Caroline Park ’11: The Olympic Dream

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Caroline Park ’11

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As a young hockey player in Canada, CAROLINE PARK ’11 dreamed of competing in the Olympics. In February, she was preparing to — as a naturalized citizen of South Korea (both of her parents were born in Seoul). She spoke with PAW in late January.

Motherland I had never been to Korea. My parents always talked about it — this is something that we really should do — and we never had the chance because we were so busy playing hockey growing up. The first time I went to Korea was to basically try out for the team, so I thought that was kind of a happy coincidence.

Unified team It was a mix of emotions [when South Korea announced the women’s hockey team would add North Korean players], but I think generally, the team has been very accepting of it. Everyone is working hard to figure out how to make sure that we are a team. 

Future doctor I’m in my third year of med school [at Columbia] — I took a leave of absence. I’ve always been interested in orthopedics. Before med school, I did clinical research in orthopedic surgery, so that is the field that I’m most interested in.

Interview conducted and condensed by Brett Tomlinson

READ MORE A longer interview with Park was published online Feb. 1