With only two weeks left until the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, the national team attended a special launch ceremony for Team Korea on January 23.

The Korean Olympic Committee held the special event at the Korea National Training Center in Taeneung, Seoul. Their goal is to rank in the top-ten in number of gold medals for the third consecutive time. This is so far the largest contingent of athletes and staff to be sent from Korea in the country’s history of the Winter Olympics.

Nearly 80 people, including athletes, coaches and staff, attended the event. Only absent were those currently training overseas, such as the short track, luge and curling teams. Attendees of the event included Prime Minister Chung Hongwon and Minister of Culture, Sports, Tourism Yoo Jinryong as well as Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) President Kim Jung-haeng. These officials delivered words of encouragement to the athletes and urged them fight well in the upcoming games.



At the event, the athletes each received a special badge, a first for the KOC, in a hope of boosting the pride and morale of the nation’s finest athletes. The snowflake-shaped badge symbolizes the six sports in which the athletes will compete: skiing, skating, biathlon, bobsleigh, curling and luge. The snowflake is also the official mascot of the Sochi Games.

The athletes will depart for Sochi by chartered plane. Korea aims to win more than four gold medals in the games and rank somewhere in the top-ten for the third time in a row at a Winter Olympics.

The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games will begin with an opening ceremony at the Fisht Olympic Stadium on February 7. A total of 98 events across 15 disciplines in 7 sports will be held until February 23. A total of 64 Korean athletes will compete in six of the sports, all except ice hockey: 28 in skating, 16 in bobsleigh and luge, 13 in skiing, 5 in curling and 2 in biathlon.

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
arete@korea.kr