Give and Go

This is a story about what it’s like to do the right thing.

Last weekend, 20-year-old Esther Kim gave up a spot on the U.S. taekwondo team that will compete at the Olympic Games in Sydney so that her injured friend, 18-year-old Kay Poe, could go. Kim forfeited a sure win at the U.S. trials and said, “I never thought about not doing it.”

On Friday, International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch, truly touched by the story, called Kim to invite her--and her father, who coaches both young women--on an all-expenses-paid trip to Sydney to watch Poe compete.

It is a measure of just how much goodwill the IOC has lost over the past year, dogged by the worst corruption scandal in its history, that Samaranch told an aide he feared others would take the invitation the wrong way, would see it as a pathetic public relations ploy. “A very nice gesture,” he said to Kim on the phone--meaning not the trip but what she did.

It is also a measure of how cynical the world of sports has become that Kim admitted Friday to genuine surprise that her act has caused such a stir. Poe had suffered a knee injury and Kim said matter-of-factly on Friday, “It would have been unfair to fight someone with one leg.”

It is also, finally, a reminder that sports is supposed to be like this--supposed to be beautiful and enduring and uplifting.

“These are the stories that remind us sports can and should be an ennobling experience,” said Michael Josephson, president of the Josephson Institute of Ethics in Marina del Rey.

“It is such a terrible pity,” he said, that in recent seasons sports has been “tainted by so many Mike Tysons, Bobby Knights and Latrell Sprewells, and that so many people have lost sight of sports being a venue where character is both displayed and developed.”

Or, as Kim, unprompted, put it in a telephone interview: “Being a champion in life is more important than a gold medal. That stays with you forever.”

Kim and Poe are from Houston. Each is coached by Kim’s father, Jin Won Kim. They have known each other for 13 years, since they were little girls, and are the best of friends.

Taekwondo, one of the martial arts, will be a medal sport for the first time at the Sydney Games. It’s akin to karate. But in karate, competitors often attack with their hands; in taekwondo kicks are the thing.

Poe entered the U.S. trials at Colorado Springs, Colo., ranked No. 1 in the world in the flyweight division, apparently destined for Sydney.

In the semifinals, however, Poe suffered a dislocated left kneecap. Nonetheless, she made it to the final. Afterward, she had to be carried out on her coach’s back.

In the final, Poe was supposed to fight Kim. In an earlier round, Poe had beaten Kim. But it was obvious Poe was in no condition to carry on. She couldn’t even stand up.

There and then, Kim decided to forfeit--even though it might mean forever giving up her chance of competing at the Olympics.

“This was something I had dreamed about all my life,” she said. “Going to the Olympics was the whole reason I put on my taekwondo uniform, sacrificed so many extracurricular activities.

“There’s a certain goal to reach. That takes sacrifices. I felt this was my ultimate sacrifice.”

But, she said: “Whether the gold medal is around my neck or not, I knew [this moment] would be in my heart and stay forever.”

Jin Won Kim put his arms around both his students and asked his daughter, are you sure? Yes, she said.

The Kims, father and daughter, helped Poe to the mat as the decision was announced. The two women were sobbing. The audience was clapping. Poe “raised my hand like I was the victorious fighter,” Esther Kim said, and the cheers from the audience grew louder.

Afterward, Jin Won Kim told his daughter he was “very, very, very proud” of her. He said Friday in an interview: “I hope this act that Esther took shows a message to all the athletes how important it is to make sacrifices.”

When she flew home to Texas, Kim was met at the airport by her mom and younger brother. Mother hugged daughter and said, “I’m so proud of you. I love you.”

Word of what had happened in Colorado Springs, meantime, reached Samaranch, who is in Brazil for a week of meetings with the IOC’s ruling Executive Board.

He said he decided to ask her to come to Sydney. The board thought that a fine idea. During a break in the meetings, Samaranch, wrapped in a yellow sweater, dialed the States and said to Esther Kim, “I would like to congratulate you on your very nice gesture.”

He added: “The IOC would like to give you a prize. The prize is, we invite you and your father to come to Sydney and watch the Olympic Games.”

Anita DeFrantz, the senior IOC member in the United States and a bronze medalist in rowing at the 1976 Montreal Games, then took the phone and said: “I’m really proud of you. I can’t imagine how it must have felt for you. To do something like that is just so impressive. It’s beyond words.”

Not really, Esther Kim said a few moments later: “I feel excited because Kay has the opportunity to go fight and I’m excited to go watch her.”

She also said about all the fuss: “I’m very surprised. I thought that everyone was going to think I was crazy. The way people have accepted it, it’s an awesome feeling.”