S. Korea to send 45 players to Vancouver Olympics

SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will field 45 players in four events at
the Vancouver Winter Olympics scheduled to take place in the Canadian city on
Feb. 12-28, the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) said Tuesday.
The KOC said the South Korean players -- 26 men and 19 women -- will compete in
skating, skiing, the biathlon and bobsleigh-skeleton.
There will be 28 players in the skating events, including reigning world champion
Kim Yu-na, who is expected to bring home the nation's first figure skating gold.
Including 18 coaches and 19 support officials, the South Korean squad will number
82 people, it noted.
The 82-person squad will be the nation's largest in the history of the Winter
Olympics. The nation sent a 75-member squad to the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics
in 2002.
The Winter Olympic Games will kick off for a 17-day run Feb. 12 in Vancouver
under the theme "With Glowing Hearts." An estimated 5,000 athletes and staff from
around the world will compete for 86 medals in seven sporting events -- skiing,
speed skating, biathlon, bobsled, luge, ice hockey and curling.
South Korea ranked seventh at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, with six golds,
three silvers and one bronze, though all the medals came from speed skating
events. In total, South Korea has won 31 Winter Olympics medals, with the short
track speed skating competition accounting for 29 of them.
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