the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Japan follo

South Korean Olympic short track champion Shim Suk-hee has declined to appeal a recent two-month ban, an official confirmed Thursday, though the skater is mulling other options to get herself reinstated for the Beijing Winter Games in February. The Korea Skating Union (KSU) slapped Shim with the two-month penalty on Dec. 21, over her disparaging remarks on South Korean teammates and coaches in text messages during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Shim had until Wednesday to submit her appe

South Korea will host a meeting of over 200 national Olympic committees in 2022, one year after losing the event to the coronavirus pandemic. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) announced Monday that Seoul will host the 26th General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) on Oct. 19 and 20 in 2022. The KSOC added it won the right to bring the event home during the 25th General Assembly in Greece this week. Seoul had been chosen as host of the 25th ANOC Ge