Seo: I will acquire medals at PyeongChang2018

"I will train harder with my colleagues and acquire medals in every event.”

South Korean Nordic skier Vo-Ra-Mi Seo has outlined her intentions for her home Paralympic Winter Games at PyeongChang 2018, including a medal in every event.

There is a lot of pressure on the sit-skier’s shoulders as she is only one of a small number of South Korean women who will be competing in Nordic events. She is determined to do well and has set some very high goals.

"I will train harder with my colleagues and acquire medals in every event,” Seo said. “I really hope South Korean athletes can win a gold medal at the first Paralympic Winter Games held here."

Having finished 14th overall in the IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup in cross-country in 2014-15, the 29-year-old was the second-highest ranking South Korean in the world.

At PyeongChang 2018, Seo could not only get the chance to compete in her home country but in fact her home town.

"It is a great honour that the Paralympic games will be held in South Korea,” she continued. “PyeongChang, as the host city, is very special for me because it is my father's home town and I lived there when I was young."

Seo will have an extra advantage over her competitors in 2018 in her quest for a medal because she can train on the Paralympic tracks even though they are not finished yet.

"Now I'm training at the Alpensia cross-country ski track that is an official venue for the PyeongChang Paralympic Games,” Seo said. “However, due to a steep slope, it seems quite difficult to have racing events for sit-skiers. The construction will begin soon and it will be completed before the start of the Paralympic Games."

The Paralympic Games are very important for Seo for more than just the opportunity to win medals. Firstly as a member of the Organising Committee she has had a big role in the preparation of the event. "I was appointed as an athlete member of POCOG [the Organising Committee] for two years in July, 2013. During that time, I advised them about athletes' needs and what they have to prepare for the athletes so that they can compete without any inconvenience."

Secondly she hopes that with South Korea hosting the Games, after winning the right to do so at the third attempt, many more of its citizens will be inspired to take up some form of winter sport.

"I expect that there will be a lot of support from the government so that athletes can compete in the Paralympic Games,” Seo said. “In my opinion, we need to promote adaptive skiing to allow more people to get information about it and to participate in winter sport. My hope is they will be inspired by the foreign athletes who will participate, and also increase the interest in cross-country skiing and biathlon."

Hopefully her performance and her personal story will help to achieve this. "I got injured by falling down the stairs in 2004. After the accident, I found that there were not many wheelchair accessible places which led me to think that people who use a wheelchair cannot enjoy winter sport."

After attending a ski camp and learning to cross-country ski she discovered that this was not the case. "My happiness was with cross-country skiing. The training let me forget my impairment and face forward to my future."

The 2015-16 IPC Nordic Skiing season gets underway on 2 December with the first World Cup in Tyumen, Russia.