Shopping for medals
S. Korea boosts its chances by luring other nations’ Olympians.
Jeré Longman and Chang W. Lee PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA — When Aileen Frisch of Germany became the world junior luge champion in 2012, it might have seemed that her Olympic future was set. It was, but for a country she never expected — South Korea.
After South Korea won hosting rights to the 2018 Winter Games in 2011, the country needed to turn Pyeongchang, a little-known hamlet 100 miles east of Seoul, into a winter sports capital capable of staging competitions in 15 sports and housing 3,000 athletes and thousands more Olympic officials, journalists and visitors. It also needed a luge team.
South Korea has experienced limited Olympic success in winter sports. Of its 53 medals, 42 have come in short-track speedskating, nine in long-track speedskating and two in figure skating. None have come in the sliding sports of bobsled, luge or skeleton.
So South Korea followed a familiar strategy for host nations that do not excel at winter sports and do not want to be embarrassed before a home audience: It went shopping, hiring a number of foreign coaches and granting citizenship to athletes from other countries. South Korea found a luger from Germany. Hockey players from the United States and Canada. Biathletes from Russia. A cross-country skier from Norway. An ice dancer from Boston.
The strategy fostered cultural resentment and awakening. All told, 19 athletes were granted citizenship by South Korea on its team of 144 participants in the Winter Games. While precise statistics are not kept, this appears to be the largest number of athletes naturalized by the host country of a Winter Games, according to Bill Mallon, an Olympic historian from the United States who keeps a database of roughly 140,000 athletes.
Rule 41 of the Olympic Charter permits athletes to change their nationalities, but they must generally wait three years before participating for a second nation in the games, unless the rule is waived. Some naturalized South Korean athletes have birth or familial ties to the country and have gained dual citizenship. Others are essentially Olympic mercenaries, including Frisch, who had mixed feelings about competing for South Korea when the host nation initially approached her.
“I didn’t feel Korean, I didn’t speak Korean,” she said. “It sounded a little crazy.”
Germany dominates luge. The country has four luge tracks and nearly a quarter of the world’s courses for elite competitions. At the 2014 Winter Games, German lugers won all four available gold medals. Frisch failed to make that sliding team. Competition and pressure are immense to make the country’s Olympic squad. Discouraged, she retired in 2015 at age 22.
“It was frustrating,” Frisch, now 25, said. “I didn’t have much fun anymore.”
Then came an unexpected call. South Korea’s luge federation hired a German, Steffen Sartor, as its national coach. And Sartor contacted Frisch in late 2015 to gauge her interest in competing for South Korea in the Games. Her first response was no.
In early 2016, a second entreaty came. This time Frisch reconsidered. She missed traveling and competing. And she was drawn to South Korea’s history of existing on a divided peninsula. In some ways, it resembled Germany’s own rived past.
She took 40 hours of language, history and cultural lessons from a teacher in Germany, then moved to South Korea and immersed herself in the language and the culture. At first, some South Korean lugers were wary of her presence, Frisch said.
“I got the feeling that some of my teammates thought I should have not come,” she said. “They thought I’m just a foreigner and were afraid I would take their place. They did not see that I could also help them to become better.”
In December 2016, Frisch received South Korean citizenship after passing an interview where she answered questions about Korean historical figures and sang the country’s national anthem. She also got better at luge. “I’m having fun again,” Frisch said. “I reached skills I never had in Germany.”
Recruiting is essential for a Winter Games, whose sports are mostly obscure and generate a relatively limited pool of athletes. Even a winter power like Russia used two naturalized athletes — a Korean-born short-track speedskater named Viktor Ahn and an American-born snowboarder named Vic Wild — to win five of its nine gold medals as host of the 2014 Winter Games.
Eleven of South Korea’s naturalized Olympians in 2018 are on its men’s (seven) and women’s (four) hockey teams. The sport’s international governing body strongly encouraged South Korea’s Olympic officials to recruit foreigners to become competitive, said Yang Seung-jun, the chief of Olympic planning and preparation for the South Korean Ice Hockey Association.
While there was no opposition from Korean-born coaches and players, Yang said, “The most difficult part was Korean people’s sentiment against foreign players. Koreans are very ethnocentric. We had to work very hard to win their heart.”
For some South Korean Olympians, dual citizenship has brought a reconnection with the land of their birth.
The postseason gets underway for boys basketball tonight. Here’s a breakdown of this week’s district tournament schedule, and the favorites for each tournament in the area:
DISTRICT 9-9A
Favorite: Wellington Prediction: Wellington over Palm Beach Central in the final
All games at Wellington Tuesday: (4) Jupiter vs. (5) Palm Beach Gardens, 6 p.m.; (3) John I. Leonard vs. (6) Seminole Ridge, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday: (2) Palm Beach Central vs. John I. Leonard/ Seminole Ridge winner, 6 p.m.; (1) Wellington vs. Jupiter/Palm Beach Gardens winner, 7:30 p.m.
Friday: Championship game, 7 p.m.
DISTRICT 10-9A
Favorite: Lake Worth Prediction: Lake Worth over Atlantic
Semifinals and finals at Spanish River
Tuesday: (7) Park Vista at (3) Santaluces, 7 p.m.; (5) Boca Raton at (4) Spanish River, 7 p.m.
Wednesday: Santaluces/ Park Vista winner vs. (2) Atlantic, 6 p.m.; Spanish River/Boca Raton winner vs. (1) Lake Worth, 7:30 p.m. Friday: Championship game, 7 p.m.
DISTRICT 13-8A
Favorite: Dwyer
Prediction: Dwyer over Forest Hill in the final Semifinals and finals at Dwyer
Tuesday: (5) Boynton Beach at (4) Royal Palm Beach, 7 p.m.; (7) West Boca Raton at (2) Forest Hill, 7 p.m.; (6) Olympic Heights at (3) Palm Beach Lakes, 7 p.m. Wednesday: Forest Hill/ West Boca Raton winner vs. Palm Beach Lakes/Olympic Heights winner, 6 p.m.; (1) Dwyer vs. Royal Palm Beach/ Boynton Beach winner, 7:30 p.m.
Friday: Championship game, 7 p.m.
DISTRICT 15-6A Favorites: Port St. Lucie, Suncoast Prediction: Suncoast over Port St. Lucie in the final
All games at Port St. Lucie Wednesday: (2) Suncoast vs. (3) Fort PierceWestwood, 5:30 p.m.; (1) Port St. Lucie vs. (4) Lincoln Park Academy, 7 p.m.
Friday: Championship game, 7 p.m.
DISTRICT 11-5A
Favorite: Oxbridge Academy Prediction: Oxbridge Academy over Inlet Grove in the final
Semifinals and finals at Oxbridge Academy
Today: (5) King’s Academy at (4) Glades Central, 7 p.m. Wednesday: (1) Oxbridge Academy vs. King’s Academy/ Glades Central winner, 5 p.m.; (2) Cardinal Newman vs. (3) Inlet Grove, 7 p.m.
Friday: Championship game, 7 p.m.
DISTRICT 12-5A
Favorites: Saint John Paul II Academy
Prediction: Saint John Paul II Academy over St. Andrew’s in the final
All games at Coconut CreekNorth Broward Prep Tuesday: (5) American Heritage vs. (4) North Broward Prep, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday: (1) Saint John Paul II Academy vs. North Broward Prep/American Heritage winner, 5:30 p.m.; (2) Coral Springs Charter vs. (3) St. Andrews, 7 p.m. Friday: Championship game, 7 p.m.
DISTRICT 5-4A
Favorite: Fort LauderdaleWestminster Academy Prediction: Fort LauderdaleWestminster Academy over Benjamin in the final Semifinals and finals at Fort Lauderdale-Westminster Academy
Today: (3 North) Port St. Lucie-Somerset Prep at (2 North) Benjamin (Lower School campus), 7 p.m.; (3 South) Yeshiva at (2) Somerset Canyons, 7 p.m. Wednesday: Benjamin/ Somerset Prep winner vs. (1 North) Fort Pierce-John Carroll, 5:30 p.m.; Somerset Canyons/Yeshiva winner vs. (1 South) Westminster Academy, 7 p.m. Saturday: Championship game, 7 p.m.
DISTRICT 7-3A
Favorites: Village Academy, Jupiter Christian
Prediction: Jupiter Christian over Village Academy in the final
Semifinals and finals at Pompano Beach-Highlands Christian Academy
Tuesday: Odyssey Charter/ Trinity Christian winner at (1) Village Academy, 7 p.m.; (5) Highlands Christian at (4) Lake Worth Christian, 7 p.m.; (7) Vero Beach-St. Edward’s at (2) Jupiter Christian, 7 p.m.; (6) Berean Christian at (3) Boca Raton Christian, 7 p.m. Friday: Jupiter Christian/
St. Edward’s winner vs. Boca Raton Christian/Berean Christian winner, 5 p.m.; Village Academy/Odyssey or Trinity Christian winner vs. Lake Worth Christian/Highlands Christian winner, 7 p.m. Saturday: Championship game, 7 p.m.
DISTRICT 7-2A
Favorite: Grandview Prep Prediction: Grandview
Prep over Atlantic Christian Academy in the final
All games at Grandview Prep Today: (5) Hollywood Christian vs. (4) ImmokaleeDonahue, 5 p.m.
Tuesday: (6) Glades Day vs. (3) Hollywood-Sheridan Hills, 4:30 p.m.; (7) Donna Klein Jewish Academy vs. (2) Atlantic Christian Academy, 6 p.m.
Friday: Glades Day/Sheridan Hills winner vs. Donna Klein/ Atlantic Christian Academy winner, 5 p.m.; Hollywood Christian/Donahue Academy winner vs. (1) Grandview Prep, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday: Championship game, 7 p.m.
DISTRICT 8-1A
Favorite: Wildwood Prediction: Wildwood over Frostproof in the final Championship game to be played at higher seed. Tuesday: (3) Fort Meade at (2) Frostproof, 6 p.m.; (4) Pahokee at (1) Wildwood, 6 p.m.
Friday: Championship game, 7 p.m.