By Min Yea-Ji and Yoon Jihye
Photos = Yonhap News

Crowds at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will be able to witness many naturalized South Korean athletes.

At the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, short track speed skater Kong Sang-jeong, a third-generation descendant of Chinese immigrants to Korea, was the only naturalized South Korean athlete. However, this year 19 naturalized players are competing in the Winter Games for Korea, an all-time high. They aren’t only giving remarkable performances in the Games, but they’re also even touching the hearts of – and entertaining – the crowds.

Aileen Frisch and Timofei Lapshin are giving record performances in the history of Korean luge and biathlon, respectively.

The German-born Korean luger Aileen Frisch took seventh place among 30 contestants, with a combined time of 1:32.806 after her first two runs in the women's singles luge competition at the Alpensia Sliding Center in Pyeongchang, Gangwon-do Province, on Feb. 12.

In her third and fourth run on Feb. 13, she showed stable performances and finished eighth, with a combined time of 3:6.400. It was the best finish by a South Korean athlete ever in an Olympic luge competition.

The Russian-born Korean biathlete Timofei Lapshin clocked a time of 24:22.6 in the 10 km sprint competition and finished 16th among 87 contestants at the Alpensia Biathlon Center in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, on Feb. 11. He had a high accuracy rate, too, as he missed only one standing shot.

Fans at home and in the stadium are loving the performances of the naturalized Korean athletes, even though they’re competing in the relatively less popular snow and sledding sports.



It was also a naturalized Korean player who succeeded in scoring the team’s very first goal for the joint Korean team and the first ever by a South Korean female ice hockey player on Feb. 14.

The U.S.-born Korean ice hockey player Randi Griffin scored the historic goal against Japan in the Group B game of the women's hockey tournament at the Kwandong Hockey Center in Gangneung, Gangwon-do Province, on Feb. 14. The North Korean cheering squad and fans at the stadium erupted into cheers. The joint North-South team hugged one another and shared the moment of historic joy.

Randi Griffin said in a press conference after the match that, "It was a very lucky goal. The final result itself is disappointing, but I'm proud of what we have shown today. I'm satisfied with the result."





There were also some naturalized Korean players who were loved by the audience, regardless of their results.

The U.S.-born figure skater Alexander Gamelin didn't lose his composure and carried on to finish the performance with a smile on his face when his partner Min Yu-ra's costume slipped off during the ice dance team figure skating event at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, Gangwon-do Province, on Feb. 11.

The duo finished only in ninth place among 10 teams, with 51.97 points, but received warm support from the fans in their home country and also from the foreign press.

NBC said in its special PyeongChang Olympic page that, "Five seconds into your Olympic debut, you suffer a wardrobe malfunction. What do you do? Keep your shoulders back and keep smiling. That’s exactly what happened to South Korean ice dancers Min Yu-ra and Alexander Gamelin during their performance in Sunday’s team event." The New York Times introduced the figure skating pair by saying that, "Min Yu-ra and her ice dancing partner Alexander Gamelin had to overcome obstacles to make it to the Olympics."

jesimin@korea.kr