National athletes will join the Marines for two days and three nights to strengthen their mental strength and build resolve for the Paris 2024 Olympics.According to the Korea Olympic Committee (KOC) on Saturday, national athletes in each sport will undergo extreme training at a Marine Corps training facility in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, from Aug. 18-20.About 400 athletes from each sport will be enlisted, including KFA president Lee Ki-heung and Jang Jae-geun, director of the Jincheon National Athletes’ Village.The training comes after Choi Jae-won, president of the Korean Fencing Association, announced during the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games that he would lead a group of fencers in winter training with the Marines, prompting Lee to expand the program to include all national sports.

At the closing ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games, Lee sparked controversy when he revealed that the entire national team, including himself, would undergo Marine Corps training in order to systematically prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympics.”The Marine Corps training is meant to strengthen our resolve ahead of the Paris Olympics,” Lee said, adding, “If it adversely affects the training of national athletes, we will naturally exclude it.” An official from the KOC said, “We are still in the process of training.”We haven’t decided on a training program yet, but we are focusing on strengthening mental strength through lectures rather 스포츠토토존 than military training that focuses on theater,” said an official from the Korean Sports Federation.