Olympic skating champ Lee Sang-hwa named PyeongChang 2018 honorary ambassador

Two-time Olympic speed skating champion Lee Sang-hwa was appointed honorary ambassador for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games on Monday.

At a press conference in Seoul, Lee said she was honored to take the role in which she will promote South Korea's first Winter Olympic Games. 

"I will put my best effort forward to promote the PyeongChang Games as an ambassador and show a good performance as a skater," she said. 

Lee is the 16th honorary spokesperson for the Winter Games to be held in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul in Gangwon Province. Current and former South Korean athletes serving in the role are Olympic figure skating champ Kim Yu-na, former Olympic speed skater Lee Kyou-hyuk and Major League Baseball stars Choo Shin-soo and Ryu Hyun-jin.

Lee is the world record holder in the women's 500 meters with the time of 36.36 seconds. She was also the gold medalist at the 2010 Vancouver Games and the 2014 Sochi Olympics in the distance. 

In February, the 27-year-old won the 500m at the International Skating Union World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships in Kolomna, Russia, for the first time in three years, raising expectations for her third consecutive title run at the PyeongChang Games. 

Lee finished her 2015-2016 ISU World Cup season as No. 4 in rankings. She chose to sit out the final two World Cups to rest her ailing knee and slipped from No. 1 to No. 4 in the points rankings as a result.

The skater said she is focusing on her knee rehab before entering full training next month. Lee added that she is trying to beef up the muscles surrounding her knees so that she can skate without pain. 

"I will go to Canada for my training, which is the same format that I did last year," she said. "My goal is to get a good result at the World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships that will be held in South Korea next year."

The organizers said they expect Lee to drive up interest in winter sports as she is also expected to compete in the PyeongChang Games. 

"Although she will serve as an honorary ambassador, we will not interrupt her training," said Yeo Hyung-koo, the secretary general of the PyeongChang Olympics organizing committee. "We hope she will also stand atop the podium at the PyeongChang Olympics because that's a win-win situation for both the athlete and the games." (Yonhap)