Korean athletes get toughened up at Marine Corps boot camp

Hundreds of Korean athletes who will compete at the Paris Olympics next year wrapped up a three-day military “boot camp” with the Korean Marine Corps in Pohang, North Gyeongsang on Wednesday.

Modern pentathlete Kim Sun-woo steps into the pool for a training exercise held at the 1st Marine Division in Pohang, North Gyeongsang from Dec. 18 to 20. [KSOC]

Hundreds of Korean athletes who will compete at the Paris Olympics next year wrapped up a three-day military “boot camp” with the Korean Marine Corps in Pohang, North Gyeongsang on Wednesday.

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) put athletes through specialized training exercises in a program meant to “strengthen their mental stamina” ahead of the next Olympic Games in 2024.

Athletes were trained on Korean Amphibious Assault Vehicles, armored vehicles that can transport marines and weapons from ships to land, and Inflatable Small Boats, durable rubber rafts also used in the navy, KSOC said.

According to KSOC, about 500 athletes and officials in the Korean delegation participated in the event, held at the 1st Marine Division headquarters in Pohang from Dec. 18 to 20.

“We prepared this camp to provide an opportunity to strengthen our athletes' determination for the upcoming Paris Summer Olympics,” KSOC Chairman Lee Kee-heung said in a press release Monday.

Lee, who has helmed KSOC since 2016, had reportedly floated the idea of a military boot camp for the Korean delegation after the Hangzhou Asian Games, where Korea placed third overall on the medal table behind No. 1 China and No. 2 Japan.

Members of the Korean national team pose in the shape of the Olympic rings during a Marine Corps. boot camp at Homigot in Pohang, North Gyeongsang on Tuesday. [NEWS1]

At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Korea took home six gold medals — four team and two individual — the fewest in four decades.

Lee, who has also been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 2019, welcomed the athletes with an opening ceremony at the Marine Corps headquarters in Pohang on Monday.

Among those attending the camp were high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok, swimmer Kim Woo-min, fencers Gu Bon-gil, Oh Sang-uk and Kim Jung-hwan, gymnast Yeo Seo-jeong, and archers Kang Chae-young and Choi Mi-sun, the KSOC said.

“It is meaningful that all the national team athletes, not just the fencers, can come together and strengthen their resolve before the Paris Olympics. I will do my best to win a gold medal in the spirit of the invincible marines at the Paris Olympics,” 34-year-old Gu, who won gold in men’s team sabre at the London Olympics in 2012 and Tokyo Olympics in 2021, said in a press release Tuesday.

Gu, along with a number of male athletes attending the boot camp, earned an exemption from mandatory military service by winning a medal at the Olympics or a gold medal at the Asian Games.

Both men and women attended the Olympic athletes boot camp.

“I think I was able to develop my physical strength and desire to win, and I want to prepare hard and bring good results at the Olympics,” Kim Ha-yun, who won a gold medal in the judo women’s +78 kilograms division at the Hangzhou Asian Games, said in a Tuesday press release.

Korea sent 232 athletes to the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The Paris Olympics are set to run from July 26 to Aug. 11 next year.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]