Two women will represent South Korea at the olympics

Photo: Ahn Young-Joon The Associated Press
The hockey team of south korea in the championship of the world

When Caroline Park has received a message on his account Facebook, in 2013, asking if this interested in playing hockey for South Korea at the olympics, she believed that it was a hoax.

Four years later, the player from Brampton, Ontario, is a few months putting aside the stethoscope for the skates at the winter Games of 2018 in Peyongchang.

“Initially, I thought it was a spam e-mail, or that someone wanted to play me a trick, but finally, it was real,” said the athlete, 27-year-old during a telephone interview from New York, where she is studying medicine at Columbia University.

Park is one of two women who will be wearing the colors of the host country, the other being Toronto’s Danelle Im, which evolves as it to the attack.

Park, who began her studies in medicine in 2015, and who wishes to obtain a degree by 2020, has yet to complete a clinical internship before you leave and join the team of South Korea, in October.

Pass classes to the olympic preparation does not come without obstacle, recognizes Park. “There is no doubt that it is difficult in terms of time management, especially at this time when I started a clinical internship, because it takes a lot more time. Finding the right balance is a challenge. This is not easy, but it is pleasant, ” added Park, who has also held roles in television series.

Park had started the process of applying to medical school, while she worked in an orthopedic hospital, when she received the message on Facebook from a member of the Association of ice hockey in Korea, asking her if she wanted to try his luck with South Korea.

Each summer, after the school year, Park, and Im made the journey to South Korea to train with the team.

“It couldn’t come at a better time, noted Park. If I had been in the faculty of medicine, it would have been much more difficult to hire me. But I went down there in less than a week. “

To be able to represent South Korea, Park, and Im both had a need to obtain a citizenship in south korea. Park was granted hers in 2015 and Im received the siena over the last year. The parents of the two players are born in Korea, making Park and Im eligible to play with the national team of south korea.

Before making their first journey in South Korea in 2013, Park and Im had never met. Since then, they have forged close links. The family Park has moved to Toronto and she lives very close to the one of Im.

“She is a wonderful person, a very good hockey player, said Park. I see it a bit like my little sister, and so, it is always nice to go down there and live this experience together. “

Age 24, Im says that the chance to participate in the olympic Games is a surreal experience.

“I never thought it could happen, she recognized from Seoul, where the team is established. I don’t think I have done very little to deserve this. It is a very different situation from a person who has worked hard and earned his place with Team Canada, for example. I am grateful to have this opportunity. It is as a gift. “