As I grow older it seems the amount of tears I shed has also increased.
More and more, even when reading a novel or watching a movie, I find myself spilling a few teardrops when overwhelmed by an emotional scene. On a plane during a recent business trip abroad, after watching the Korean movie <Forever the Moment : Korean movie that was based on the touching real story of Korean Women Handball Team>, I recall feeling embarrassed after having to conceal my sobs from the passenger sitting next to me.

For me, and I'm sure most of you as well, this past August was an entire month spent weeping. This can all be attributed of course to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Starting with Min-ho Choi(Gold medalist in judo men, 60kg class) in judo and his blue streak like victory match to "Marine Boy" Tae-hwan Park's (Gold medalist in the men's 400m freestyle and silver medalist in the men's 200m freestyle) triumphant success in swimming to weightlifter Bae-young Lee's (Weightlifter in the men's 69kg division) disappointing and regretful injury and certainly the baseball matches with Japan and Cuba - there was an abundance of emotional dramas and tearful stories for medal winners and non-winners alike. I must confess to having been totally absorbed in the Olympics, in the process secretly wiping away quite a few tears with the back of my hand in an attempt to hide my crying from my family.

While taking in all of this, I was suddenly reminded of the contrast between the past and present. To my generation, Olympic gold medals were answers to a prayer. Gold medals clutched by eating ramen to relieve hunger and training as a matter of survival in the end brought feelings of bitterness and many tears. My generation would wail after winning a gold medal in tribute to all the suffering endured while those not fortunate enough to win a gold medal would be full of resentment and end up wailing anyway out of sorrow and self-pity.

But times have certainly changed and our young athletes participating in Beijing were definitely cool. Tae-hwan Park enjoyed setting his own personal best record more than winning a medal. Yong-dae Lee (Gold medalist in badminton duo) didn't shed a single tear up on the medal ceremony stand but instead let out a wink. Hyun-hee Nam (Silver medalist in fencing) had to settle for a silver because she literally came up inches short in fencing but acknowledged her loss fair and square and fully enjoyed her second place victory. And Seung-min Yoo (Bronze medalist in table tennis), scratching his head, remarked that he discovered in many ways that a bronze medal is more precious than a gold.

As a hardheaded member of the old generation that has survived through the hardship and adversity of Korea's modern history and development, I often worried if our youth, who as a generation grew up without undergoing much turmoil or difficulties, could handle the trials and tribulations associated with the greatest sporting event in the world. Nonetheless, I became tearfully aware of how senseless my concerns were about our young athletes after seeing how they handled themselves : independent and confident, enjoying life to the fullest but generous to others, honest and straightforward but with composure and dignity.

To all our young Cheil Worldwide players!
At my age, I can no longer run the track myself. The main priority of my generation was to overcome hunger by working tirelessly and endlessly without a break to even think about poise and comfort. But now the baton has been handed over to your generation and I hope that you will happily continue the race. I am confident and assured of this possibility after directly seeing in person the sweat and passion of our Cheil players involved in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games projects such as the Olympic Torch Relay, the Olympic Rendezvous at Samsung (OR@S), and the Olympic hospitality program, and others.  

Too deficient to be a player, I will be by your side as a coach. Just like Young-chul Lim, the coach of the women's handball team, who called a memorable strategic timeout by claiming "the last 1 minute belongs to you - the girls!" or coach Kyung-moon Kim of the gold medal winning baseball team who answered the silly question of who was the MVP by replying "the two elder brothers Min-jae Kim and Kap-yong Jin," I want to be a coach that can inspire and bring tears to my players.  

It was a long and hot summer. When the cool breeze of September starts to blow I plan on reading the books that I temporarily put aside during the Olympics. I hope that all of your days and nights can be inspirational and moving like the movie <Forever the Moment>.


By Nack Hoi Kim, who has truly experienced a catharsis
after the inspiring moments of the Beijing Olympics.