Unified Korea team grabs historic gold at Asian Games
Athletes from North and South Korea combined to win an Asian Games gold medal for the first time in their history with victory in the women’s 500 meters dragon boating on Sunday.
The two Koreas, competing together after a rapid improvement in cross-border relations, took gold with a time of two minutes and 24.788 seconds, edging past China on 2:25.092.
It was the first gold at a major Games for a Unified Korea team, and came nearly three decades after their last title together -- in the women’s team event at the 1991 world table tennis championships.
North and South Korea have also joined forces in rowing and women’s basketball at the regional Olympics following a rapid improvement in relations this year.
At last week’s opening ceremony, the Korean teams marched together behind the Unified Korea flag, held aloft jointly by South Korean women’s basketball player Lim Yung- hui and North Korean footballer Ju Kyong Chol.
They also competed together in women’s ice hockey at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February, an event that ushered in a series of reconciliatory moves.
In Jakarta, world champion Rose Chelimo made light of brutal conditions on Sunday to scoop Asian Games gold for Bahrain with a runaway win in the women’s marathon.
The Kenyan-born athlete produced a devastating break from the leading pack after
the 25-kilometre mark in Jakarta and ploughed a lonely furrow as she crossed the line to win in a modest time of two hours, 34 minutes and 51 seconds.
Chelimo’s gold continued Bahrain’s recent Asian Games success in the marathon after Eunice Kirwa and Hasan Mahboob -- both also born in Kenya -- won the women’s and men’s titles in 2014.
Despite smashing her rivals in a slow race to take gold, Chelimo admitted that Jakarta’s heat and poor air quality had caused her problems.
“It was bad, it was too hot,” the 29-year- old told AFP. “I felt something in my throat too. The air here, you feel like it’s hard to breathe.
“I felt like I wasn’t going to finish but I found some morale and hope to keep going. Thank God I finished with no harm.”