Three-time Olympic short track speed skating champion Choi Min-jeong was named an honorary ambassador for the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics in South Korea on Friday.
The organizing committee for the quadrennial competition in the east coast province of Gangwon added Choi to the growing list of its goodwill ambassadors.
In this file photo from March 12, 2023, Choi Min-jeong of South Korea holds up her silver medal from the women’s 1,000 meters at the International Skating Union World Short Track Speed Skating Championships at Mokdong Ice Rink in Seoul. (Yonhap)
Choi boasts three Olympic gold medals and 16 world titles on her decorated resume. She won the 1,500-meter and the 3,000-meter relay gold medals on home ice at PyeongChang 2018, and repeated as the 1,500m champion in Beijing last year.
Gangwon has already recruited two other South Korean winter sports legends in its preparation for the youth competition. Lee Sang-hwa, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in women’s 500m speed skating, is a co-president of the organizing committee. Lee, who retired after winning silver in 2018, still holds the world record time of 36.36 seconds, set in 2013.
Kim Yu-na, the 2010 women’s singles figure skating champion, is an honorary ambassador. Kim, who also won silver in 2014, remains the only South Korean with an Olympic figure skating medal.
Along with Choi, the 2018 Olympic men’s skeleton champion Yun Sung-bin, pianist Sunwoo Yekwon, actor Park Jae-min and ballerina Kim Joo-won were also named honorary ambassadors Friday.
Yang Jung-woong, artistic director of the opening ceremony at PyeongChang 2018, will oversee the ceremonies for Gangwon 2024. Song Seung-whan, executive creative director at the 2018 Winter Olympics, will chair the advisory panel for cultural events at the Winter Youth Olympics.
The 2024 Winter Youth Olympics will run from Jan. 19 to Feb. 1, with some 1,900 athletes from 70 countries competing for 81 gold medals in 15 events.
It will be the fourth iteration of the quadrennial event and the first to take place outside Europe. The first three competitions were in Austria, Norway and Switzerland.
Source: Yonhap News Agency