Korean equestrian team hobbled as horses forced to take 5,000-mile detour

The Korean equestrian team may not be able to compete in the Asian Games this September, after the Korea Equestrian Federation asked each athlete to contribute 100 million won ($75,000) of their own money to cover a hole in the transportation budget

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The Korean equestrian team may not be able to compete in the Hangzhou Asian Games this September, after the Korea Equestrian Federation (KEF) this week asked each athlete to contribute 100 million won ($75,000) of their own money to cover a huge hole in the horse transportation budget.

The KEF informed athletes Monday that they would have to find a way to raise 100 million won each in order to compete in the Asian Games in September.

The extraordinary request, made after a meeting of the KEF board on Monday, came as the federation grapples with existing financial problems and the severely inflated cost of transporting horses to this year's Asian Games.

The entire equestrian bill for this year's Games — including transporting the horses and stabling them — for the nine Korean athletes that have qualified for the Asiad is expected to total about 1.3 billion won, more than double the 500-million-won bill for the 2018 Asian Games.

The main reason for the dramatic price hike is the Chinese organizing committee's decision to sign an exclusive transportation contract with German agency Peden Bloodstock — a company whose core business is to fly horses for international sporting events.

Under the deal reached with the organizing committee, the only commercial way to fly horses to the Asiad is with Peden Bloodstock, according to the KEF. But Peden Bloodstock only fly into Huangzhou from Europe, meaning that all participating horses traveling from the Asian countries that compete in the Asian Games have to make a 5,000-mile detour through Europe — and pay for it.

The only way to avoid that cost is to charter a plane to fly the horses directly to China, the KEF says, but that option is even further outside of the budget.

The inflated cost of getting to this year's Games is only part of the problem for the KEF. The federation has been struggling to make ends meet since 2017, when it was revealed during the lead up to Park Geun-hye's impeachment that Samsung had donated large amounts of money to the federation and to then-equestrian Chung Yoo-ra in particular.

The donations to Chung, the daughter of Park's confidante Choi Soon-sil, were seen as a way to curry favor with the administration and were at the center of a bribery and embezzlement conviction against Samsung's de facto head Lee Jae-yong.

After that story broke, donations to the federation quickly dried up.

Kim Hyeok, who took silver and bronze at the 2018 Asian Games, is one of the nine qualified athletes who is unclear if he will be able to compete at this year’s Asiad.

Kim Hyeok [YONHAP]

“I have to pay the entire fee out of my pocket, but they told me to inform them about whether I want to compete by Friday,” Kim said during an interview with KBS. “If all eight horses participate, it will cost 100 million won per person.”

If any of the nine members fail to pay, the federation will offer their spot to members of the reserves — if they're able to foot the bill.

That means Kim will lose his spot on the national team if he does not pay the fee, despite having secured his place after finishing the selection contest in second place last year.

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee is also unable to help, saying that official support will only extend to flight tickets for the athletes and uniforms.

The Asian Games will start on Sept. 22 in Hangzhou, China.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]