South Korea short track skater Choi Min-jeong set a national Olympic record with seven career medals, drawing attention to a handwritten letter from her mother shared ahead of the Games.
The International Olympic Committee on Feb. 21 posted the letter on its official Instagram account, introducing it as a message from Choi’s mother to the Milano-Cortina d’Ampezzo 2026 Winter Olympics competitor.
In the letter, her mother wrote that it was “a miracle” that the child who first put on skates at age 6 was now competing on the sport’s biggest stage. She added that she knew how much her daughter had cried alone after enduring pain without saying she hurt and smiling through difficult moments. “This Olympics, more than results or records, the time it took you to get here is the gold medal,” she wrote, adding, “You are already the gold medal of my life.”
After winning silver in the women’s 1,500 meters final, Choi referenced the letter in an interview. “I cried a lot after reading the handwritten letter my mother gave me to read on the flight out,” she said.
Choi finished the Milan Winter Olympics with one gold and one silver medal. That brought her career Olympic total to seven medals — four gold and three silver — moving her past Jin Jong-oh (shooting), Kim Soo-nyung (archery) and Lee Seung-hoon (speed skating), who each had six, for the most by a South Korean athlete.
Choi, who had said this would be her final Olympics, said she believed from the start to the finish that it would be her last. Asked about retirement, she said she would “coordinate with the team.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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