'Baechu Boy' Lee Sang-ho's Golden Challenge... Total Prize Money for Gold Medal 600 Million Won

Lee Sang-ho is talking before practicing on the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics snowboard parallel giant slalom course at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, China, on the 5th. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] ‘Baechu Boy’ Lee Sang-ho (27, High1) is challenging for the gold medal today (8th). On this day, at the Genting Snow Park P&X Stadium in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, China, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Snowboard Alpine Men's Parallel Giant Slalom competition will be held from the qualifiers to the finals. The alpine parallel giant slalom is a race to descend a steep slope as quickly as possible, and this is Lee Sang-ho's second Olympic challenge. The competition starts with a qualifier to select 16 athletes, followed by a knockout tournament with two competitors each from the round of 16. The quarterfinal tournament begins at 4:15 PM (Korean time).

‘Baechu Boy’ Lee Sang-ho, who first encountered snowboarding as a child led by his father's hand in the highland cabbage fields of his hometown Jeongseon, Gangwon Province, is the undisputed top gold medal candidate in snowboard alpine. In the 2021-2022 season, he stood on the podium four times, including one victory (two silver medals and one bronze) in seven International Ski Federation (FIS) Snowboard World Cup events. With 434 ranking points, he surpassed strong competitors such as Stefan Baumeister (Germany, 406 points) and Dmitry Loginov (Russia, 326 points) to rank first overall. On the 1st, the Associated Press introduced the Korean team and pointed to Lee Sang-ho as a likely gold medalist outside the traditionally strong short track events.

Lee Sang-ho of South Korea is practicing on the snowboard parallel giant slalom course at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, China, on the 5th during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Photo by Yonhap News

To increase his chances of winning this competition, he changed his plate (snowboard body) to 1.89 meters. Previously, 1.85 meters was the standard. When the plate lengthens, the angle of the S-shaped curve drawn while descending the slope widens, reducing the number of direction changes and increasing speed. However, it requires more precise control, and Lee Sang-ho has completed adaptation through six months of special training and is showing confidence.

If Lee Sang-ho succeeds in his golden hunt, the snowboard team will receive a prize of 600 million KRW. First, he will receive 63 million KRW from the government. Additionally, he secures 90 pension points, which provide a pension benefit of 1 million KRW per month or a lump sum of 67.2 million KRW. The Ski Association, supported by the Lotte Group, awards 300 million KRW for a gold medal. Silver medals receive 200 million KRW, and bronze medals 100 million KRW. Encouragement money is also given to the coaching staff. If Lee Sang-ho wins the gold medal, both the athlete and the coaching staff will each receive 300 million KRW, totaling 600 million KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.