19 September 2024 – At 23, Jang Mi-ran was already the “world’s strongest woman”, having only started her weightlifting career at the age of 17. For over a decade, the Olympic champion, who broke five world records at Beijing 2008, has been running her own foundation to help young athletes. As Vice-Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism in the Republic of Korea since 2023, Jang was a key figure in aligning the Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Gangwon 2024 with national sports policies.
Sport has a huge impact on us and our lives. My role is to communicate and spread the need for sport and for sports development. Jang Mi-ran – Korean Vice-Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism
Extending the legacies of PyeongChang 2018
Since lifting a combined total of 326kg in the +75kg snatch and clean and jerk at Beijing 2008 – 2.79 times her own body weight – Jang Mi-ran has been a sports legend in her own country and abroad. Building on a successful weightlifting career, which also saw her win silver at Athens 2004 and bronze at London 2012 (reallocated retrospectively in 2016) as well as four world titles, today Jang runs an eponymous foundation that offers scholarships and support to athletes in sports such as judo, table tennis and diving.
Appointed last year to oversee sports affairs for the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, Jang has become an influential figure in South Korean sports policy. She is closely involved with the PyeongChang 2018 Legacy Foundation, the organisation set up to oversee and deliver the legacies of 2018, which ensured that Gangwon 2024 carried the baton to extend the positive impacts of those successful Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to the youth context and beyond.
“After PyeongChang 2018, we created the PyeongChang 2018 Legacy Foundation and developed the concept of ‘New Horizons’,” she explains. “After Gangwon 2024, we will now expand and grow further in the sports industry.”
How the YOG broaden the horizons of young athletes
The New Horizons programme promotes winter sports opportunities for athletes from countries where development and participation are challenging, and helps to build stronger links between the Republic of Korea and those nations. The Legacy Foundation and Gangwon State supported pre-season training ahead of the YOG through New Horizons training camps and the Dream Programme, which started in 2004 as part of the candidature to host the Olympic Winter Games in Korea. Every year, the Dream Programme invites young people from countries lacking in winter sports opportunities or infrastructure to the Republic of Korea to experience winter sports and Korean culture.
Of those who participated in the two projects, 39 qualified for Gangwon, with two winning historic medals: Agnese Campeol of Thailand won silver in the women’s monobob, and Jonathan Lourimi of Tunisia won silver in the men’s monobob. They were the first medals for those countries in any Winter Olympic event, and it was the first time that the North African country had sent any athletes to the Winter YOG.
It’s history, my friend. I never thought this was possible when I started this sport one year ago. Jonathan Lourimi (TUN) – Silver medallist in the men’s monobob, Gangwon 2024
Following his incredible performance, Lourimi attributed his success to the support he had received from New Horizons.
Alongside the New Horizons training camps, 10,000 Korean students have experienced winter sports first-hand through the annual Soohorang and Bandabi Sports Camps held in PyeongChang 2018 venues. Since the Dream Programme launched 20 years ago, 2,500 young people from 97 countries have taken part. In addition, more than 50,000 pupils from schools participating in PyeongChang 2018 Legacy Foundation programmes were invited to watch Gangwon 2024 competitions, where they were in some cases introduced to winter sports for the first time.
Jang contrasts the experience of young athletes today, thanks to the YOG, with her experience as a young athlete in the 1990s. “I started weightlifting very late,” she explains. “I entered a competition and I won first prize. Very surprisingly, there were no spectators watching the competition, because there were not many female weightlifters in [the Republic of] Korea at that time. When I was an athlete back then, I was not able to have happy cultural exchanges with other athletes.”
“Through the Youth Olympic Games, young athletes are now very passionate and enthusiastic about their exchanges with other athletes from different countries around the world. At the same time, they’re working very hard to achieve success and do well in the competition. I envy their lives and the perspectives they have as young athletes. The Youth Olympic Games are a great opportunity for them to have a chance to learn about the Olympic Games. There are so many great values that you learn about through sport and from the Youth Olympic Games.”
Olympic legacies live on
Jang is also involved with the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation (KSPO), which was created as a legacy of the Olympic Games Seoul 1988 and remains at the heart of Korean sport 36 years on. She’s firm in her belief that hosting the Olympic Summer and Winter Games has encouraged the country to think more innovatively about its policies and where its funding should go.
“After the 1988 Olympics, we created the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation. We have created and set up funds which take up and manage 80 per cent of the budget in the sports-related industry in the Republic of Korea. I believe that the KSPO plays a central role in terms of developing the sports industry,” explains Jang. “We need to strike a balance between the Olympic Summer and Winter Games and how to develop sport in Korea.”
There are a lot of athletes who started sport after PyeongChang 2018 and who participated at Gangwon 2024. I believe that hosting these big competitions has a crucial role in developing our sports policies. Jang Mi-ran – Korean Vice-Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism
One area that has naturally developed is the focus on youth and on developing skills through education and volunteering. Jang was hugely impressed by the workforce in Gangwon, including the volunteers who helped make the Games so special for the young athletes.
“I could see that the athletes were so well supported,” she says. “When Lee Yoon-seung, our Korean athlete, won a gold medal [in moguls skiing], I noticed then how the volunteers and ceremony workforce were in position and working hard to make sure Yoon enjoyed his moment, despite the cold conditions. They were committed to helping the athletes shine.”
Nearly 2,000 volunteers played a crucial role at Gangwon 2024, welcoming the 1,801 athletes, in addition to the 20,000 accredited people from around the world, including 627 media and 289 broadcast personnel. These volunteers continue to be united today through the Gangwon 2024 Olympic Volunteers Virtual Community, to extend the positive experience they had through the YOG.
