Gangneung Oval, where the Gangwon 2024 opening ceremony and speed skating competitions will be held (Photo by Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee)

When Jang Mi-ran, now second vice minister of culture, sports and tourism, was at the height of her athletic training, she worked out with barbells so often that the combined daily weight lifted added up to 50,000 kilograms. That rote training – fueled by perseverance and endurance – explains her stellar weightlifting career. Jang, 40, possesses decorated accolades that are hard to match. Most notably, she secured Korea’s first Olympic gold medal in women's weightlifting at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Her government service, which began in July this year after years of teaching at Yong In University, utilizes her experience to imbue on-the-field expertise into policymaking. Jang is only the third national athlete to hold the second vice minister of culture, sports and tourism post.

Having started weightlifting in 1998, she began to excel from 2005, winning four consecutive world titles. Then she shone at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, bringing home the gold medal, after lifting a total of 326kg. This feat followed her winning the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. At her last Olympics, the 2012 Games in London, Jang originally finished fourth as she battled shoulder pain. Four years later, however, she was bestowed the bronze medal after the third-place finisher was disqualified for doping.

Post-retirement, she taught at Yong In University, before being tapped for government service. Since then, Jang has again become an energetic presence on the frontlines of sports as seen at the recent Hangzhou Asian Games in China. At the upcoming Winter Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024 in January, she will be up close cheering the athletes on.

Once a popular sports star – often featured on Korean television with her mother and sharing her favorite meals with a shy sweetness – Jang now exudes passion and expertise. She recently answered several questions about the upcoming 4th Winter Youth Olympic Games that will be held in the northeastern province of Gangwon-do from January 19 through February1.

Q: You cheered on and rallied athletes a lot at the Hangzhou Asian Games in China. Regarding that Asiad, you said that they would invigorate our sports sector. With Korea set to host the Winter Youth Olympic Games starting on January 19, what will these Games bring the country in terms of meaning and sports?

A: The Youth Olympic Games, organized by the International Olympic Committee, first started in 2010. The participating athletes’ ages range from 15 through 18, and the summer and winter Youth Olympics are also held every four years. For Korea, this will be our third time hosting an Olympic event, following the Summer Olympic Games Seoul 1988 and the Winter Olympic Games PyeongChang 2018. This is the first Winter Youth Olympics to be held in an Asian country.

With Gangwon 2024, Korea will become one of the few countries to have hosted three different Olympics: the Summer, Winter and Winter Youth Olympics. If the 1988 Seoul Olympics provided momentum for the country to advance into the status of a developed nation, the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics enabled the transition into an "advanced nation in sports" in terms of the Games popularity and records.

Specifically, the Youth Olympic Games will be a platform that provides young Korean athletes with early exposure to competition at an international level, firming up the roots of "K-sports." For me personally, I first started lifting barbells in 1998 when I was a ninth grader in junior high school. Had the Youth Olympic Games existed back then, my first goal as an athlete would have been participation in the Youth Olympics. It is truly a special experience to compete at an international level at an earlier age, and a profoundly good opportunity for healthy growth as an athlete.

A traditional fan dance is performed as the torch for Gangwon 2024 arrives in Chuncheon on November 6. (Photo by Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee)

Q: What will make Gangwon 2024 distinct from other Winter Youth Olympic Games?

A: To briefly sum up this Winter Youth Olympic Games, I would say that it will be "a time where the youth of the world will become one through sports and Korean culture." Young people around the globe who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic were not able to go to school or exert their passions or pursue their dreams. My aspirations, or our aspirations as the host of Gangwon 2024, are that young people will be able to soar as high as they wish, experience K-culture’s diverse charms and become completely immersed in the joy of unity and solidarity.

Befitting the theme, "For the Youth, With the Youth, By the Youth," Gangwon 2024 has put a priority on participation by young people, with educational and cultural activities at its core. Young people were a part of developing Gangwon 2024's mascot Moongcho and its theme song "We Go High," and we will be able to see our youth take part in the torch relay, currently ongoing throughout the country, and in volunteer work as well.

Like its slogan, "Grow Together, Shine Forever," we hope to make the Gangwon 2024 Games an event for youth that garners the world’s cheers.

Q: Gangwon 2024 has “athlete role models,” including three Korean athletes. These athlete role models will mentor, support and help the athletes come next January. How important is mentoring for athletes, especially the young ones, in your opinion?

A: Athletes undergo many difficulties and challenges mentally and physically when they train. By having mentors to help and engage with, the young athletes can obtain practical advice but also learn how to perform to their best by managing their state of mind toward their sport and competition.

Q: Your sporting life has been legendary, I don't think many would argue with this statement. You're the third national representative athlete of Korea to become a culture vice minister. This is no easy feat. Can you share with us any sense of achievement or despair you felt as an athlete and when you transitioned to teaching and then to policymaking? What advice would you offer to the young athletes taking part in Gangwon 2024 as well as adolescents and teenagers in general who are striving toward their dreams?

A: There was a sentence that I would often repeat to myself, when I was both on the field and afterward: “Nothing comes for free.” I know very well how difficult it is to daily and consistently work toward an intangible goal. At times efforts do not necessarily pay off. But the time and the hard work invested will strengthen your ability and help you make a better choice for the future. I would like to send our youth athletes and other young people my never-ending support and warmest congratulations from my heart as they refuse to let go of their dreams or give up in the face of an uncertain future.

Poster for Gangwon 2024 (Photo by Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee)