Venerable Hosan, head monk of Bongsunsa Temple and himself a rider, launched a youth competition more than 20 years ago whose alumni bagged three Olympic snowboard medals this month in Italy, including South Korea's first-ever gold in the sport.

All three medallists, Choi Ga-on, Kim Sang-kyum and Yu Seung-eun, are "Dharma Kids", having competed at the Dharma Snowboard Competition which the monk founded, his temple confirmed to AFP.

"Venerable Hosan is obviously over the moon. He's been praying for the athletes," said Lee Kyung-min, deputy manager of the Bongsunsa Temple.

"At the same time, he feels a little uneasy that only the medal winners are getting the spotlight" and not other athletes who competed, he added.

Venerable Hosan declined to speak to AFP, citing his duties and pre-arranged prayer schedule.

The monk, in his 60s, was first introduced to the sport in 1995, when he was invited by a ski resort to pray for its safety.

He spoke to young riders there, who told him they loved snowboarding for the freedom it gave them. Unlike skiing, they could move in any direction, on the snow and in the air, which he saw as reflecting Buddhism's ideal of true freedom.

Aspiring athletes

After learning that many young athletes were struggling to cover training costs, with some were forced to take part-time jobs, Venerable Hosan launched the competition which gave prize money, and later his Buddhist colleagues offered their support.

Snowboarding has long failed to gain popularity in South Korea, but he pressed ahead with the competition, which eventually became a key platform for aspiring snowboarders.

Lee Sang-ho, who won South Korea's first Olympic snowboarding medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, also competed in the monk's event, adding to a line of "Dharma Kids" along with this year's medallists.

"For the Buddhist community, it is deeply moving for us to see people we witnessed as kids become national team members and even win Olympic medals," Lee Kyung-min from Bongsunsa Temple told AFP. "It's meaningful that our faith has stood by children chasing dreams that can be hard to realise in our society."

He said medallists Kim and Yu often spend time with the monk at the temple when they are not training, engaging in Buddhist practices such as meditation and 108 prostrations, a ritual involving repeated full bows.

"There is a Buddhist saying that the lotus blooms from the mud," Lee said. "In a sport once seen as unpopular and overlooked, it feels as if a lotus has truly blossomed."

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