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OLYMPICS

Football legend Park Ji-sung named as first torch bearer

Korean football icon Park Ji-sung has been named the first torchbearer for the first Winter Olympics to take place in his native country.

The organizing committee for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games said Wednesday that Park, the former men’s national team captain, will carry the torch first after the lighting and handover ceremonies in Ancient Olympia, Greece, on Oct. 24.

Park, 36, was one of Korea’s most iconic football stars until his retirement in 2014. He represented the country at three FIFA World Cups, scoring at least a goal in each of the three tournaments. He won 100 caps for Korea, one of nine Koreans in the century club. The former Manchester United midfielder is also the first Korean to play in the English Premier League (EPL).

Park is an Olympian himself, having played at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games. He was named an honorary ambassador for PyeongChang 2018 in August this year.

The torch will tour Greece, the birthplace of the modern Olympics, before arriving in Korea on Nov. 1, when the countdown to PyeongChang will reach 100 days. The relay will have 7,500 runners cover 2,018 kilometers (1254 miles), a nod to the year in which the Olympics will take place, and travel through nine provinces, eight major cities, and 151 counties and districts under the slogan “Let Everyone Shine.”

Yonhap


BASEBALL

SK Wyverns hire veteran pundit as pitching coach

The SK Wyverns announced they have hired Son Hyuk, a commentator for MBC Sports Plus, as the Wyverns’ pitching coach on Thursday. Son will join the Wyverns’ coaching staff on Oct. 19.

Prior to Son, Dave Jorn spent a year as the Wyverns’ pitching coach along with Choi Sang-deok. With Jorn’s leave, Son will be the main pitching coach for the 2018 season and Choi will work as the Wyverns’ bullpen pitching coach.

“[The addition of Son] is to strengthen our bullpen as well as our game management, considering our weakness,” said Yeom Kyung-yup, general manager of the Wyverns.

Looking at Jorn’s career as a pitching coach, he is more familiar among the collegiate teams in the United States.

From 2003 to 2016, while serving as a pitching coach for the University of Arkansas, he helped the team to six College World Series.

Jorn joined the Wyverns along with Trey Hillman this season. For the Wyverns, Jorn was the first foreign pitching coach since 2011. Though he helped stabilize the team’s pitching rotation, allowing it to reach the Wildcard, Jorn failed to improve the Wyverns’ bullpen, which has been inconsistent throughout the season.

By Kang Yoo-rim
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