editorial

Every sportsperson wants to win a gold medal on the winner's rostrum.

But the wish is not fulfilled of its own accord.

The Taekwon-Do players of the DPRK have topped the country rankings from the 5th to the 23rd Taekwon-Do world championships.

They have been able to emerge victorious each time not just because they are the players of the homeland of Taekwon-Do.

When the DPRK contingent was making preparations for the 22nd championships, most of its players were novices who had not taken part in the senior-category contest.

Therefore, the coaches decided on the tactical plans based on an analysis of the past games and players launched into intensive training accordingly.

The players kept performing movements repeatedly to hone their special skills and the training was so intense they lost weight markedly.

And then one day the mother of a female player came from afar to see her daughter under training. She pathetically looked at her daughter drenched in sweat for a long while and said: “You know it’s no easy job to fly our national flag high in the sky of foreign countries. Cheer up. Not only our family but all our villagers want you to fly our national flag high in the sky around the world.”

It was not confined to the request of her mother.

Regarding the training ground as the venue of contest, a battlefield for demonstrating the dignity and honour of the country, the players trained hard without succumbing to the heavy burden of training.

By displaying such perseverance Hong Jin Gyong, who fell on the ground due to the punch of her rival in the final of the women's catchweight individual sparring at the 22nd Taekwon-Do World Championships, rose up again to perform a miracle of beating her opponent in the last 20 seconds.

After the bout, the opponent and her coach who came to see Hong said that ordinary players might have been unable to stand up, far from attacking, after taking such a powerful blow and admired Hong’s spiritual strength.

Previously, European players had usually won gold medals in heavyweight fights.

However, Tu Kum Song, who participated in the 23rd Taekwon-Do World Championships, ended the customary practice.

Though he weighed less than 90kg, Tu courageously played the over 92kg category contest and defeated all the opponents over 10kg heavier than him, thus winning a gold.

Out of delight, he sang the song "We Are Koreans", livening up spectators. Later, he wrote in his diary:

“I have an exceptional pride of being a Korean. It doesn’t matter, though I have a bruise on the body, a crack at the lip and a rip and bleeding at the eyelid. If only I can exalt the dignity and honour of my country, I will devote my all to that."