The South Korean delegation for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in London vowed to strive for victory, at a ceremony in Seoul Wednesday.
Around 280 members of the delegation that comprises 245 athletes and 129 sports officials were present at the ceremony to pledge to give their all at the London Games set to open on July 27.
The ceremony was also attended by Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choe Kwang-sik and Korean Olympic Committee president Park Yong-sung.
Lee Ki-hong, the head of the Korean Olympic team, waves the national flag after it was handed over from Park Yong-sung, the president of the Korean Olympic Committee, during the Korean delegation’s inaugural ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics in Seoul on Wednesday. (Ahn Hoon/The Korea Herald)
“I am well aware that you have endured countless pains to be able to stand here,” President Lee Myung-bak said in a video message to the athletes. “Just because you are standing here means you are great winners.”
The number of athletes is the smallest for a Summer Olympics since the 1984 Los Angeles Games, when South Korea sent 210 competitors.
South Korea hopes to win at least 10 gold medals and finish in the top 10 in medal standings. It has ranked among the top 10 in five of the past six Summer Olympics.
The country will be represented in 22 of 26 sports at the London Games but did not qualify to compete in basketball, tennis, equestrian or canoe events.
Yoon Kyung-shin, a veteran athlete on the men’s handball team, will carry the national flag at the opening ceremony, the KOC said.
This will be Yoon’s fifth Summer Olympics.
At 39, the 203-centimeter tall Yoon is also the oldest and the tallest South Korean athlete who will compete at the London Games.
(Yonhap News)
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
