(Winter Olympics) N. Korean performs impressively in speed skating

VANCOUVER, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's Ko Hyon-suk failed to win a medal in
the women's 500 meter speed skating event at the Vancouver Winter Olympics on
Tuesday but finished ninth, signaling a possible revival of the North's speed
skating competitiveness.
In the 500m race, won by South Korea's Lee Sang-hwa, the North Korean female
skater clocked in at 77.47 seconds, ranking ninth among 35 athletes and falling
behind Chinese bronze medalist Wang Beixing by just 0.84 seconds.
Ko, the lone female speed skater representing the communist North at the
Olympics, finished 15th in the first run with 38.89 seconds before recording
38.57 seconds in her second and last round.
The 23-year-old won the women's 500m and 1,000m events at an international speed
skating competition in Norway in 2008. She again won the two events at the 2009
Challenge Cup hosted by Germany.
North Korea won the silver medal in the women's 3,000m speed skating at the 1964
Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. It won a bronze in female short track event at the
1992 Olympics in Albertville, but has since failed to capture any Winter Olympic
medal.
Ko's performance in Vancouver raised hopes for North Korea's future capabilities
in speed skating, sports officials and commentators say.
karenlee@yna.co.kr
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