Jincheon: With the next Winter Olympics in Italy quickly approaching, South Korea on Wednesday announced its goal of bringing home at least three gold medals. The Korean Sport and Olympic Committee (KSOC) gathered Olympic-bound athletes at the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, some 85 kilometers south of Seoul, for a joint press conference marking the 30-day countdown to the 25th Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. KSCO President Ryu Seung-min and Korea Skating Union President Lee Soo-kyung, who will also serve as the country's chef de mission in Italy, were in attendance too.

According to Yonhap News Agency, athletes from around the globe will compete in 116 medal events in eight sports and 16 disciplines. South Korea had 37 athletes qualified for the Olympics in short track, speed skating, figure skating, curling, alpine skiing, and cross-country skiing as of last Friday. That number could reach as high as 69 once the Olympic quota spots are assigned later this month in other sports, such as snowboard, freestyle skiing, bobsleigh, skeleton, luge, and biathlon.

At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, South Korea earned two gold, five silver, and two bronze medals to finish in 14th place -- its lowest placement since also finishing 14th at the 2002 competition in Salt Lake City. "We would love to see our athletes win at least one more gold medal than Beijing," Ryu said. "And beyond the medal tally, we hope the Olympics will be an opportunity for our athletes to demonstrate their dignity and leadership."

Lee admitted she wanted to set a conservative target at first, but she soon became encouraged by recent performances by South Korean athletes. Noting that all nine medals in Beijing came from the ice, Lee said she hopes for a more diversified medal portfolio this time, with athletes in freestyle snowboard, curling, bobsleigh, and skeleton expected to make their push.

To that end, athletes at the presser said they want to be the ones adding to the country's medal total. Speed skater Kim Min-sun said she is trying to peak for her main event, the women's 500 meters, scheduled for Feb. 15, with the help of the Korea Institute of Sport Science. "They have been helping us with training and recovery, using equipment and advanced data analysis," Kim said. "We have objective data to figure out how much rest we need, for instance. Skaters in other countries have been doing that already, and I think we're moving in that direction as well."

Kim's teammate, Park Ji-woo, was more daring in her prediction and said, "We didn't win any gold in speed skating in Beijing, and we will bring home at least one gold this year." South Korea will be chasing its first Olympic gold in curling, period, and Jeong Yeong-seok, who will compete in the mixed doubles event with Kim Seon-yeong, said his team will try to be the first curling champion from the country. "We were the last team to qualify for the Olympics in the mixed doubles," Jeong said of his team's playoff win at the final Olympic qualifying event last month. "And at the Olympics, we will try to be the last team standing with the gold medal in our hands."