Korea strikes gold in women’s javelin

Korea finished seventh last Sunday at the 16th Asian Athletics Championships, bumped up in the rankings by a gold medal on the last day of the 44-nation games in Incheon.
Park Ho-hyun, 27, won a gold medal in the women's javelin event with 55.58 meters (182 feet), and Lee Young-sun, 31, took silver, with 55.29 meters. Park is less well-known in athletics, having been outshone by Lee, who won gold medals in two consecutive championships, and Korean record holder Chang Jung-yeon, who threw 60.92 meters. Known for her speed and stamina, Park has a small physique, standing 1.66 meters and weighing 58 kilograms (127.87 pounds).
In the men's decathlon, Kim Kun-woo, 25, won a silver medal, coming in behind Andreev Pavel of Uzbekistan.
On Saturday, Lee Eun-jung won a silver medal in the women's 5,000-meter race with a record time (for Koreans) of 15 minutes 41.67 seconds. In the men's triple jump, Kim Duk-hyun, 23, also made a new Korean record by jumping 16.78 meters.
China took first place in the medal standings, with 15 gold medals, well ahead of Qatar (6), Japan and Saudi Arabia (5), and India (4). Korea won one gold, seven silver and one bronze medal.
The championships showed that Korea is falling behind in track and field. Except the women's 5,000 meters, Korean athletes failed in all of the distance events.

by Shin Dong-jae, Limb Jae-un