GANGNEUNG, South Korea -- The once-improbable Olympic journey has come to an end for the unified Korean women's hockey team, which, even with losses piling up, has been hailed in many corners as a symbol of peace.
Korea lost to Sweden 6-1 in the seventh place match of the women's tournament at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, and it was the team's final contest of the competition. Korea lost all five games it played here by a combined score of 28-2.
In the minds of those who engineer it all behind the scenes, from bureaucrats to national and international sports administrators, the team's win-loss record and other stats don't mean much in the big picture.
The 23 South Koreans and 12 North Koreans who came together for the Olympics came to represent peace on the divided Korean Peninsula. Technically at war with one another since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, the two sides had never fielded a joint team before at any Olympics.
They have held sports-related talks and engaged in sports exchanges in the past. But combining teams for the first Winter Olympics in South Korea was on a whole different level.
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Korean players celebrate after Han Soo-jin (R on the ice) scored a goal against Sweden during the seventh place match in the women`s hockey tournament of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics at Kwandong Hockey Centre in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, on Feb. 20, 2018. (Yonhap) |
During the opening ceremony of PyeongChang 2018, South Korean forward Park Jong-ah and North Korean forward Jong Su-hyon even carried the Olympic flame together, running up the steps while holding the torch before handing it over to the cauldron lighter, former figure skating star Kim Yu-na.
The unified team project was a divisive issue at the beginning. One camp said there couldn't have been a better way to realize PyeongChang's vision of hosting a "Peace Olympics" than bringing the two Koreas together. The other camp countered that South Korean athletes were being unfairly asked to cede their playing time and make room for North Koreans and that the two governments were using the sport of hockey as a political tool.
The team opened the Olympic tournament in a frenzied, circus-like atmosphere, with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the stands alongside Kim Yo-jong, sister of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The young team, with a handful of teenagers, was a nervous wreck and lost to Switzerland 8-0.
But the symbolism of having athletes from the two Koreas on the ice together overrode all else. It even prompted one International Olympic Committee member, Angela Ruggiero, to suggest the team should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
And yet, peacemaking and diplomatic maneuvering couldn't have been further from the players' minds, as they were busy building chemistry on the ice and friendships off the ice.
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Korean women`s hockey players huddle around the net before the start of their seventh place match against Sweden in the women`s hockey tournament of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics at Kwandong Hockey Centre in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, on Feb. 20, 2018. (Yonhap) |
At every opportunity, head coach Sarah Murray insisted she only had a team of hockey players, not political crusaders, and that once the players were mixed in the dressing room, Murray and her staff didn't see South Korean players and North Korean players -- they only saw players preparing for the Olympics the same way all the other teams were.
"We're not here to make a political statement. We're here to win," Murray said on Feb. 9, the eve of her team's first game.
"When we talk to the media, we realize it's a bigger issue. But for us, we're just a team preparing for the Olympics," she added. "This is our family, and this is our team. It's not about politics. It's about our team coming together and competing."
With a few Canadian and American-born players on the South Korean side, the language barrier was always going to be an issue once the teams were combined. But Murray has said the players have found ways to overcome that and that there has been plenty of hugging and laughing along the way. The coach even said some South Korean players taught their North Korean teammates how to dance to K-pop tunes in the locker room.
But the time will eventually come when the players have to bid farewell. The tournament ended for them on Tuesday, but the North Korean players will actually stay here for the closing ceremony on Sunday. That gives them a few more days of bonding and building memories.
After a practice session on Monday, some players and coaches spent some time taking souvenir photos at the training rink. Murray herself has built rapport with North Korean assistant Pak Chol-ho, and the coaches have also taken group photos.
Murray said Monday she planned to print out all the photos so that Pak "has memories to take back with him."
And after a hectic, five-games-in-11-days run, there will be more than enough memories for everyone involved. (Yonhap)
