2011 Korea Baseball exhibition games - Daegu Citizen Stadium

On April 2^nd, 2011, the Korean baseball season began. We visited the Daegu Citizen Stadium to watch the exhibition match one month before the opening.

Lots of citizens visited the stadium in spite of the chilly weather.

Upon arrival, we found the stadium decorated in blue, symbolic color of the Daegu Samsung Lions.  There were fans who had gathered early in the morning.
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Daegu Station is nearby the stadium, so a lot of people transfer from there.  You can also take a taxi with a low fare.

We entered the stadium on a first-come first-served basis. Many people were there to get a better view even though it was very early.

We could see the popularity of baseball by seeing many gathered people in front of the stadium.

Some people were playing catch with a ball while standing in the entrance time. People brought gloves to the event in order to catch foul ball or home run ball.

We took a seat near the third base.  We noticed how diverse ages of the fans were.

On that day, there was a match with the away team Lotte Giants.  We could see full seats near the first base.

Of course, we took the seat in front of the third base in order to see Samsung Lions players more closely.

Luckily, we were able to see the pitcher, Yoo Chan Cha who was practicing pitch in the bullpen.

Even though the game was over with the Samsung Lions losing, the atmosphere inside the Daegu Stadium was still heated up and we enjoyed the game.

The weather will get warmer soon with the upcoming baseball season. What about visiting the nearby stadium with your bf or gf, friends or families to enjoy warm spring sunshine and cheering fun?

And don’t forget to cheer at the World Championships Daegu 2011 also!

The Hardest Track Event, the 400 meter

It is well known that the most difficult event in the competition is the 400 meter race. Because it takes around over 50 seconds to convert inhaled oxygen into energy, sprinters have to run to 100 meters with state of oxygen-depletion in the body.

Michael Johnson (USA) is a prominent athlete of this event. His world record of 42.18 seconds in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 is still not broken.  He was the only person to win in both the 200m and 400m over the course of the Olympics and World Championships history.  This amazing athlete won 54 consecutive times in the 400m until 1996.

He described his tactics for the 400m running as the “four Ps.” The first P stands for ‘Push’ where athletes run at their fastest speed from start to the 100m mark.  The second P is for ‘Pace’ controlling one’s rate of running until the 200m mark. The third P is for ‘Position’ with those around you.  The last P is ‘Pray’ eagerly for winning.  If even such a great athlete like Michael Johnson has to “pray,” then indeed this is a difficult event!

A lot of athletes will participate in the 400m during the IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011. The women’s 400m final and men’s final will be held on the 29^th of August and 30^th of August, respectively.

Athletes will need all the cheering they can get in such a tough race. 

Merlene Ottey: A Superstar at Any Age

The IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011 will be an event for the history books, not because of likes of super stars such as Usain BOLT (JAM) or Blanca Vlasik (CRO) but because of the possible return of athletics legend Merlene Ottey. The Jamaican born athlete who recently earned a spot on the 4x100m Relay Team looks forward to the chance to lead the team to Daegu “In case we will qualify I would be happy to be part of Slovenian relay in Daegu and London.”  

Though her best time for 2011 in the 100m is 12.07, .4 seconds slower than her best time last year, the 51 year old athlete is still in top form stating “I think when the season will progress I will be faster.”

Ottey’s accomplishments are nearly as long as her athletics history. Currently she holds the record for most number of medals at the indoor championships (6), the record for the longest career as a top level international sprinter, the most consecutive wins over 100m for a female athlete (57), the oldest ever woman to medal at the World Championships, and one of only two athletes ever to win over twenty medals at the Olympic Games and the World Championships combined (Carl Lewis is the only other).

In her prime she was an unstoppable force and at the age of 51 she is still a strong competitor. It is her passion for the sport that continues to lead her down this historical path. With her eyes set on the IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011 this athletics legend is sure to show the world that she is not quite finished.

Audition Program and Athletics

The reality TV program, called Survivor “I am the singer,” is making Korean excited.

This program format is based on the competition featured in the TV show Survivor.  Famous singers participate. 

Controversial programme “I am the Singer.”

This style of competition is popular because of the high amount of tension and competitiveness between the participants. 

In some ways this theme matches that of an athletic competition such as a race. Unlike group sports events such as baseball or football, individual athletes participate and compete among each other..

An athlete’s as he stands on the track might be similar to one’s feeling on stage in the entertainment program. In addition, these two kinds of competition are alike in that individuals take 100% responsibility of their result.  In this way, there only competitors are really themselves. 

National singer, Gun Mo KIM (Left), Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting 2010 (Right)

The singer on the stage in the spotlight and the athlete catching a breath on the start line are indeed much alike.

The most popular survival programme in U.K, ‘Britain’s got talent’

You might know the most famous “Survivor” themed reality show in the U.K, called ‘Britain’s Got Talent’. The famous YouTube stars Paul Potts and Susan Boyle are from this show. An ordinary mobile phone salesman, Paul Potts, became the most brilliant pop opera tenor through the show.  A middle-aged woman who went by the name of Susan Boyle blew audiences away.  These two competitors fulfilled their dreams.


[Link : Paul Potts' audition video clip]
[Link : Susan Boyle's audition video clip]

Korea’s Got Talent

The show, “Korea’s Got Talent,” held a qualifying round in Daegu on April 8^th.

Maybe we can have a Paul or Susan in Korea too.

Most popular survival show in last year, ‘Super Star K’

This show also produced a lot of stars including season II winner Gak Huh who recorded the official song of the IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011.

Recently opened ‘Project Runway Korea season III’

The program is not only limited to singing. 

“Project Runway Korea,” is a program that looks for the best new designers in Korea. This program follows a designer’s from its initial creation to its display on the runway.

Original programme ‘Project Runway’ of America

In addition, there are several survival programs such as American Idol and Great Birth in Korea.

A challenger’s endurance through competition serves a popular theme in media and sports alike. Often it leads to amazing performances that no one could imagine.

Finding the World’s Greatest Athlete, Decathlon

Decathlon, as the name implies, is an athletic event consisting of ten distinct track and field events. The first day consists of a 100m race, a long jump, a shot put, a high jump and a 400m race.  For the second day, athletes participate in the 110 Hurdles, Discus throw, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 m race. The winner is determined by the combined performance in all 10 events. Decathlon’s scoring table is on 1,500 point scale.  In the past, 1,500 point is regarded as man’s limitation but that was broken and changed recently.

Roman Sebrle from Czech

In 2001 Sebrle became the first decathlete ever to achieve over 9,000 points setting the world record at 9,026 points. In general, the winner’s score for the Olympics and World Championships were around 8,500 since 1970.  So, you can really understand how great Sebrle’s score was. 

Dan O’Brien from USA

There are still other great athletes even though they didn't pass the 9,000 point mark. Dan O’Brien was deemed one of the best decathlon athletes winning an Olympic gold medal after winning three consecutive world titles from 1991 to 1995 World Championships. Tomas Dvorac won gold medals at the 1997, 1999 and 2001 World Championships.

Tomas Dvorac from Czech

These athletes are great not simply because they won three consecutive gold medals.

It is most important to maintain the body’s overall balance during the 4 track events and 6 field events in the decathlon. Athletes can not focus on training for a specific event because that breaks the balance and harmony of the body. So, two athletes mentioned above maintained a strong harmony in their body for six whole years. It is hard to imagine how much they trained. That’s the reason we can call decathlon athletes the world’s greatest.

Kun-Woo Kim from Korea

He set the current record for Koreans of 7,824 point in 2006.

The decathlon event of Championships 2011 will begin on Sat, the 27^th of August at 10AM.

Flying beauty bird, Yelena Isinbayeva

Her beautiful look of flying in pole-vault earned her the nickname “Beauty Bird”. She was born in Russia 1982 and trained as a gymnast in her hometown of Volgograd from the age of 5 to 15 but she had to leave the sport because her height is too tall to be competitive in gymnastics. She turned this misfortune to her advantage by being the best world women pole vaulter. She already learned basic strength, resilience and flexibility through gymnastics.

Nowadays, lots of people know women’s pole vault event thanks to her but it took around 16 years to be designated as an official event in World Championships in Athletics in Seville 1999 since the first Championship in 1983. In Olympic Games, women’s pole vault event became the official from Sydney Olympics 2000.

The world’s best record in women’s pole vault was 4m 75 before her appearance. But she subsequently set a new record height of 4.91m in Athens Olympics 2004. She won the gold medal in World Championships in Helsinki 2005 as a record of 5.01m.

Her best record till now is at the Weltklasse Golden League meeting by clearing 5.06m. Not only her remarkable record but also her stunning beauty helped her be athletic star.

She often appears in fashion show and other big events not only athletic field. She broke her personal record 27 times but her target is to break world records 36 times since original human bird Sergey Bubka rewrote world records 35 times.


In an interview with foreign press, she answered that Daegu gave the most impressive welcome when she visited Korea 2006. We hope that she’ll achieve better records when she comes to Daegu in Aug 2011 for World Championships.

Olympian of the century, Carl Lewis

Carl Lewis is the first athlete who won the gold medal in the men’s 100m and long jump in the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Athletics Helsinki 1983. 

He was born in Birmingham, Alabama on July 1 1961. Like other famous printers, he emerged as a promising athlete from his childhood. He achieved good records in short-distance and long jump. He was qualified for the American team for the Moscow Olympics 1980 in long jump but didn't compete due to the Olympic Boycott. So, he got bronze medal in long jump at Liberty Bell Classic in July 1980. In 1981, he became the fastest 100m sprinter in the world.  

At the first IAAF World Championships in Helsinki 1983, Lewis got gold medal in long jump with his winning leap of 8.55m and he also won the 100m as 10.07s by beating silver medalist Calvin Smith.

One year later in Los Angeles Olympics 1984, he collected his first gold medal in the 100m running 9.99s and second in long jump at a distance of 8.54m. His third one from 200m a time of 19.8s and finally, he won his fourth gold he anchored finish line a time of 37.83.

This made him the second man who won four gold medals since Jesse Owens. He frequently discussed his wish to match Jesse Owen’s achievement of winning four gold medals at a sole Olympic Games.

In Seoul Olympics 1988, Ben Johnson won in men’s 100m in 9.79s, while Lewis set a record with 9.92s. But Johnson was disqualified with positive for steroids; gold medal went to Lewis again. Lewis added one more gold medal in long jump.

He also won three gold medals in the IAAF World Championships in Tokyo 1991, two gold medals in Barcelona Olympics 1992 and gold medal at long jump in Atlanta Olympics 1996.

He was recorded as field athlete who won 10 Olympic medals including 9 gold and 10 World Championships medals. He won the Sullivan Awards as the top amateur athlete in the United States and also listed in Olympics Hall of Fame.

The fact is that he created miracle history which made by his persistent striving and people still remember him as a great legend.

Legend of triple jump, Viktor Saneyev

  If we have the legendary discus thrower, Al Oerter who won four consecutive Olympics, there’s also a legendary figure in triple jumper who won gold medal in Mexico Olympics 1968. 

  The Mexico City is located at an altitude of 2,240m, expect good records in short distance, long and high jump event due to the weak air resistance. In there, Russian jumper Viktor Saneyev won gold medal and on the same date four years later he set the world record as 17m 35cm once again in Munich Olympics 1972. And he won his third gold medal in Montreal Olympics 1976 as a record of 17m 29cm after fierce competition with American jumper James Butts. 





  Viktor Saneyev aimed his fourth gold medal in his home ground, Moscow Olympics in 1980 but he failed to achieve his four consecutive winning in Olympics. Although he couldn’t get his fourth gold medal but we are still remembering him as the beautiful legend of triple jump.

The IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011: How to enjoy field events

  Athletics events comprise competitive athletic contests based on around the activities of running, jumping and throwing at track and field in Stadium and marathon & walking in outside road. Objective of running events in track like marathon and walking is s to reach at the finish line in the first. However, field events may seem a little bit complicated due to several attempts in one athlete. In other throw and jump events except high jump and pole vault, three times of attempts were given for single athlete when over eight athletes were participated.

  Only eight athletes who earn best scores in the first three times of attempts will be allowed additional three attempts and ranking will be decided by score. If participated athletes are less than eight, all athletes will have six times of attempts.

High jump and pole vault don’t have limited attempts unlike other field events. Jumper can proceed to next heights in three times attempts but will not be able to attempt any more if jumper can’t jump bar over three consecutive attempts.

Beautiful and precise event, the High jump

The purpose of this event is jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices. Long and slim athletes’ jumping moment is the most beautiful scene among many athletic movements.

The high jump is sophisticated and difficult event as much as graceful. Approach skill developed continuously to various types like scissors-jump, western roll, straddle and Fosbury flop technique.

Scissors is literally to jump in front of the bar and crossing two legs like scissors. By this technique, American Jumper Sweeney jumped 1.97m in 1895.

In western roll style, jumper approach bar on a diagonal, but the inner leg is used for the take off, while the outer leg is thrust up to lead the body sideways over the bar. Cornelius Johnson used this technique and won the event at 2.03m in the Berlin Olympics 1936.

Straddle jumpers took off as in the western roll, but rotated their (belly-down) torso around the bar, obtaining the most economical clearance up to that time. Russian jumper Valeriy Brumel won gold medal as jumped over 2.28m in the Tokyo Olympics 1964.

Fosbury is the name of American jumper who invented new jumping skill. He directed himself over the bar head and shoulders first, sliding over on his back and landing in a fashion which would likely broken his neck in landing pits. He used this Fosbury flop in Mexico Olympics 1968 and won the gold medal and the technique began to spread around the world, and soon floppers were dominating international high jump competitions.

The current men’s record holder is Javier Sotomayor from Cuba with a jump of 2.45m set in 1993 and Stefka Kostadinova from Bulgaria is the women’s world record holder at 2.09m.   

The final match of high jump in World Championships in athletics will hold on Sep 1 for men’s and Sep 3 for women’s.

Familiar event to us, the Long jump

The long jump is the most familiar event to us along with 100m sprint because can be played easily with bare body and it requires more skills than power compare to any other events.

Long jump has four main components: 1. Approach run 2. Last two strides 3. Take off and Action in the air 4. Landing

1. Approach run: The important phase to get maximum controlled speed.

2. Last two strides: To prepare the body for takeoff while conserving as much as speed as possible and step

3. Take off and action in the air: To create a vertical impulse through the athlete’s centre of gravity while maintaining balance and control. There are four main styles of take off: Kick, double-arm, sprint and power sprint.

4. Landing: Must pay attention in landing to avoid falling backwards.

The final match of long jump in World Championships in athletics will take place on Aug 28 for women’s and Sep 2 for men’s respectively.

Discus flying farther when cross wind blows

The discus throw is one of ancient Olympic pentathlon (long jump, discus, javelin running and wrestling). Image of discus throwers figured in advertising for early modern Games and used for the main posters in 1920 and 1948 summer Olympics. The discus which has wood, plastic or fiberglass rim is a heavy lenticular disc with a weight of 2 kilograms and diameter of 22cm for the men’s event and a weight of 1kg and diameter of 18.1cm for the women’s event.

In order to throw farther, the competitor should spin their body rapidly by using centrifugal force. Unlike the shot put, the disc gets more air resistance due to wide surface. Therefore, the inclination of a disc itself (elevation) must be considered and strong rotation must be given to the disc.

The interesting fact in the discus throw is disc will go farther when cross wind blows. The reason why this strange phenomenon occurred is the lift force in the bottom of disc similar to the force keeps an airplane in the air. The best angle of inclination for lift force is 20 degrees.

The final match of discus in World Championships in athletics will take place on Aug 28 for women’s and Aug 30 for men’s respectively.

Colorful Daegu Pre-championships meeting 2011 - Behind story

Today, we would like to deliver behind stories of Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships meeting rather than talking about competition results.

Daegu Stadium box office was not same as usual and giveaway vehicle was displayed in front of stadium.

Moblie electronic board for displaying athletes’ name and records was installed inside of the stadium.

On the bleachers, university student PR team was busy for cheering preparation.

Their colorful picket rooting to the rhythm of PR team’s official song was actually very popular with athletes and spectators.

Seats were filled with group viewing soldiers, students and citizens.

Sapsalgae was also participated to celebrate the event by showing their cute charming to spectators.

Of course, the official mascot Sarbi was also busy for interviewing with athletes and participating awards ceremony.

Volunteers in blue uniform and hat worked very hard, especially looks of hurdle moving were very impressive.

While we wondered here and there in stadium, we encountered athletes at very close distance.

They are women long jumper Hyeyoung Jung and Chanmi Baek and Funmi Jimoh took photos with fans from the bleachers.

Co-president Bum-il Kim also made surprise visit in the seats and extended his hand to children.

Here is passage gate to the stadium, children with pencil and paper were hanging on the fence to get autograph of passing athletes. Actually, some of kind athletes gave their signature to children.

We expect we could meet again in August with better competition.