At the Olympics, the Korean ice hockey team will send a political signal of rapprochement. However, this is to the detriment of the host country’s sporting ambitions.
The officials can be celebrated for the historic Olympic deal between North and South Korea, but there is also resistance. The decision that the hostile countries will have to face the winter games in Pyeongchang (9. till 25. February) a joint women’s ice hockey team is controversial, especially in the host country.
The Korea Times reported that an online petition with about 40,000 supporters was sent to the South Korean government. It calls for a departure from the decision taken at the summit meeting of both countries in Lausanne on Saturday.
“The South Korean athletes are becoming victims of the government’s decision to form a joint ice hockey team just a few weeks before the Olympics,”said Na Kyung-won, a politician for the newspaper.
There is also resentment within the team. Sarah Murray, the Canadian national coach of the South Korean team, revealed that she was initially “shocked”. The idea itself appealed to her,”but it’s something else, having to take in Olympic players so close to the Olympics now than it was two or three years ago.”
Murray, daughter of former NHL trainer Andy Murray, is worried about the team spirit. The chemistry between North and South Koreans is unlikely to be the best among athletes, and the merger will also prevent some South Koreans from accumulating.
At least three North Koreans must be on the constellation sheet. Murray also cares about the sporting success. She does not believe that even a North Korean woman can strengthen her first three rows.
Murray has to know that South Korea beat their rival 3-0 at the 2017 World Cup. Reinforced by Americans and Canadians with South Korean roots, the Murray team has long since outstripped its rivals in sport, and at the games in their own country they also wanted to annoy the big players. For this project, the politically forced unification with North Korea could be a bitter setback.
“This will cause unrest on the team, because she has been playing for years and now has to integrate foreign players,”says the German national goalkeeper Jennifer Harß to the SID:”Women’s ice hockey has also evolved. If there’s a drop in performance among the players, it’s noticeable on the ice.”
Like Harß, Olympic champion Hayley Wickenheiser of the IOC Athletes’ Commission also welcomed the political message, but the former world-class ice-hockey player criticized the lack of gender equality.
Wickenheiser told the industry service “insidethegames”that a mixed team is not going to compete in the men’s event as well “clearly not an example for the support and promotion of equality in the Olympic movement”.
The effect of the decision will be so great for women’s ice hockey,”said Rene Fasel, President of the World Ice Hockey Federation IIHF. Previously, IOC President Thomas Bach had already raved about the “Olympic Embassy”, which is based on a unified Korean team.