Korean freestyle skier and USC student Jung-Hwa Seo reflects on her experience at the Winter Olympics and why she thinks the Olympics is about more than sports.
Story by: Leah Haynesworth —
USC’s success at the Olympic games is undeniable: USC is home to more Olympians than any other American university, including 418 Trojans who attended the university before, during, or after their Olympic experience. In fact, if USC were a country, its 287 all-time Summer Olympics medals would make it 16th among all participating countries as of the 2012 Olympic Games.
Nevertheless, USC’s athletes have competed predominately in the Summer Olympics; they have only competed in the Winter Olympics on nine occasions. One of these winter athletes is Korean freestyle skier Jung-Hwa Seo, who was USC’s only Winter Olympian at last year’s Olympics in Sochi and only the fourth Winter Olympian from USC ever. She also competed at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver where she placed 21st.
In spite of the natural anxiety that comes with competing on the biggest stage in sports, Seo was composed in reflecting on her time at the Olympics. Seo pointed out that she competes against the exact same people at the Olympics that she competes against in any other competition. What differentiates the Games, however, is that there is more media coverage, which results in a “different vibe” due to increased attention, interviews, cameras, and security. “It can be distracting, but I try not to focus on it,” Seo explained.
Seo’s experience leading up to competing in moguls was a bumpy one. Prior to the Games, she had an ankle injury, but was unable to get surgery before she competed. Seo also had a bad landing during practice before the first qualifications rounds in the women’s moguls in Sochi, which gave her symptoms similar to a concussion. Nevertheless, after going to the hospital, she was cleared to compete. She finished 14th in her qualifying run and consequently did not advance to the medal round – only the top 10 from each round advance. Overall, Seo finished in 24th place with a time of 14.16.
Although she did not win a medal, Seo maintained that she had a gratifying Olympic experience. For her and many other athletes, the Olympics are truly not about beating the competition but rather enjoying the Games, she explained. The Olympics is “not about sports, but about festival with sports,” she said. Even so, Seo hopes to compete in the next winter Olympics in 2018 in her home country of South Korea. Perhaps she’ll become the first Trojan to win a medal in the Winter Olympics.
Leah Haynesworth, Communications Editor, is a second year student in the Master of Public Administration program and is from Montclair, New Jersey.