Kim Sun-tae Photo:VCG

As China's short-track speed skating team has seen Olympic success, two heroes behind their gold medals are lauded: South Korean head coach Kim Sun-tae and the team's technical adviser Viktor Ahn Hyun-soo. 

Kim was exhilarated, kneeling on the mats, pumping his fists, as China's Wu Dajing edged out his rivals in Saturday's mixed team relay final.

Although Kim has only been head coach of Team China since November 2021 after joining the backroom staff in 2019, to prepare them in the run-up to the Beijing Olympic Winter Games, he saw the team's potential as far back as 2006, when he coached twice in Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province, nurturing talent like Vancouver 2010 gold medalist Zhou Yang and Han Tianyu, who claimed silver in Sochi in 2014. 

Kim is fluent in Chinese and is known for writing letters of encouragement to his team. He tries to bridge the Chinese and South Korean short-track speed skating teams to reduce the tension between the Asian rivals. 

China claimed gold in the mixed team relay on Saturday at Beijing 2022, with Italy claiming silver and Hungary the bronze. South Korea were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Kim expressed his happiness to media and encouraged the Chinese team to stay focused on their following events.  

Kim's assistant Ahn is one of the most successful skaters in history. He won three gold and a bronze medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, but became a Russian citizen in 2011, and claimed three golds and a bronze again at Sochi 2014. He became a popular name remembered by many Chinese fans not just because he suffered online abuse by South Korean netizens who claim he is an opportunist for skating for Russia and for serving Team China after contentious qualification rounds in the team event at Beijing 2022.  

The skater, who was once marginalized by the South Korean team, joined Team China in 2021 after Wang Meng, a four-time Olympic short-track champion, sent him an invitation in 2020. 

Media saw him taking a selfie celebrating China's short-track success in Beijing on Saturday. Since South Korean fans are feeling sour to see their country defeated by China, many of them turned their anger into irrational abuse toward Ahn, leading him to post an appeal on Tuesday asking for netizens in South Korea to stop hurting his family.

However, many netizens on China's social media platforms supported him, commenting that Ahn and Kim are perfect choices to lead the Chinese team. Others said there should be no boundaries in sports. 

"I think they are athletes who are actually truthful to the sport itself without being biased to athletes from other countries. It is admirable that they decided to join Team China, especially when the tension between China and South Korea on this event has been so obvious," said a netizen on Sina Weibo. 

Many called to reject South Korea's ­narrow-minded thinking on the Olympics. 

"They can never understand the meaning of the 'Chinese' way of the Winter Olympic Games if they are narrow-minded people who only focus on winning and losing. What we do in Beijing is embrace all athletes, share all the successes that can drive the world sports development forward," said another.