Home   >   Sports   >   ‘Beauty and the Beast’

‘Beauty and the Beast’

January 28, 2014

Korean speed skater Lee Sang-hwa creates buzz   

with Esquire magazine photo shoot & KIA commercials

Speed skater Lee Sang-hwa shows off her feminine side in Esquire magazine photo shoot. (Esquire magazine-Yonhap)

Speed skater Lee Sang-hwa shows off her feminine side in Esquire magazine photo shoot. (Esquire magazine-Yonhap)

Lee Sang-hwa in a KIA commercial. (KIA Commercial capture - Yonhap)

Lee Sang-hwa in a KIA commercial. (KIA Commercial capture – Yonhap)

Speed skater Lee Sang-hwa,  the reigning Olympic champion in the women’s 500m, is getting very popular in Korea. As she heads for the Sochi Winter Games, she is creating quite a buzz with her Esquire magazine photo shoot and KIA car commercials.

In the Esquire magazine photos, the 24-year old speedster shows off her feminine side, and in a YouTube video commercial, she outraces a 271-horse-powered K5 KIA sedan. The recently released video has already been viewed over 300,000 times.

The Associated Press on Monday predicted Lee, along with figure skater Kim Yuna, male speed skater Mo Tae-bum, and short-track skater Shim Suk-hee to win gold medals for South Korea at the Sochi Olympics.