Short track speed skater Rim Jong-un trains at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy, Wednesday (local time). Yonhap
Teen short track speed skater Rim Jong-un grew up idolizing Lim Hyo-jun, and it was Lim's gold medal-winning race in the men's 1,500 meters at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games that planted the seeds of Rim's own Olympic dreams.
On Thursday, Rim, 18, will get to skate alongside Lim in the same quarterfinal group in the men's 1,000m at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. But there is a twist: Lim is no longer skating for Korea.
He is now officially Lin Xiaojun of China, having switched allegiance in 2021 after facing sexual harassment charges, since overturned.
Lin Xiaojun will always be Lim Hyo-jun in Rim's heart, but at least on Thursday, he will put aside his admiration for the veteran skater and try to beat him for a spot in the semifinals.
"Our group has other strong skaters," Rim said after a training session at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Wednesday, referring to Jens van 't Wout of the Netherlands and Luca Spechenhauser of Italy.
"So I can't afford to worry about just one skater," Rim added. "I have to keep many others in mind as I prepare for that race."
Rim said he had run into Lin several times at the cafeteria inside the athletes' village, and the 29-year-old encouraged the youngster not to get too nervous.
In the days leading up to his first Winter Olympics, Rim had said the big competition didn't seem any different to him than other international events, because he was mostly going up against the same group of opponents that he sees elsewhere.
Rim admitted Wednesday, though, that races in the Olympics were very different indeed.
Source: Korea Times News
