Slow Recovery Halts Events, Leaving Athletes Frustrated

[Anchor]

While joyful news of victory is coming in, the disarray at the competition continues. Because flood damage from two weeks ago has still not been repaired, the rowing events have not even started, and the competition schedule has been drastically reduced.

Here is an exclusive report from the field by reporter Yu Byeongmin.

[Reporter]

Two weeks ago, record-breaking heavy rain caused widespread damage in Nagoya, and the aftermath is still visible at the rowing venue.

The floating lanes were completely destroyed, and recovery has yet to be finished. As a result, the first races originally scheduled for yesterday (September 20) have been repeatedly delayed and pushed back until the day after tomorrow.

[Kang Woo-gyu / National Rowing Team Member: I have been rowing for about 18 to 19 years, and this is the first time I have ever experienced a venue like this.]

Proper training is also impossible.

The athletes are training in an empty river without lanes.

Normally, they should be training at a venue equipped with lanes, but the course lanes are only just being installed.

To make matters worse, strong winds forced the venue restoration work to halt, and practices were deemed too dangerous, replacing them with indoor training.

[Hong Kong Rowing Athlete: Look over there. It's probably because of the water condition.]

[Hong Kong Rowing Athlete: The wind is too strong.]

[Hong Kong Rowing Athlete: The organizing committee says a typhoon is coming back.]

On top of this, shuttle buses running between the accommodations and the venue are dispatched at one-hour intervals, turning arrivals into chaos and packing the inside of the buses like sardines.

[Kang Woo-gyu / National Rowing Team Member: It's absolute pandemonium, it feels just like a chaotic marketplace. If you miss the bus, you have to wait another hour, so people somehow try to board first no matter what.]

Veteran Kim Dong-yong, who served as a flag bearer at the opening ceremony, wanted to finish his 5th Asian Games on a high note by competing in two events. However, with the schedule cut from five days to two, he had to withdraw from one of them.

[Kim Dong-yong / National Rowing Team Member: With the preliminaries and finals all crammed into the last two days, it is a bit disappointing, but I am still trying to focus on the quadruple sculls to achieve good results.]

[Go Korea Rowing, Fighting!]

Though they only have two days left, our athletes are determined to powerfully pull their Taegeuk oars and race toward gold.

(Photo: Yonhap News)

Reported by Kim Se-kyung | Video by Yoon Tae-ho | Graphics by Lee Ga-jin

※