hankyoreh

By Park Seung-heon, staff reporter

Russian President Vladimir Putin comes into a room smiling, South Korean President Park Geun-hye is seen from behind, in a November 2013 photo taken during Putin’s visit to the Blue House in South Korea.

The photo was given the name, ‘Is this the cheapest gold medal selling spot?’ It satirizes the current situation where a talented 29 year-old short track speed skater, Victor Ahn, whose Korean name is Ahn Hyun-soo, became a Russian national and won the first gold medal ever in Russian short track Olympic history. The photo describes President Putin visiting South Korea as a kind of shopping trip for talented athletes who can win gold medals for Russia.

Following the news of Ahn’s gold medal victory, there have been a number of online satires, reflecting both a sense of pity regarding Ahn’s decision to change his nationality and criticism of the South Korean sports organizations that caused the current situation.

The most popular ones come with a photo of the Russian president. On Feb. 17, there was a popular photo of the Putin shedding tears, taken last year after his victory was confirmed in the general election. It was then copied and re-edited with him saying, “Thanks a lot, Korea Skating Union.”

Also, in January when Ahn won first place in the Men’s 5000m relay at the ISU European Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Dresden, Germany, Dutch skater Sjinkie Knegt flipped Ahn off after the race. Netizens picked it out and edited the photo with the Russian President staring at him fiercely, showing Putin’s affection for Ahn.

There is also a video that features a scene from a movie where Adolf Hitler upbraids his officers is shown with subtitles saying, “Look what you’ve done! Are you proud of bullying the national athlete?”, raising criticism against the Korea Skating Union for its factional strife.

Many humorous comments have been made in various social media like Facebook, such as “Korea is the top exporting country”, “We even export a gold medallist”, and “This is the best example of the so-called Creative Economy”.

A company worker, surnamed Kim, 30, said, “It is interesting to see a talented athlete winning a gold medal despite all kinds of challenges, especially even by changing his nationality. Unfortunately, this shows a complete contrast between his outstanding ability and lack of support that we could offer to him”.

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