Trading nations for an Olympic ticket
GOYANG, South Korea : Fidgeting nervously, Canadian ice hockey defenceman Alex Plante cleared his throat and addressed a roomful of Olympic officials in a halting new language: “I want to represent South Korea.”
South Korea is among the world’s most racially homogenous nonisland societies but its ice hockey teamisbecomingunusuallydiverse as Seoul seeks to avoid humiliation at the rink when it hosts next year’s Winter Olympics.
Following a change in the law, a steady stream of imports have been given new passports and places in the squad, making it one-third white, even though the population is around 96 percent ethnically Korean.
Plante, a journeyman in his eighth year of professional hockey, played in the US, Norway, Austria and Germany before coming to South Korea nearly two years ago.
Aged 29, his carefully memorised five-line address to the Korean Olympic Committee was a key
It was an opportunity that we thought could happen. We decided to come here so we invested everything that we can.
step in probably his last chance to appear on the sport’s biggest international stage.
“It was an opportunity that we thought could happen,” he told AFP. “We decided to come here so we invested everything that we can.”
If his application is approved he will become the seventh North American on the team.
South Korea sit 23rd in the world ice hockey rankings and have never qualified for the Winter Olympics’ blue riband event.
But as the host nat ion of Pyeongchang 2018 they have an automatic berth and are scrambling to build a competitive roster to avoid embarrassment.
Dual citizenship is generally prohibited in South Korea, but Seoul revised its immigration law to allow “qualified” foreign nat ionals to hold mult iple citizenships.
At a practice in Goyang on the outskirts of the capital, the new South Koreans were easily spotted amid a pack of players in blue and white uniforms emblazoned “KOREA”.
“It’s a different jersey than you grew up looking at and cheering for,” said Canadian-born defenceman Eric Regan.
Never drafted, Regan bounced around teams, leagues, and countries until he came to South Korea three years ago to play for one of its three professional clubs, and was eventually offered a new passport and a spot on the national team.
As “a Caucasian playing for an Asian country”, it took “a little bit of adjustment” before he could fully embrace his new uniform, he admitted. — AFP
Alex Plante, Canadian ice hockey defenceman