SEOUL, South Korea — It was an off night for short-track speedskating at the Winter Olympics, but everywhere else around South Korea, the skating never ends. There are champions to build and rosters to fill for 2022, 2026 and beyond.
Two teenage boys, each expecting to be part of the South Korean team at the 2022 Beijing Games, zoomed around the old Gwacheon Ice Rink, heads down, moving as one. As they leaned hard and pumped their legs around one tight corner, a coach held a 9-year-old girl, standing on her skates, by the arms. With perfect timing, he flung her onto the ice, like a fisherman casting a net into the sea.